AUTUMN LEAVES

The leaves have begun to fall. Yes, they look very pretty, all those russets and golds (when else do people use the word russet?). However, if you live next to a wood, and under the shade of a big beech tree, then they can quickly become a bit of a pain. Dry leaves simply wither away to nothing over time; but wet leaves in gutterings turn into a swampy mess that requires said gutterings to be unblocked (by me). I was up a ladder in August unblocking them all, and they are already full to bursting again. So I will have to go up again before long. The only difference this time is that the blocked water in them will be ten degrees colder.

There are also an awful lot of them. I was reminded of this when I trimmed our hedge this afternoon. My wife cheerily announced that she wanted the height of the hedge reduced by a foot or so, so that she had a better view from the dining room window. When we bought this house, we inherited a large number of farm and gardening implements, including an electric hedge trimmer; so I could hardly plead a lack of tools in order to get out of doing it. Little did I realise just how hard on the forearms it is to reduce the height of a 30 metre long hedge, or just how many barrowloads of twigs and leaves it produces. Thankfully, you only have to trim it twice a year.

Still, my wife was pleased. Which I suppose is compensation enough. Now she is just waiting for me to clear out the guttering ......

Walter Blotscher