The aches and pains have subsided and the garden is actually looking pretty good, all in all I am quite proud of myself for the amount I have achieved in such a short time. Its funny how the sound of summer differs from the sound of winter. On the first sunny day of spring there is the almost simultaneous high pitched sound of dozens of electric mowers starting up. Then there is the sound of people cranking two and four stroke engines with much muttering and cursing as they try and coax some life into small bore petrol engines that have been laid up for almost six months. To me that is one of the funnier sounds of spring and summer, the crank, the put put put, then silence followed firstly by curses, questions, recriminations, then threats.
For example, “Oh shit its not starting, did you put any petrol in this thing?, Its your fault you should have cleaned it before it was put away last year” and “well it wasnt me who used it last” and finally, “You bastard, if you dont start, your going to the fucking scrapheap”. Then there is the altogether different sound of cogs and chains meshings as the carbon neutral mob get their “green” push and cylinder mowers out. You can almost hear the smugness oozing out of every pore. It goes along with the sentence followed shortly after of ” I say darling lets get the cycles out and go for a ride along the prom”. This is in stark contrast to others who are popping tinnies, bottles or muttering “Comon, shove the kids into the four by four and lets go for a drive in the country”. In general though its not long before the air is filled with the smell of newly mown grass followed by the tradional sound of bottle tops being popped.
It was while I was pondering such thoughts that I realised my antipodean friends, the Tiler, the Printer and others would be turning the clocks back and preparing for Autumn down under as their own summer finishes. Would they be emptying swiming pools and getting fleecy thermal underwear out as the weather turns to a bitter 18c or less? Would they be worrying if they had enough lagging to prevent burst pipes this year? Somehow I doubt it but here’s to absent friends, you are sorely missed and may we all meet up again one day soon.