Action-Packed Weekend

MIL and FIL arrived on Thursday afternoon, Colin and Maureen on the Friday.

On the Friday evening MIL, FIL, Maureen and I went to see The Resurrection Man at Coldingham village hall whilst Paul and Colin went into Duns to watch the rally stage through the town. The original two nights of the play, written by local hero Mike Fenty, had been when I was in Malta. They had sold out so this extra performance was to satisfy local demand. A good time was had by all.

On to Saturday with fingers crossed. The weather forecast had been for heavy rain but the morning dawned as overcast, not too cold and, most importantly, dry. There were two planned stages past us, one in the morning then another mid afternoon. There was enough time between the two to allow people to get to us for our planned barbecue and get away again if they didn't want to watch the cars. As it turned out the morning stage was a damp squib - early in the running there was a bad accident with one of the cars around Billiemains and the stage was stopped. The barbecue, however, was a great success. And perfectly timed - we were just packing up and people thinking about heading home before the roads were re-shut when some light rain started to fall. Reg stayed on to watch the afternoon session - a good view from our patio and easy to dive back in to the sunroom if the weather deteriorated.

What could we do for entertainment on the Sunday? I had been planning an afternoon out with MIL and Maureen to Edrom and Lamberton nurseries but the rain had set in. However, it stopped late afternoon, the sun came out and a glorious evening followed on.

The question being asked was 'Have you seen the hole?'. Margaret had asked Paul so he had gone to look a few days earlier. The previous evening Paul and the dogs showed Colin. So Sunday evening we all had an expedition to take a look. Through the field just before the bridge and then turn left towards the river.

The first photographs I took could not convey the size of the hole, but this one gives an idea of the scale. We don't know what happened but are guessing that the river/burn backed up here when it flooded and then just carried away the soil when it receded again.

Colin and Maureen were going home the next day. I suggested to Maureen that we reschedule the garden nursery outing to the next morning, weather permitting, followed by a late lunch here and they depart in the afternoon. And so it came to pass...

We three set off around 10.30 a.m., with lunch scheduled for 2 p.m.

Edrom nursery first. I had never walked around their woodland plant garden before, but we were drawn in with the rhododendrons putting on a magnificent display. Then a browsing of the rockery and scree beds before on to the serious business. One slow walk around the plants and then the second pass with basket.

Plants bought, a drive across Coldingham moor to the A1 and back towards Berwick. All was going well until, rounding a corner, and traffic jam. Luckily this turned out to be road works/traffic lights - replacing a section of crash barrier - and we weren't held up for too long. Turn off shortly afterwards towards Lamberton. Some more purchases and enough time to explore the garden there before setting off for home over Lamberton moor. We had timed it to perfection, pulling up into the drive with a couple of minutes to spare.

I carried my first box of plants up to my bench, and Maureen brought the second one. Colin 'She's not bought all those plants has she?'. I quite truthfully replied that they were mine... her's were already stowed in their car :)

I couldn't get around to positioning/planting them yesterday. The latest excitement is that the Duns/Preston road was shut for resurfacing yesterday and the same appears to be true today. As a result the road past us is the diversion route! More than making up for the lack of cars from the rally. We even have a number 34 bus going past on a regular basis...

To get over my gardening withdrawal symptoms I weeded the herb bed yesterday evening. Oh what joy when I discovered baby lavender plants hiding in amongst the weeds. And the garlic chives that I sowed and had given up all hope of germinating were hiding in there.

The other ongoing entertainment has been the progress of my peas. I am now up to 31 germinated out of 36 sown. I don't think the missing 5 are going to come through now. But on the whole the ones that have made it are growing rapidly. They should be ready for planting out before the week is out.

Spring Sales

It was the Jim Clark rally last weekend and we decided to have a barbecue. Alex was up for the weekend - gold cup bridge match with Paul on the Sunday. We had also invited a few more friends over.

We had bought a cheapo Aldi's gazebo last year and it got its first outing last Saturday. It was perfectly adequate but we did have a few worries as every now and then there was a strong gust of wind. We could just see the Berwickshire News headlines - gazebo causes rally chaos.

Geoff and Joy, friends of Paul who he had met via the BBO online bridge site arrived first - they were up in this area for a short holiday. Penny arrived next armed with enough home-made scones to open a shop. Jean and Sandy next, with a rhubarb crumble which needed to be cooked and home-made icecream - this was a big hit. We were getting worried whether Reg would make it before the road was closed - he did.

I had noticed an advert in the paper for a wool/yarn sale at Moondance Wools, Springhill Farm at Coldingham over the bank holiday weekend. With my newly refreshed enthusiasm for knitting I thought this would be worth investigating. Jean not only knew exactly where it was but also knew the owner and her friend who holds weaving/craft workshops. We arranged to go together the following day, and also to visit the fuchsia nursery near Grantshouse which neither of us had ever been to.

