By Elizabeth Wewiora

I met with one gentleman. Mr R, and his neighbouring plot owner, Mrs M today – who both seemed to find the allotment site as a constant source for conversation, opinion and amusement. Mr R has had his plot for over 50 years, and over this time has seen many other plot owners come and go, ‘some friends and some foes’. Mr R and Mrs M were discussing why he had recently decided to part with his glassless greenhouse. Despite Mr R recommending to Mrs M that a greenhouse structure was the perfect housing and protection for raspberry trees, he himself was now offering his own structure for sale, 20p or best offer. Mr R added, ‘What is the point, the bloody buggers (birds) still attack my raspberry bushes and I have had a rubbish season growing them anyway’. Mrs M then responded by pointing out that the only reason she even bothered keeping her own dilapidated greenhouse was because of the advice of Mr R about utilising them as a shelter for fruit trees. Mr R pointed out that Mrs M should know by now never to bother listening to what he had to say. In fact Mr R suggested that the best advice he could give her was to never listen to Mr R’s advice.

Mr R was happy to sell his greenhouse structure to another plot owner at the top of the allotment hill for a reasonable 10p profit.