Today is Sunday 10th of January, it has been snowing for several days and I am imprisoned indoors again. This is the second January that I have been incarcerated in the house. Last year was due to having had an operation on my foot, this year it is toothache. Not an ordinary toothache you understand, one which you can keep at bay with the odd paracetamol, oh no, this is a raging all powerful pain which is grasping my whole jaw (top and bottom), my ear and, in fact, most of my head. To make matters worse the dentist has cancelled two appointments because of the weather. What is the matter with people these days? I well remember walking the five miles to work in Castle Street in previous snowy winters.
The nearest I have got to gardening this month is watching reruns of “Rosemary and Thyme” on the TV. I haven’t even had the strength of character to go and pick my winter supply of Brussels sprouts and broccoli. The veggie patch might just as well be 1000 miles away so far is it beyond my capabilities. The packets of garlic and broad beans waiting to be planted are staring reproachfully at me from the kitchen worktop.
My brave little pansies (which I rashly stated would flower all winter) resemble cooked spinach but I know they will recover; it is astonishing that plants turned soggy by the cold can pop back into life. I don’t think I can include in that statement the geraniums I left covered in several layers of fleece in the greenhouse. I am very much afraid it will be adios to them but I still have one indoors which seems to be surviving my neglect and I am hopeful of getting some cuttings from it in the Spring.
I haven’t even forayed into the garden to take advantage of a beautiful photographic opportunity beckoning to me - the radiant orange berries of my Iris Foetidissima posing against the brilliant white background of snow. It never fails to amaze me how a seemingly drab Spring flower can produce such wonderful Winter colour – well worth growing. The added bonus is that the pesky blackbirds leave it alone; they have gobbled every last berry from my Pyracantha.
I am going to try again for the dentist tomorrow so I will swathe my long scarf around my head (making a good impression of Marley’s ghost) and brave the cold. Hopefully, if it stops snowing my dentist will be there. I bet if I had not turned up for two appointments because of the weather he would have charged me a cancellation fee!
T he Village Witch
