It looked like rain. In fact there had been rain earlier, as Mel experienced when she received a bit of drenching at her first good deed of the day at Eastville Park Junior parkrun. When we arrived, although the worst was over, the skies were an ominous grey like that of a basking shark as she awaits the right moment to send a cascade of krill shooting along the water cave that is her main face hole. With this hanging over us we were greeted by the sunshine that was our host and her beautifully coiffured bichon frise. After a cheery welcome and quick chat we were put to work in the garden to clear some long standing weedy residents.
With Mel's expert botanical knowledge we set to it and cleared brambles, grasses, trailing carpets of strawberry plants and other such unwanted gravel dwellers. After 90 minutes of digging, pulling, tearing and smashing we had filled the green bin (an experienced gardener's sign of a job well done). Due to the recent precipitation situation there were many snails out reveling, as is a slimy creature's joy in such conditions, so we relocated many of these little beauties as we worked, including Terence who was sitting atop the bin enjoying a wonderful view of his country estate and planning where best to take the kids for their summer holiday trip (he was torn between the swimming dish water park by the fence or the pear tree hotel). Our host was very happy with our progress. It is an activity she would not be able to do for herself and she really appreciated us coming down to help out. A great time was had by all and we will hopefully be back to finish the job sometime. Maybe in September when the many fruity trees of pears and figs will be ready for harvesting.