Sober October Diary: In The Garden,

I have noticed that I get up earlier if I haven’t been in the pub the night before, so I was up and about at 8.00 this morning. It was a glorious sunny golden October day. I had intended going for a walk but decided that while the weather is nice I ought to try and finish the little project of clearing the overgrown corner at the end of my garden. Carpe Diem, that’s my motto! Firstly, though I did some washing and hung it out to dry in the yard. It was dry in about three hours because my little yard is like a suntrap. Walking down the garden I realised that not only are we now in the days of the leaves, we are also in the days of the spiders. I spotted at least three big spiders webs stretched across the garden shimmering with dew in the sunshine with a big fat spider sitting in the middle of every one. It reminded me of a poem by Robert Lowell called Mr Edwards & The Spider, ‘I saw the spiders marching through the air, swimming from bough to bough, that mildewed day’.

Anyway, I got to work with my secateurs on all the foliage overhanging my garden. It wasn’t just the branches of one tree, there was laurel, honeysuckle, brambles, ivy, and elderberries. I noticed around my pond, some of it was growing into the pond, putting down roots and drinking the water. The ivy was the worst, it was difficult to get off the wall on the left side. I had to prise it off the wall with a chisel. Eventually I decided I had removed enough. I have about eight sacks of garden waste to get rid of now. Then I gave the fence a good coat of cuprinol woodstain which should preserve it for another couple of years. I placed my yucca plant in the corner where it should be safe from the wind. It had blown over in a storm about a year ago and the stem had broken, but it stayed alive and kept growing. I stopped work at about 3.30 feeling quite pleased with myself for making the effort. I’ll definitely be going for a walk tomorrow. I was going to write a review of my new music this evening, but I'm too tired now. I'll wait until we get another rainy day.