I popped into the garden today to eat my lunch in the sun, and while I was there got to see the water system my allotment neighbour has rigged up for me, diverting rainwater from his big shed to a water butt in my garden. He just offered to do this, for nothing, spending about a day getting it in place, including a level base for the butt. It is such an extraordinarily kind gesture.
He and his wife have now also offered to help me take all the rubbish I've cleared to the tip in their trailer, so that I don't need to spend money on a skip. That will be at least 4 or 5 trips to the tip, a day's work probably, and not much fun.
I am blown away by their kindness. These are people I met four months ago, whose only interest in all of this is supporting me getting to grips with my challenging plot.
On a more prosaic note, I started to confront the Japanese knotweed, clearing all the old stems to burn, and to get a sense of the scale of the problem. It's not as bad as I thought, probably only 5 or 6 big crowns, and a few rogue stems, over an area about 5 sq ft. Next I need to get into a knotweed removal person to try to work out the best plan.
Meanwhile, the dreaded mares' tail is popping all over the place 😱 but less in the beds that I've tried to clear than I expected. I just have to acknowledge it's going to a long-term job.