We have quite a lot of grass here, and for someone of my diminutive stature and great age, to cut it all properly takes 3 days. There are 3 elements to the process.

The ride on mower takes care of the big open spaces, the electric Flymo takes care of the bits the big mower can’t reach, and hopefully the newly acquired strimmer will take care of the bits the Flymo can’t reach.

Ideally these processes need to be done close together to achieve the best visual results, known here as ‘full parkality’. Threeconsecutive days are best. Needless to say full parkality doesn’t happen too often, as the weather or something else usually steps in to disrupt my plans, and of course the grass I’ve cut doesn’t stop growing just because I’m delayed in doing the rest.

Anyway, today I made a start by cutting the field, lawn and verge with the big mower, and running the Flymo round most of the trees and along the edge of the verge. It looks OK as far as it goes, but there is so much more still to do.

I just hope I’ve got the energy left to finish off the bits that still need cutting, and then I’ll be giving the new strimmer it’s first proper outing.

Cutting the grass on the big mower is quite a peasant job, particularly on a nice day, but because I’ve had so many mishaps with mowers in the past, there’s always an air of tension until the job is done. Neither Peter or I are mechanics, and there’s nothing worse than a broken mower when there’s grass to be cut.

Fortunately the chap who lives across the road is a mechanic, and by coincidence has a mower exactly like ours. So a couple of years ago I plucked up the courage to ask him if he’d mend ours when it went wrong. He was happy to do so, and has come to my rescue several times since, all for the price of a bottle of wine.

It’s a great improvement on getting it fixed by the company we bought it from, but I still feel awkward asking him, that’s why the air of tension remains. Sad aren’t I?