Armed with a strimmer (hired at moderate expense), a fourpack of chilled lager, and boundless enthusiasm, I managed to turn the jungle into a mere meadow! I allowed myself the whole weekend to do it but actually got it all done on Saturday. I now have the makings of a fine compost heap, and I can actually see earth in some places!
Above is a picture of the recently strimmed area - taken from a similar spot as the photo in the first post for comparison. Note the pile of cuttings on the near right, and next to it a pile of what can only be described as 'crap'. This pile is made up of 3 walls of a collapsed (demolished ?) shed, plus a load of other bits and bobs I found during the day. The blue water butt belongs to a neighbouring plot whose path im stood on to take the pic.
Quite a striking difference I'm sure you will agree. Certainly pleasing to see something actually happening with the plot.
I would certainly recommend the use of a strimmer to anyone who is taking on a plot with a bit of growth on it. Having said that, the day was not without its minor setbacks...
I arrived at the plot at about 10:30, which for me was a considerable feat. My Saturday mornings are usually spent studying the inside of my eyelids at great length, or nursing myself back to good health following a night at the pub. You see? My lifestyle is changing for the better already! It's going to be great when I can use the word 'wholesome' to describe my weekend to my work-mates on a Monday. So it's half ten, and I rock up to the plot (number 104 if you're interested), park the car and remove from it the mother of all strimmers. I'm used to the electric strimmers that people use in their gardens - the kind of thing you can hold with one hand and swing dangerously close to the plants in border you are edging. I used Dad's one many a time in the parents garden before I moved out, so when I was presented with a heavy petrol engined contraption - complete with face mask and harness - I was a little in awe.
Then it came to starting the thing. I looked the thing over - very few knobs and settings. Basically a choke, a trigger thing (with a setting called 'start'), and one of those pull string things to start it. I set the choke to open, the trigger to start, and pulled on the cord. No joy. I pulled again. Still no joy, but a bit of a promising sound this time. I pulled again, tried a different choke setting, pulled again, and again, and again... Yes you guessed it. I couldn't get the bugger to start. I tried for quite a long time. Rested. Tried from a different angle - pulled a muscle in my arm. Rested. Had a fag. Swore.
I must point out at this stage that in my excitement to get on with the clearing, I turned down an invitation to join my friends for a lovely full English breakfast at 'the Tenth Hole'. I say 'lovely' with some confidence, because the tearoom of our local pitch and put golf course have yet to provide anyone I know with a bad cooked breakfast. I did however invite my friends to check out the plot after they had finished.
When my friend Paul arrived with his girlfriend Sarah, I was subjected to a mild piss take from Paul for not having started yet, and was made aware by Sarah that I could in fact have joined them for breakfast. Needless to say I was well aware of this fact, but chose to respond with a chuckle rather than anything more heart-felt. The mild piss-take then turned into something else all together when Paul proceeded to start the strimmer with his first try. I was torn between anger and relief, but the relief won through in the end! After all, I could now crack on.
At this point my other would-be breakfast buddies Jon and Claire turn up. Cue Paul's 'funny' story about starting the strimmer first time, and of course the resulting hilarity. I figure the best defense is the ear muffs that came with the strimmer. With those on I only have to look at the smug amused faces, and can avoid hearing the words coming out of their mouths.
So im strimming. I have 4 people watching me, and im considerably less advanced through the job than I had anticipated. I think I had been strimming for about 3 minutes when it started to rain. 'Rain' is not really descriptive enough to be honest. It was one of those downpours that soaks you to the skin in a matter of seconds. I look to the sky and silently curse. The face shield I am wearing allows me to do this without drowning. The four onlookers scramble into Jon's nearby car as quickly as they are able to whilst laughing and pointing at me. I decided to grin and bear it. They left me to it, and luckily it was just a quick shower and was the only one all day.
They came, they mocked, they left. Nice.
So the rest of the day was spent strimming, with frequent stops to extend the length of the nylon cord after it had snapped off. The previous owner of the plot (God rest his soul) seemed to be particularly fond of banging metal stakes into the ground so that about 8 inches of them stuck out. Im sure they served some purpose, but to me they were just something to break the strimming wire on. I did this about 20 times during the day, and eventually mastered the art of threading out replacement cord. He also seemed a have a penchant for randomly placed holes. Very useful if you are trying to fall over or twist your ankle, but pretty annoying if not.
I also ran out of petrol. This is something I should have perhaps anticipated, but foolishly I didn't bring any for refuelling. I asked a guy in a nearby plot if he could keep an eye on the strimmer while I popped to the garage, and he very kindly gave me some petrol - complete with 2 stroke! Im very glad he did, because throughout the day I had to re-fuel 3 times.
I met a few people from neighbouring plots, and must say they are really nice people. I have been told a lot of new names - none of which I can remember - and was really happy that people took the time to stop and chat and introduce themselves.
I think it's going to be a good summer. I have a number of projects planned, and of course I will need to mark up some beds and get digging. More about that later though im sure.
I woke up on Sunday feeling as though I had been walked on by an elephant! I used muscles that I had forgotten existed. My arm still hurts when I do a 'starting a strimmer' motion with it, but im sure that'll go away. As I write this I also have a very achy lower back, but thats probably due to Sundays activities as much as Saturdays.
Here's a pic of the plot 'mid strim'...
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