When others pass stress along, the answer is the vegetable garden

 Well that was an exhausting week.  I complain regularly about 5am starts but seldom am I actually dealing with emails at 6.30am and 8pm on the same days and in succession.


I’m not great on tech (despite what my parents seem to believe).  The basic nature of this blog may well be testament to that.  No doubt my more competent colleagues would rather I was better but for the sake of everyone’s sanity it is sometimes best that they assist.  This week, however, things were not really working for them either.  Upshot was I found myself logging in to a video platform for 2 days on my iPad whilst having various documents for reference on my desktop along side whilst providing (some might say playing at) tech support for another who was using my Mac to log onto the same video platform.


By the end all appeared proficient but it was not a great start.  Note to self - my Mac does not have a touch screen!


My voicemails and emails, when I was finally free, after a very solid two days were a reminder, were one needed, as to why retirement is looking so attractive and also why in my job it is going to need to be a cliff edge.  Winding down on number of days a week has no prospect of success.  


Someone rang my direct line and went straight through to voicemail.  They left a message.  They then rang Reception and were told I was unavailable but they could leave a message for me or put them through to voicemail.  They left another message on voicemail.  They then sent an email to say they had tried to get hold of me, could not get through and had left a message on voicemail.  When I rang them back, once free, I was told that they had emailed me and got a “bounce back”.  For “bounce back” read ‘out of office’ saying I was unavailable until the following day and giving alternative contacts if urgent.  I very much suspect that when I see my Secretary on Monday I shall discover that they left a message with her/on her voicemail also.


Now all my work calls/missed calls and voicemails are logged (and flagged) on my mobile as well as on my desk phone (which was flashing red) so, for me, it was pretty much sensory overload from just this one person.  At the very least one would have thought some disaster had befallen them that needed immediate attention, but no, it was entirely routine.


I would like to say this was the one but it wasn’t.  I am wondering whether the reason why life expectancy and healthy life expectancy are decreasing can be explained by the rising hysteria in the messages found on our electronic devices.  


On the slower side of life the fig jam I made towards the end of April has gone mouldy on top.  My last batch of fig jam from last year remains fine.  Maybe it is the difference between fresh and frozen figs, maybe I mis-measured the sugar, maybe the fig pieces were too large and it preserved (or didn’t as the case may be) rather than truly gelled and I should have water bathed them.  I don’t know and am a bit thrown by it.  Never had this with any jam before or, at least, not a whole batch and not so quickly.  


More positively I have started getting stuff out of the greenhouse and into the ground (or pots outside in some cases).  Every year some things do well and some things do not.  It may be a little early yet and there is still a little catch up time but this is looking like it is not my year for celeriac (I think I might just give up on that, it’s always tricky), spring onions (definitely giving up with them), kholrabi (last year was ace), Kale (again last year was good), sorrel (to be fair in its supposed planting spot it has totally failed, in the paving cracks it’s going great!).  Sweetcorn (I only had 6 that germinated - have sown some more and we shall see), Beetroot and chard are a bit intermittent but some is coming through and I have sown another couple of rows.


On the growing great side are carrots, potatoes (both in big pots), turnips, Chinese cabbage, mooli.  Last year was my first year for mooli and I was expecting this year would be my last but no, they are looking very good indeed.  Beans, tomatoes and squash are all looking very positive or I may just have started too many off!


All in all Saturday in the garden was therapeutic.  I need more days like that.


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