A Series of Understatements

• It has been a little bit quiet on the blogging front.  That is, I have not updated for three months.  Three months!  I have been at the Hill, just not saying much anything about it.
• It wasn't very Summery, even in Summer.  That is, unless you were in the south east where someone was looking down on the Olympics; the wonderful weather adding to a phenomenal event. everywhere else it was wet, and cool.  Very.

• It hasn't been the best year for potatoes.  That is, this half bucket is all that I have of the maris piper main crop.
• We didn't do too badly in the Show.  That is, between mum, big sister Helen and me, we made a good dent in the prize money for the classes involving potatoes, beans, peas, rhubarb, fruit cake, chutney and sponge cake

• Allotment holders are quite nice people.  That is, in recent weeks I've had Reg-next-plot offer to dig the potatoes for me (thank goodness I turned him down, I would never have lived down the tiny crop); woodchippings Paul offer to put some bags of manure to one side on the plot for me when the it is next delivered as I'm not often there when it arrives, and it is soon snapped up; Nick and Pat from down the bottom giving me a huge bag of winter squash after I said that my squash plant had been done for by the slugs, and the replacement seeds didn't germinate.
• I managed to pick a few courgettes.  That is, the two plants I put in this year cropped heavily and continuously from mid August to last weekend, when a frost knocked the last few on the head

• The plot could do with a bit of a tidy up.  That is, the Winter digging and clearing still awaits.
• Change happens. That is, the annual round of musical chairs has just happened with allotment holders either upsizing, downsizing or moving plots.  The most notable in terms of my near neighbours is that Jody has handed over to his mate Shaun (who has been helping out for the last couple of years), so that he can concentrate on his fundraising activities for Birmingham Children's Hospital.