I arrived at Jean's a little before 11 a.m. and after a cup of coffee we set off. Jean told Sandy we would be back around 1 p.m. for lunch, but he was very sceptical. He was right - we spent far too long at Moondance Wools as there were just so many to choose from. I eventually settled on some Shetland wool in pale blue, turquoise and mauve, one ball of pink silk/cotton and two balls of silk/mohair/wool mix multicoloured turquoise/purple/blue. We decided that there was not enough time to go to the nursery...

I have started on my next jumper. It is not going as smoothly as the last one - a couple of the sections hadn't quite worked for the colours/design so I have been ruthless in undoing them. I think I am back on track now.

On Friday it was the Paxton plant and goody sale. I had been planning on taking or going with Anne but she emailed me to say that she would meet me there as she was planning on filling her boot so may not be room if I bought a lot too. As it was I arrived before her and managed to park in the village hall car park. I was on my second spree when I saw her, Jenny, James and Emma. All in all I was very pleased with my haul. First load - one hosta, verbascum and campanula. Second load - one geranium Kashmir (white), two Dicentra (white), and two unknowns (one is low growing ground cover, the other looks like a perennial of some sort) but both in nice large clay pots. Total spent £11.50.

I planted them all except the ground cover yesterday, along with two alpine asters and a carex I got in Homebase's half price section, in the trellis bed and in the space I gained from the osteospermum die-back. I got an extra bargain with the campanula - I found there were two in the pot!

This afternoon was the Allanton plant sale. There was no sign of Anne...

This was a lot better than the last time I went, when I thought it was overpriced. So now waiting for a new home are: one hardy geranium - type unknown but I think it is more of a ground cover type, one peach-coloured day lily, one small rosemary, one small sage, one polemonium and six dark blue irises in a plastic planter. Total spent £9.40.

Jim Clark Rally 2007

It was the Jim Clark Rally over the weekend.

Paul's parents arrived on Friday afternoon, shortly followed by Colin and Maureen. We had arranged to eat out at The Wheatsheaf in Swinton in the evening, as it was the latter two's wedding anniversary.

The rally was due to go past our house twice on Saturday, in the late morning and then again in the late afternoon. I had been watching the weather forecast as it had been raining all week leading up to it, but the BBC had been forecasting sun. Come the day it had switched to showers...

Luckily it was dry albeit cold in the morning. We moved the benches to the front of the lawn to get a grandstand seat. There was a small film crew on the other side of the road from us - apparently we were exactly the midpoint of the stage.

The rally got underway on time, but there was a large gap after the first few cars had gone past. We later heard that one car had failed to take the right-hand turn at the end of the Billiemains road and ploughed straight into the ditch at the other side of the road. James, one of our neighbours, had been spectating at that location, and described it as 'awesome'...

I took the opportunity to take the dogs out and wandered around the corner to Margaret's. She had erected a small marquee and had quite a few guests there too. Paul had walked down to the end of the bridge to try to find out whether the stage had been cancelled, but could not find anyone who knew. There were a couple of young 'safety' marshals there, who were kicking stones onto the road just to make it interesting.

After about half an hour the rally got going again.

Luckily the rain was still holding off so our planned barbecue went ahead. We were just finishing when the first of the showers started so we packed up and headed back indoors. There were still a couple of hours until the second stage past us was scheduled.

The rain had stopped by then and we headed back out wrapped in jumpers and jackets. The road was now quite wet...

Surprisingly the dogs are not too concerned about the noise, and on the whole were happier to be outside with us than left on their own indoors. There was only one occasion when a particularly loud series of bangs from one of the cars misfiring sent Jen heading purposefully back towards the house. Poncho had no worries whatsoever.

We spotted Anne, Neil and Jenny on the other side of the river, and then shortly afterwards on the verge on the corner - they had waded across. I nipped down the side of our cowshed and across the road to say hello. The rain started up again, so I decided to head back home for the shelter of an umbrella.

It then started bucketing it down, and we all, except Colin and Paul, decided to go back indoors until it eased. Paul invited Anne, Neil and Jenny over to get out of the rain. However, they were happy standing in our garden under umbrellas still watching the rally.

It eased off again so we ventured back out for the last few cars and land rovers.

On Sunday we all walked the dogs to Edrom. About half-way there, just around a right-hand bend, a large section of hedge has been taken out on the left and a little further on an abandoned wheel arch and bumper are propped up against the fence on the right.

Paul has just spotted that the rally is going to be shown on Sky Sport 3 at 3 p.m. today and again later on Sky Sport extra... I will be looking out for my garden :)