[What is the legacy you want to leave behind?]

A natural surroundings filled with beauty!Surrounded by all that makes me enjoy gardening.

My work environment is such a special place. Despite the fall I had, the lush grounds are beautiful and restful. I could imagine the effects of this place on my mental health raising the bar on my health. When I compare it to places I’ve had the benefit of in my past employment history I can see myself staying here for a while… 

Mature trees and plants are conducive to the growth of a positive mindset. Which I must try and project to the students I am invigilating, most of whom are scared by the potential surprises the papers might hold. Fingers crossed they take advantage of the opportunity this environment offers them.

And then there is making my own garden a haven. Full of beautiful things and fewer weeds? I’ve probably spent an hour pulling up weeds, chasing the dog and picking up plastic he’s shredded all over the garden.

A bit of love/hate going on with our rescue. He wants to play, I get that but he has also got to be watched. He digs things up before they grow or he destroys the bed my husband just cleared and planted. Like a gazelle he straddles flower beds which doesn’t bode well for much surviving long term. If his scratching of the grass was restricted to areas of couch or wild grass, bonus! But it’s not. He’s scratching in the garden boxes as well as pooping in them. I’ll have to garden out front for the edibles but I’m distracted by other jobs. Grass cutting, hedge cutting and mares tail eradication. Oh yes there’s lots of that!

I felt a little wobbly after my hour so I’ve abandoned the weeding. I filled the garden refuse bin and it’s waiting proudly for collection tomorrow but it’s obvious my hedge out front will fill it with an hour out front.

The dilemma of being too busy! The bin collections are all changing and I’m not sure whether the one we pay for is also going down to three weekly, which is a disaster for us. I don’t/didn’t foresee driving more green rubbish to the council skips… that doesn’t make sense of paying for the extra bin. That’s a conundrum!