Back in the Swing at Work and Home

It's been almost a week since we returned from Australia and I'm gradually getting back in the swing of things.  I spent Thursday, Friday morning and Saturday working, which was a bit of a baptism of fire.  Things weren't too bad at work, but I have had to spend quite a bit of time getting the stockroom as tidy as I like.  I hate to work in messy surroundings, so the hoover (minus hose and brush, as they've disappeared) came out and I was down on my knees vacuuming the whole of the stockroom floor on Saturday morning. It felt better once it was done.  I felt back in control of things a bit more.

On returning to work, I found out that the Shop Manager was going off on leave for 10 days, so it would just be myself and my fellow Deputy Manager running the shop for the duration. Luckily, we've got lots of interns for the next week or two, so that helps, especially as we both need to attend some training elsewhere on Thursday.

As a consequence, this week is going to be a busy one.  I'll be doing the training in my own time, plus working my usual 2 and a half days. I don't mind on occasion, so long as it's not a regular thing. The past week has been a good one, though, with targets well exceeded and the stockroom under control.  It might be different when I get there this morning!!

I'm still a little jet lagged and find myself waking at 5.30 am most mornings, but to be honest I like waking early and getting up early, as I can get on with things. I usually hit a low after lunch and want a nap. Obviously if I'm at work I can't, but when at home I do and the cycle continues.  I'm sure that by the end of the week I'll be completely back to normal.

When I've not been at work I've been grocery shopping, doing laundry and gardening at home and on the allotment. I decided that the jungle that was our garden was getting too much, so I've spent most of my time taming it.  I've been pruning my apple and cherry trees, which I don't think got pruned at all last autumn, as I was so busy at work. They were looking a bit crazy, so I'm in the process of giving them an almighty prune back.  It will do them good.

I've also actually started on a redesign of the main border in the garden.  A couple of bushes, that I really like but had started to get woody and had outgrown the garden, have been removed, and I'm going to fill the spaces with some new plants and give the garden a new look.  It's been over 10 years since I created this border, so it's well overdue. It's quite exciting.

We're also intending to re-organise the far end of the garden into a seating area.  The little greenhouse is rotting and collapsing, so will have to go and we don't use it anyway anymore.  The hot compost bin will be moved out.  The potting table is also rotting and falling apart, so this will go too and we're going to open up a section of the fence in front, for easier access and create a nice quiet seating area here. At the moment, it is filled with cut off branches from my pruning efforts, that all need bagging up and taking to the tip.  It will all get done eventually.

I've also tidied up the decking and potted on some things that were pot bound. It's looking a lot tidier but there's heaps more to do this summer/autumn. Here's a picture of progress so far.

This young fox paid a visit as I was sat writing this post.  He seems to like to use the shed as a look out post.

With regard to the allotment, all is going well.  It's starting to get a lot more productive now, which is good.  Here's a couple of pictures of harvests from this past week:

I also cut myself a few dahlias which look very pretty on the kitchen window sill.

It feels good to have the energy to do some proper gardening again, instead of just pottering and not really getting stuck in.  I'll keep you posted on progress.