Progress & Rain

So, this weekend, my downstairs neighbors decided to set up a table and chairs, with sun umbrella (in England?!?!?) in my portion of the garden. You know, the beautiful rose filled, rose scented section that I, and I alone (with help on rosed by my landlady) have been weeding and pruning back in to shape. It's incredible to me that people will not do a lick of work to improve or maintain the garden but as soon as someone else has made it pleasant to be in they are quick to stake a claim and settle down for a day of garden leisure.

The weekend was dry if cloudy, not too hot, cool even. Perfect weather for weeding and especially mowing the grass. But I couldn't do it because I was uncertain about how to deal with the table and chairs issue. I mean, they just materialized while I was out on Saturday. They tenants downstairs never said a word to me about the garden about putting table and chairs out there. I'm really appalled, I would never do something so arrogant. I could never watch as someone else did all the hard work and then when things are prettier, neater and weather is getting better saunter out and settle on to enjoy the space. The nerve. It bugs my landlady too (I adore her) because this has been a problem even when she lived here. The woman who owns downstairs doesn't contribute a thing monetarily or come by and work in the garden then tells her tenants that they can use the garden. The nerve of some people!! Last year, I stopped maintaining the garden after a while to stop them using it. It worked but the garden looked like crap and it made me a bit sad to look at it and embarrassed to have people over for parties out and has made that much more work for me to do this year. But I'm making progress. Things are shaping up nicely.

Sunday I'd wanted to get some work done in the garden before going off to a museum exhibition. I couldn't they were out there, not weeding, just sitting at the table. Did I mention that I don't even like the look of their table and chairs either?? What to do? What to do?

I decided that to not let things linger too long I would have to do something today. I also decided that there was no reason for me to feel defensive about the situation because they didn't even bother to talk to me about what they were going to do. I told a friend that I wondered if they were taking the 'it's better to ask forgiveness than permission' approach to this. Surely, the remembered that there had been a table and chairs out in the garden when they moved in months ago.

So, I took action. This afternoon, I moved the unsightly table and chairs onto the unsightly concrete alcove below my bedroom window, completely out of my sight but just outside their apartment windows. Yay me. Later, in between rain drizzles I managed to get errands done (including a bit of groceries), I got the last of the pruning in the front done (that is now ready for new plantings!), and this evening it stopped long enough for me to go into the garden and weed out a bunch of stuff along the flower bed's edge and the path. Ivy and other vines will now become compost.

my garden chair


Then I was hoping to sit outside for a bit and read one of my new photography books for a while before coming in. But as is the way with English weather, as I was getting to the end of my weeding energies it began to rain yet again, but more steadily this time so in I am for the night.

runner bean blossoms


the first strawberry -- it was sweet like candy!

Sleep well, all.