Beechgrove gardener I am not

We have negotiated a continued rental of the house until the end of May.

As a result of the lockdown restrictions we thought the likelihood of holiday bookings going ahead was unlikely so we contacted the owners and asked what they would want for an extension of our rental period.

They came back with a proposal that they would reduce the monthly rent by 100 Euros per month if we would water the plants.

At this point we did not know what the marina was going to charge and if it was the “normal” summer rates we couldn’t really justify or afford both the marina and the house. However the marina is going to just extend our winter rate in the meantime, which is very fair of them. Normally by now we would be off sailing and anchoring a lot of the time, foc, but until / if sailing restrictions are lifted we are stuck and we thought it would be better in the house for social distancing.

The garden was beginning to get overgrown and I offered to strim the grass and tidy it up in addition to watering the plants etc.

Initially the son and daughter (who are in Athens) didn’t like to take us up on it but as April progressed we got a hand delivered letter by her Dad from Myrsini, her mum.

The whole family are lovely. The letter is below.

Let the battle begin………

The vegetable patch, eh no garden, was at least waist high by now. It was a Hobbit’s hideaway. I’m sure I saw Bilbo polishing his ring in the long grass one evening.

The gumby man look is my snake protection, lol

I have done my finger in starting the strimmer, seriously!

Perhaps it’s a curse from Bilbo after my quip about his ring.

It had better get better for sailing though. As it is I can all but lift a glass of wine, but I struggle on.

The pictures follow the Month of April from jungle…

  to paradise……

Bonny eh ?