We have had a allotment for 3+ years now, we grow loads of good stuff and really enjoy it. We went on the waiting list for a second one and after a wait, hooray, we were offered one. The problem is this - when we had just one allotment, all the old wiry men were pleasant and friendly, but that was it. Now that we have two plots, we seem to have entered the "serious" category. An unwanted side-effect is the constant advice of the wiry old devils. The latter favour a great big plot with rows of traditional veg, slug pellets galore and weedkiller at dawn. We go for individual beds with paths between, crop rotation and organic methods.
Wiry old devil 1 says my DH is a wuss - raised beds mean no digging, yet he watched DH dig the whole plot, build raised beds, dig 3 land drains, lay paths and barrow a mountain of bark onto said paths (with my help) in five (I'll say it again, five days). No way a wuss.
Wiry old devil 2 is with us, but he is hated by the other wiry devils as they say he lazy.
Wiry devil 1 is retired and pretty much always there, watching. Apart from saying a rude thing, how do I get him to back off? PS - he keeps forcing tools on us that he says we can borrow, but we don't really need. He is also given to wandering around looking at plots, with his wiry friend, and criticising them. I don't mind this, as that is what retired males tend to do.