Friday 23 March 2018

A Day In The Polytunnel.

Its been raining for a change, here in the Emerald Isle.  Can see how it got its name.  At least we have our dear old poly-tunnel/thingummy jig.  Somewhere to sow carrots, pot plants and make cuttings, sit on my deckchair and contemplate the meaning of life...?

I keep saying I will get myself a wireless, even transistor radio. But I don't like listening to a lot of today's music, the news and the flipping weather.  That's what we have windows for.  We look out of them and we see what kind of rain it is.  

Warm rain means its summer and cold rain means its the rest of the time or winter.  I have said it before:  The Romans named Ireland - Hibernia.  Or the land of eternal winters to be precise.  Even though they never came here.  They still gave it a name.  Hmm...?

If it was an allotment, I would probably make friends, sup tea, home-brew, put the world to rights, swap seeds, cuttings, give advice, call people, tell jokes..?  Might even grow some vegetables!

I am starting to think living on a smallholding is too lonely?  Do you? 

So what have you been up to in the poly-tunnel Dave?  Thought you would never ask.  I will tell you next time.

Here's a bit of allotment humour for you!



24 comments:

  1. Lovely joke. I saw it coming but I still laughed. A sign of good comedy.

    I watched the China v. Wales match in 3 minutes on a YouTube. Gowowowowowaaal the guy kept shouting.

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  2. Yes it was good with an allotment theme.

    How does it go?

    It's like that Liverpool song: "Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool,Liverpool...?"



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  3. Classic humour....the rain and the Ronnie's. I needed a smile.
    Everything growing like mad here, especially the clover or oxalis. Lots of sunshine, bit of rain.

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  4. Glad you enjoyed the sketch LA. We watched the Durrells on Sunday and we both said we would love their house.

    If it's clover it will be a legume. Legumes are great for adding nitrogen to the soul with their root nodules. So it should be very fertile land. Could do with your sun. Thanks.

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  5. I watched some of the Durrells but switched over to the Chateau in France which is good and real life. I don't know if you have ever seen them and their chateau but it grows on you and they work hard. I like the Durrells house though.

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  6. Yes I watched them both last Sunday. I would make the chateau lake into a fishing business. Wouldn't mind a walled kitchen garden. We have seen a few do er upper houses like the Durrells in Portugal. One day perhaps?

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    1. Do you remember the one several years ago where the bloke made a carp lake in Brittany? It was very successful, lots of hard work, but it turned out alright in the end. The couple in the chateau have grown on me.

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  7. Not sure about the carp lake in Brittany. I would love a lake with Lily pads and full of fish. I have watched him for several years in different television shows. They are very entertaining and it looks a lovely place to live. Property prices aren't like they are in England.

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  8. We once had a polytunnel and related life in Ireland - I miss it some days - but never the rain.
    I used to listen to the wireless, RTE, most of the day while working. Now, I do it online, Starting Sunday mornings with the Sunday Miscellany and Saturday nights with Philip King's South Wind Blows.

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  9. Hello Sabine. I was brought up in Lancashire and now I live where my dad was born in Ireland. I forgot about Sunday Miscellany. I notice on your blog you live in the Rhine valley. I was in Loreley for the night of the progress last year. Thanks!

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  10. I have polytunnel envy, I hope you’re not toooooo lonely :(

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  11. Hi Franny and Danny. Yes polytunnels are great, especially on rainy days. I like your great sense of humour. I just think you have a lot more laughs and a social life when you rent a allotment that living on a smallholding in the countryside. Thanks!

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  12. Busy time of the year Dave for vegetable growers and smallholders so to be able to get on with a few things if the weather is inclement is good.
    When I was about 7 years old my uncle Alf visited and was he was looking at a roll of wall paper my dad was using to decorate the living room with and I heard him say "vile". Even as a young boy I was rather taken aback at such outspokenness. Years later I realised he must have said "vinyl".

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  13. Go to the top of the class Philip. What a brilliant tale. Hope you're well and thanks!

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  14. Philip's story reminds me of my dad. He was man who always called a spade a spade. In the 1950s when everybody else had "linoleum" on the floor we had "oil cloth" ,-)

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  15. They don't make 'em like they used to.... I say this in regard to the Two Ronnies, and other famous but long lost comedians.

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    1. You're right Valerie. I watch them and my favourite television gardeners on good old You Tube.

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  16. I still call it oil cloth Gwil! Which is probably its proper name. Its cloth made from oil. We call the couch a couch not a settee and the television is the the telly (not tv) and the lounge is called the front room. They call the 'airing' cupboard in Ireland: "The hot press." Thanks!

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    1. The airing cupboard is a great thing. You never see them here. We call the telly the box. What's on the box? We've just put some cushioned floor covering down in the kitchen. It looks like oil cloth to me. I've been for a run in the woods and now I'm having my reward - a tinny as the Ozzies call it. It's actually a Puntigamer. It's from the brewery owned by the owner of a football team called Sturm Graz (great name, eh?).

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  17. Yes the airing cupboard is a great thing Gwil.

    Another thing they say in Ireland:

    "I'm going for the messages ".

    Or in other words.

    I'm going shopping".

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    1. And often enough, you will hear "I am after going for the messages", which is incorporating the Irish Gaelic grammar (the after perfect) into spoken English.

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  18. Wow !!! absolutely fantastic blog. I am very glad to have such useful information.

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