It’s Tuesday morning, everyone's back into a new week at work apart from us retired people. What a shame the weekend was so cold and wet, yet Monday to Friday last week was lovely and warm even hot at times. Nobody likes to see that do they…


We are having our wallpaper paste this morning and I ask Christine what’s on her agenda for today. I am of course looking in the Black Book to see what I've got planned. She tells me, that as the rain's stopped, she is ‘Dressing the Outdoor Room’.
What’s all that about, I have obviously missed something again, I’m confused.


Well we have just finished the part of the garden outside the back door and kitchen and turned it into a paved patio area, there’s a bench, an arbour, a couple of chairs, etc.


'Not yet the finished Room'




But that’s not enough, it appears that we now have to ‘dress’ the area and turn it into a room. It appears that gardens aren’t just gardens anymore they are a series of rooms and you walk from one to the other each leading to something different.
Christine has been watching TV and reading magazines again. Naturally I’m confused as we already have a Garden Room which is inside and now we having a room in the garden which is outside. I wonder if going back to work is an option?


So to ‘Dressing the Garden’. Christine is surprised that I don’t understand and wonders what I thought all the items were that came home with us from our travels. I look around and see the metal turtle, the conch shells, the paintings, oil lamps, a candelabra that had been rusting over winter that I thought was for the tip, pots, plants, etc. and then I remember the meat pies and think hang on there’s another story here. It is of course me who’s once again out touch. Our good friends Ian and Denese called in and within minutes Denese and Christine are discussing where to put the mirrors in the outside room. What! I leave them to get on with it. So I will just say at the moment that Christine is busy snipping and pruning and working with cushions and decorations creating the room in the garden.


I think it’s fair to say that ever since we started the refurbishment and extension of our cottage last September, Christine has been planning for and looking forward to the pretty bit, the finishing touches bit, the colours and decoration bit and with all the mess and upheaval we have had I think she deserves to be indulged.

What I am looking forward to is getting rid of the 3’6” pile of magazines next to her chair and losing the 32 gardening programmes that take up 78% of the Sky Planner.


Also, I assume we will eventually stop watching the house and garden make over programmes and Ann Maurice, Matt James, Monty Don, Kirstie Allsopp, Phil Spencer and many more will become a thing of the past and we can get back to watching more football. Christine’s looking forward to the World Cup - not.
Interestingly I see that Kim Wilde is a gardener now. That shows how old I am, I remember her being a Kid in America but even worse I also remember her dad being A Teenager in Love.