Friends are the key

Sleep until seven and then breakfast on smoked salmon on cream cheese with toast and strong black coffee. It's cloudy this morning, but as an act of faith, put on shorts, polo shirt and sandals, but then take a sweater as insurance. Ferry Louis and Alice to school, and then take the dogs on the Westwood for their constitutional run out, the cloud is still there, but it is thinning, and the sun looks like it will burn off what's left by eleven. After delivering the dogs back to Cherry for ten fifteen, make a start on my wife's garden. In total there is about a week's work, before it can be restored into some sort of manageable order. I know this garden well, and have broken it down into bite size, digestible chunks. This morning, I tackle the front, southern, hedges and flower beds. I like gardening, as long as I can take my time and no one supervises me. I have a canvas tripod stool that I sit on for weeding, it saves my back and knees, which solves the two biggest problems. At eleven, the sun shines through, right on cue and it soon becomes very warm, so I take off my shirt, and enjoy the feel of the sun on my face and chest. Once the weeding is done, I trim the hedge and bushes. Although I own an electric trimmer, I no longer use it. The noise is really unpleasant and it removes the skill and mindfulness from the job, and hence all the joy. D. T. Suzuki quotes a Chinese peasant farmer somewhere, who refused to use a shadoof to irrigate his crops, when asked why, he replied, "because I don't want to become too machine minded!" I feel the same way, and as I am time rich, I prefer to savour the work of the moment. The job is finished by two o'clock and I have just time to drive home to Tickton and make cheese salad sandwiches and tea, which I eat in the garden, before collecting Louis at three fifteen from school. He wants to play at the swing park near my house, so we drive there, and he plays with the other children until a quarter to five, whilst I sit and chat to a grandmother from Hull, who tells me about her wartime experience as an evacuee in Baildon in West Yorkshire. Afterwards I show Louis the secret way to Grandad's house, down Carr Lane and through the snickett on to Green Lane, where I live. We leave the car parked at the swing park, which is only five hundred metres or so from my house, but when we get home, the door won't open, the lock has broken. This is a new experience for Louis and he is very put out. I compensate him with an orange ice lolly from the village post office, as we make our way back to the car. After collecting Alice and then dropping them both back at Cherry, I drive to Etton to see Sarah's ex partner, Phil. Phil's best friend, Jimmy, is a locksmith and armed with his mobile number, the problem is eventually resolved. As John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you whilst you are planning something else".