I wish I’d listened to the teacher

Poor Gardener Dave (and Sam). The weather today was absolutely foul and yet they laboured away, mattocking, digging, shovelling…they really earned their money. In fact they probably didn’t get paid enough. At one point Dave told Mirinda that he wished he’d listened to the teacher in class because he’d probably have a nice warm inside job rather than be wet and miserable and covered in mud.

Still, they persevered and were happy little workers regardless of the conditions. I felt very sorry for them. We gave them a bottle of sancerre each for Christmas as some sort of middling compensation for the rotten work we’ve had them do this year. I think they were rather chuffed.

By the time they’d finished and headed off for their next job, the garden was looking very tidy. They’d dug up an old tree stump, reduced a mound of dirt to the flat, blown away all the leaves and did some weeding out the front. It all looked perfect.

The girls inspect the work in a brief moment of rain abatement.

As for me…I didn’t go anywhere. The rain didn’t stop until just before sunset (Mirinda told me the sunset in town was glorious but we didn’t see it here) so all three of us stayed inside most of the day. The puppies weren’t too happy with that but, as I explained to Emma, none of us would have enjoyed walking in the rain and she would have probably lost her tennis ball. Freya just went back to sleep.

Mirinda, meanwhile, was sitting on a panel at a conference talking about private providers…as you do. She thought it went okay but was a bit annoyed that she was only asked one question after her bit while the other speakers were asked lots. I told her that that was because her piece was super clear and succinct and needed no clarification. She didn’t sound convinced.

Here’s a photo from her recent graduation ceremony. The photos only just appeared on FB and, I hate to admit it, I stole it to include here. I do feel justified though because firstly, FB advertises my blog and secondly, I feel like I had a hand in making the college a success too.

That’s an out of focus Sarah on the right. She looks like she’s asleep.