| She was a friend of a friend of a friend. She was a | | | | waste management system of the town, giving |
| sole parent, living in a tidy looking suburban house in a | | | | examples of extortionate prices for collecting garden |
| rural town. I'd been introduced to her at a gathering | | | | waste. |
| of friends a week before and we discovered we | | | | I nodded, not necessarily in agreement, but to |
| lived only a mile from each other, and for some | | | | indicate agreement and a need to get on with the |
| reason the conversation turned to gardening. Her | | | | job for I had a whole load of other things to do that |
| front lawn was manageable I remember her saying, | | | | day and I had hoped this would be a five minute job. |
| but the back was overgrown and the tool she'd | | | | As it happened it was more of an hour job. But the |
| bought just wasn't up to the job. So I offered to | | | | strimmer was up to it. It cut away everything that |
| lend her mine. | | | | she did not want to be there. I offered afterwards |
| My strimmer was a year old and very versatile with | | | | to get my lawnmower for the grass, but this was an |
| regard to what it could quite thoroughly cut away | | | | offer I didn't whole-heartedly want to her to take up |
| from the thickest grass to nettles and brambles. Her's | | | | - more an act of courtesy. Thankfully she said she |
| was, by her account, a bit weak and just about able | | | | had her own, with a trace of defensiveness as if I |
| to cut a little grass round the edges of the lawn, | | | | was implying she had no idea about garden tools. |
| which as I found was barely visible thanks to the | | | | I felt a bit embarrassed because I had not |
| vegetation that had sprung up where nicely cut grass | | | | considered she might just have wanted to save a bit |
| should have been. | | | | of cash by getting a second hand, and rather |
| So I set out on a Sunday morning carrying the | | | | inadequate strimmer. She showed it to me in the |
| strimmer a mile up a quiet road to her house. The | | | | garden shed. It was evidence enough that she really |
| day felt fresh, and the sun rays lent a great, steady | | | | did need to think about getting a quality tool. |
| green to the foliage swaying in the late spring breeze. | | | | A cup of tea later and I was on my way. It is odd |
| Her house, from the outside, looked immaculate. I | | | | sometimes how for little reason at all apart from |
| knocked on the door, to be greeted by an array of | | | | human kindness that you offer to help a half-known |
| children, and what looked like a fairly chaotic | | | | stranger to do some garden work. Maybe I just like |
| household. She made me a cup of tea first, before | | | | drinking tea. |
| going on to list a load of issues she had with the | | | | |