Water and working

Friends, this post comes to you with the exciting news that the sproglet is having a nap right now and I am… …not revising!

I spent all of yesterday huddled over a chair, with severe thumb cramps, scribbling, scribbling, scribbling away, trying to write everything I knew about winter cabbage and pruning blackcurrants and the limitations of establishing lawns from seed and many other things that made my brain ache by the end of the day.

But, finally, after a good two months of revising at every second I could get, my horticulture exams are over. Results in the day before the next baby is due, so it could well be that by then I don’t care too much that two of the exams didn’t go terribly well. And, hurrah, I’m back in the world just in time for Spring to arrive. Right? Come on Spring…

It’s rather beautiful, isn’t it?

While I’ve had my head in the books, water has been slowly rising up around my Mum’s house, where we’re in temporary habitation. The picture above is her driveway on Monday morning, the trees on the banks of the road opposite reflected in the 5cm deep water, and only a thin sliver of tarmac left where there is normally a pavement.

She lives on one of the flood plains by the Thames close to Cookham, so it’s not entirely surprising that the water is encroaching. Nothing inside the house so far, which is lucky, but the water table is so high that the areas outside the front and back doors currently have a new lease of life as paddling pools.

Drip, drop… You can just make out the non-functioning drain hole at the bottom

Next door, the neighbours’ kitchen is under water, while two doors down have had loo paper floating out of the drain hole in the front drive for the past week and took delivery of a portaloo yesterday morning. So, really, we’re pretty lucky with this tranquil patch of still water.

Anyway, I’ve hundreds upon hundreds of things planned that I’ve been putting on hold “until the exams are over” — some knitting, some home organising, some baby preparation and various other bits and pieces — so I’ll be around a little more frequently in the coming weeks.

Hope you’re all well out there and see you soon!