Veg Out

Hey guys!

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a while, I’ve been helping my bestie (of 29 years and counting) to move house. I’m exhausted! I have found a little bit of spare time however to ge out into the garden to plant up my veg and to get my bedding plants and hanging baskets going.

I might have mentioned this before but I really do love gardening. I find it so theraputic and love seeing my seeds and bulbs germinate. I was really inspired by shelleyschell to blog about what I’m growing. Her blog shows an amazing method of using straw bales to grow fruit and veg in, I’m really excited to see what happens! I’d love to try this for myself but being a bit short on space it’s not really an option right now. Instead, I use pots on my patio and the greenhouse to grow my fruit and veg.

Above, you can see my redcurrant bush and blueberry bush just before they start to flower. I can see quite a few buds on the redcurrant so hopefully I’ll get a bit of a bumper harvest. I also have strawberries growing in a large pot. In the greenhouse I have three tomato plants, plus a courgette in a pot and some lettuce in a seed tray:

Finally, I’ve got my hanging baskets and borders:

Everything is newly planted and not in flower yet, I’ll update you all in a couple of months when things really get going.

As you can see, my garden is pretty small but with a few pots and a bit of imagination you really can produce quite a lot of flowers, fruit and veg. Next year I’m hoping to do new potatoes in a big patio pot.

If anyone is looking for advice or has any ideas about what kinds of fruit and veg grow well in small spaces, please comment below!

Confessions of a book whore

“So many books, so little time” – Frank Zappa.

I have a confession to make. I am a book whore. I will read anything and everything. This includes cereal packets, shampoo ingredients, terms and conditions and whatever the person sitting next to me is reading (sorry). The act of reading itself is an escape for me, a way to go off into another world. Reading is an adventure.

I began “reading”as a newborn baby whilst my mother read aloud to me from nursery rhyme books. I learnt to read for myself at a very young age (it is debatable whether I had just memorized the stories) and have been devouring books ever since. I remember going to the library as a child and being upset about their six book limit – I could read all of my new books in a couple of days, and then what would I do for the rest of the week? At junior school I read every single book in their library twice. I chose my senior school because their library was the biggest.

The books that I’ve read have always reflected whatever stage of life I’m currently at. Growing up I read a lot of typical YA fiction including Judy Bloom, Paula Danziger (I never liked the tense that she wrote in) and pretty much all of the babysitters club books by Ann M Martin. By the time I got to uni I discovered fantasy and science fiction via my slightly gay boyfriend James. He was my next door neighbour and I remember seeing him in the garden reading Roger Zelazney’s Chronicles of Amber and deciding at that moment to sleep with him. So I did. (I then proceeded to read everything he owned and callously dumped him when I had finished. I’m not proud). My 20’s were a period of discovery and despite hating to travel I felt I had discovered a little of the world through Bill Bryson’s books. As I reached my 30’s I began to read more mid 20th century classics (predominantly by female authors) possibly because their main characters reflect my current housewife status. One book which really resonated with me is Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. I thoroughly understood what it is like to live in someone else’s house with the ghost of a previous occupant (in my case, my boyfriend’s mother) haunting you as you make inadequate pastry and ineffectually clean the silverware (see previous posts about my current domestic situation).

In much the same way that the music that you liked growing up affected the friends that you made at school, the subsequent clubs and parties that you went to, the clothes you wore and the activities that you participated in, I’ve found that books can have the same effect. A few years ago my best friend met her new partner through a mutual friend. He was much younger, trendiest, with dreams of becoming an actor whilst working in a minimum wage job. He didn’t get our cultural references. He was totally different to my other, settled, 30 something friends. I had nothing in common with him. At a party, we began talking about films (he loves them, I’m fairly indifferent to most) which lead to a conversation about books and specifically, Neil Gaiman. Suddenly, all of his friends wanted to join in with their opinions. Amazingly, every single person there said “I love Neil Gaiman but… ” and proceeded to tell me why they loved some of his work but hated other parts. This lead to one of the geekiest, most intellectual group conversations ever held at a drunken get together. Surprisingly, we couldn’t agree on one single opinion. I hated American Gods but loved Neverwhere. Someone said it was the same story. Someone else disagreed vociferously. Someone said that American Gods was much more expansive. I said it was Neil Gaiman doing a Stephen King impression. No one agreed with me. People got animated. People got even more drunk. Everyone joined in. It was one of the best moments of my life.

My partner does not read. He has an academic job and says that as he reads scientific papers all day he wants a break when he gets home. I don’t understand this at all. He’s clearly missing out. Can a relationship between a reader and a non reader work? Does reading define me that much? I guess only time will tell. I’ll keep you updated.

It’s all about me

Hello world,

Allow me to introduce myself, I don’t think we’ve met before. My name is Lucinda. I’m 33 and from the West Midlands – no, you don’t have to do the accent. I’m unemployed despite having two degrees and a load of professional experience. I usually work in HR which is an utter nightmare. For example, here’s a few situations which I’ve had to devote weeks of my time to:

* someone used the wrong milk – we need to investigate it as potential theft

*a dog was left in an employee’s car – can you look into it?

*someone has hurt their back having sex on top of a company car, are they entitled to free physio?

*someone is off sick but when we went round their house they appeared round the corner on a white horse, is this allowed?

*we need to employ a new temp – the old one has moved on and there’s no one to make the toast

*as a manager I shouldn’t have to look after all these people issues – that’s your job

*I’ve had to have a vasectomy because I’m Catholic, if you don’t let me have paid time off I’ll sue you for religious discrimination

*You took too long investigating my initial grievance so I’m launching a new one about the delay

*We can’t change his company car allowance, his ex wife had it written into their divorce settlement

So, I’m unemployed. Unsurprisingly, I haven’t been particularly motivated to find a new role. DISCLAIMER ALERT : I’m not claiming any kind of benefits (not that there’s anything wrong with that) I’m living off my meagre savings. This blog is about my life at home and what you can get up to when you’re not occupied 9-5 and have no income. (Seriously, who works those hours? I think you get my point though.)

I have a number of interests which I’ll hopefully be blogging about – gardening, interior design, antiques, reading, cooking, eating out, art, culture – as well as relationships, people, family and life in general. As I’m at home all day I wanted to do something that would connect with the outside world and would use my brain (I’ve literally forgotten how to write). I’d love to gain a few regular followers and to hear your opinions on what I have to say.