THE ENGLISH GARDENER

I am a shadow of my former self having spent yesterday hurling myself against walls. Server down. I will get to yesterday's comments as soon as possible.

So this is Justin, the English gardener and it is a stealth shot. He was shifting earth. He arrived in Italy at about the same time as we did, fresh from an ecological course at Chelmsford Agricultural College. He went to work for a crooked English real estate agent, didn't like it and went freelance. He acquired an Italian girlfriend and then a son. He was not entirely reliable at the time. Scheduled to come say, on a Monday, he would arrive on a Monday a week later.

We did not need him often but we had no lawn and no space for one, just a narrow path along a cliff. So, in the Italian manner, we did a small land fill. Chestnut logs were driven into the ground, criss-crossed and filled with earth. The builder did this but it was Justin who came along and rolled out the lawn. It was he who installed the automatic sprinkling system. There are few lawns here. It is considered a British thing which they know how to do and Italians don't. Italians are also too smart. Lawns are a lot of trouble.

Time passed. We asked Justin back to build some raised beds so that we could grow a few veggies within climbing distance of the house. We discovered he had turned legitimate. Tax was added to his bills. He had an Italian partner and hired casual labour when needed. At one point he had a lad with bright blue streaks in his hair and many piercings. He flashed about the place like a glittering blue bird. Now he has a sculptor short of commissions.

Now, four months of torrential rains have caused the lawn to sink by 25 cms, 10 inches. Justin is back to fill it with more earth and put back the lawn.

Justin broke up with his Italian girlfriend but they are good friends and he is enormously proud of his son, now aged nine. His current female partner is the wife of a local physiotherapist. The physiotherapist ran off with -- but that's another story.

This is too long and the server may go down again at any minute.

Update: I gave him prints of the above picture and he was highly amused. I don't think he knows he is on Blip, however.

For the record: Sunny, + 3C; - 1C at night. Sunrise 7:43; sunset 5:17. Landslide wall finished.