It’s been a while.

Like the title its been a while since I last blogged, its not that I have been overly busy just a lot on my mind, since December when I had the heart scan at the UCLH (University College London Hospital) and my nuclear medicine appointment and the doctor at Bishop Stortford deciding if they are going to open me up or not?

Well I got the results a few days ago and it’s a tricky one, they are not going to do the operation which is good but only be cause they first want to try and fix it all with medication, and I have not been having chest pains for sometime, the doctor mind set if its not broken then don’t fix it, I agree.

A bit of street news since Dale farm was closed down a few months ago, the travellers that have been moved out have scattered and we have noticed a slight in crease in crime nothing too bad no violence but the post office owner Cogan has had his Mercedes van hit 2 times in the space of 2 weeks the cataleptic converter being the object of thieving hands desire.

And Mr Newman’s shed (the local gardener and tree surgeon) also was broken into and the chains for his chain saws being taken a fair amount around half a dozen and 20 gallons of petrol, he keeps spare, also there is one of the farmers who stores unused buses on his land the diesel from several of the buses have been nicked as well as heating Oil from tanks, being sold on for a cheaper price, the police and residents are now looking for a strange looking transit type van.

I too have found a few strange things even the metal thieves are about, the bridge at the bottom of Church land has been stolen, and this was reported to the police and council who have dealt with this problem very fast kudos to them.

It really hits home noting is sacred anymore, I mean the bridge the water is deep and considering it comes from Standstead Airports sewers its not very clean, a child could easily fall into its murky waters, and quickly be lost to sight it its rapid moving waters.

So much so that on the 11th April there was a Police Community meeting at the village hall, and the shock of that was there was only 4 of the street residents that attended most of the people came from Matching Green and Hatfield Heath and a few from Lower Sheering which we call the estate.

One good thing to come of it was I was able to join the local Neighbourhood watch, which covers the whole area, and I got some stickers for the window and a no cold callers sticker for the front door, as part of making our home more secure I have installed the CCTV in the kitchen and so we can see from the front room with out being seen, so we can decide on if we want to open the door or not, moving the whole thing took a fair bit of doing and I had to use a fair amount of extending wire so the thing could stretch around the cottage.

I think enough of the negative stuff and a little positive involvement now! For the past 4 weeks I been planting my seeds and getting my strawberry’s ready for planting the S are already out on the frame at the back of the garden and in one planter, fingers crossed I get a bumper harvest a few times this year, already they are showing signs of lots of flowers which turn to strawberry’s soon after. The onions are doing well, I have germinated the seeds and I’m not starting to put them into individual plugs a few at a time so I can make them stretch a little more, and get more from my garden. This year I am going to try and plant the Alys Fowler way and mix veg and plants together to get more out of the garden, I have melons, carrots and soon Turnips in lots of seed trays as well as some flowers that Fox loves namely Lavender and some Honesty purple and white.

I was thinking of getting a small green house you know the one you can get for under £10 and put it in the back of the garden so it can get the full sun, which gives me the chance to grow more plants and get more growing, also this year I might get a few tomato plants growing since we or Fox tends to use a lot of tomatoes in her food and we use them in making our curry, so far we only have two but I plan to get a little more maybe 8 plants and 3-4 different varieties cooking, salad and eating raw.

More than ever I really want to stop buying vegetables from the supermarket this year and see how much I can grow myself, I have noticed that a lot of veg and fruit is tasteless and in some cases very bitter when you bite into them, I am looking forward to home made pies and crumbles thought out the summer and autumn and fingers crossed the winter.

Obi has met a new friend called Archie a Norfolk terrier a absolutely delightful little chap, the have been walking together playing with chickens and giving the said birds a ride on his back and being pecked by the feathered ladies.

Since the bridge has been cordoned off it can no longer take the weight of cars or vans the structure is falling apart and the council said that it will take up to 18 months to repair, more and more dog walkers have been using Church lane as a dog path, which is great on one hand but its starting to get another name from some of the more responsible owners and companions of our 4 legged friends… Dog shit lane.

To say its been dry is an understatement during March we have seen tee-shirt weather lovely long walks in the Countryside me and Obi have just about got everywhere possible but come April and remember there is a hose pipe ban no in full force for the past week from Monday 16th to Monday the 23rd it’s rained so much surely there cant be a hose pipe ban after all that water? Still I don’t want to test the water and end up with a £1000 fine (no pun intended lol)

We are now on our 8th day of constant rain it really is April showers all the way, Obi as well as me got soaked but we met up with Archie who was in his little Jacket so both dogs went for a walk around the high lane and church lanes, both dogs wrapped up in there self’s peeing sniffing and generally being dogs.