Wednesday, June 03, 2009

La France Profonde

Thought I had better take a photograph of my verdant vegetable patch, just in case. Sometimes people ask me whether I ever get bored living in the countryside after spending all my life in big cities. Well, one of the things that keeps life "interesting" around here is my neighbour, recently retired Eugene. He doesn't have much to do these days, and he needs lots of attention. Sometimes he is nice, sometimes he is not so nice. Like now. He wants money for the use of the garden, and quite a lot of money. I told him he could help himself to the produce, which is keeping him quiet for the moment. But he is already making noises about spraying the whole plot with sulfuric acid, and unfortunately he is capable of this kind of behaviour.

A circle of ashes, by the way, is very good at preventing snails and slugs from attacking the garden. It's less effective against the Eugenes of the world. Thabo is doing his best to protect the plot.

2 comments:

Jeannine Edelblut said...

Quel histoire! That Eugene is such a pill. I can't believe he wants to charge you for the use of that bit of land for a garden now after you put so much work into it. Without your efforts it would be just an unused patch of dirt.

Penny Phillips-Armand said...

That's blackmail...doing a favor with strings attached.
There's a lot of it around here: yesterday my neighbor offered me a big pot of geranium cuttings, then began complaining about the magnificent linden on the western side of our house--which has been there for decades, and which we find indispensable for shade on summer afternoons, but which keeps her house, on the northern side of the tree, from getting sun as constantly as she would like. The tree is on our property, but since she's said her brother is coming in a few days with a chain saw, I'm worried.
Let's both cross our fingers. Your garden looks terrific, by the way.