Home grown spring onions

Well I handed in my court summons to the magistrate’s court yesterday and felt like I had been caught shop lifting or granny battering. The staff were split down the middle: 50% really helpful, 50% really wanting you to piss off and leave them alone. Luckily after being sent to several wrong offices, I found a woman that was fantastic. And actually, she told me not to plead guilty! We had a letter after the visit from the aggressive TV henchman that said, no further action will be taken because you’ve bought a licence… Anyway, I had forgotten all about it but my partner found it and attached it to our stuff. The lady I dealt with says this proves that they should have never issued the summons in the first place and that we should call TV licensing urgently. Even if they don’t withdraw the case though, at least I delivered my mitigating statement in time.

Last night I went to college feeling a bit blue about the whole situation – no camera (well, I have an excellent top of the range camera worth £600 but apparently I can’t use that!) and no photos. Towards the end of the lesson I felt just about ready to give up. Other than the whole ‘no camera’ thing, I have an impossible tight deadline to hand my work in because of going to Scotland. I slept on it and after talking to my partner, decided that quitting was for… well, quitters. In one last final attempt to finish term three with the high marks that I received in terms one and two, I have emailed some friends asking if anyone can lend me a film SLR (preferably a fairly modern one) and then I emailed my tutor asking for an extension. What will happen? I don’t know. It is conceivable that I may not get the extension, but more importantly no one will have a camera they can lend me. But I can’t give up just yet. I’m a good photographer. Now I just have to be a resilient photographer as well!

It’s a gorgeous day and we’ve spent most of it in the garden. We’ve also just had a salad that contained home grown spring onions, very satisfying and very tasty!

Lavendar scones and marmalade cake

The weekend just flew by… I got the car washed, we changed the tyre and started working on a few scratches Peggy acquired whilst driving down a sheer mud and rock drive, surrounded on either side by barbed wire-like gorse, at the farm in the Peak District some months ago. We tidied the garden, enjoyed an outdoor fire, defrosted the freezer, drank some beer and planned two other mini breaks for this year (literary festival in Cornwall in July; staying on another organic farm in Norfolk in August). I should point out that we didn’t do all of those things at once, they were spaced over the weekend!

We also went for brunch with friends and then visited the Chelsea Physic Garden. It really is a fantastic place: you can wander aimlessly enjoying the surroundings which are tranquil and lovely, or you can really get stuck into the botany and history of the place. Or you can do both, of course. I took the film camera that my friend had lent me and snapped away like a mad thing, but disaster struck! The film didn’t rewind and I’m not sure if it is ruined. (Like all good artists, I am convinced that it was some of my best work and nothing short of a tragedy). I’m going to an independent camera shop run by a rather cantankerous old man at lunchtime to see if he can save my pictures… bloody film cameras…

Anyway the garden was just what I needed after a terrible week. I started to feel relaxed and I particularly enjoyed breathing-in the cool, fragrant air. (So close to a nasty, busy road, but such lovely air!) We sat on the grass and ate lavender scones and marmalade cake and then managed to spend too much money in the shop (now there’s a surprise!).

And so back to work, lots to do and definitely more of an inclination to do it… even with the caveat of a certain amount of staring into space, dreaming about home made cake and one day owning our own small holding where the air is lovely and fresh…