Open all hours

By -
And as I walk out across the fields at just after 6.30 this morning, I meet a neighbour carrying a giant yoghurt pot, full of slugs.

‘Been gardening?’ I say.

She nods, looking like she might want to punch me after spotting me yesterday throwing the snails I found munching my nicotianas straight into the path of a passing car. Crunch.

But I am bold, I am brave. I can cope.

Things are looking up. After experiencing something of an epiphany when the village store didn’t sell at auction, our weary shopkeeper has decided to carry on. He’s not going to shut up shop after all, he’s going to ask the people of Lush Places what they’d like to see on the shelves and try to accommodate us.

So for Champagne-Charlie that would be, erm, champagne, the fragrant Mrs Putter something by Chanel and a Che Guevara T-shirt for the revolutionary Pelly Sheepwash.

Me? I’d be happy with some slug bait.

That’s about it.

Love Maddie x

Comments

  1. Pondside28 July 2011 at 15:37

    Good news about the store!
    Get yourself some ducks and you'll never have a slug problem again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gail Is This Mutton?29 July 2011 at 17:54

    What was she going to do with the yoghurt pot full of slugs?!

    My gran used to snip them in half with scissors.

    ReplyDelete
  3. JamaGenie17 August 2011 at 15:29

    Scooping up the disgusting creatures in an empty coffee can, putting the lid on tightly, setting the can in the sun, then chucking the can into the nearest outside bin was how I disposed of them.

    Never bothered with them if they were already outside, but a friend would pour salt on any she found in her garden, which would quickly dehydrate them and send them to Slug Heaven.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

And it's goodnight from me - I'm closing The World From My Window for the last time

By -
Image
A Happy New Year to you all! Here's hoping that 2020 is peaceful, healthy, everything you hope for and full of blue sky bunting. After twelve happy years, I've decided to give up this blog. I wanted to say a big thanks for all your support. The World from my Window has opened many doors (and indeed windows) for me during that time, including an appearance on Channel 5's  The Gadget Show , and a weekly writing slot on the world's oldest weekly magazine for women, The People's Friend . I love sharing my stories with readers of my Maddie's World column and the People's Friend team are a joy to work with. Long may that continue! Through this blog, I've had a loyal host of followers from all over the globe, including particular champions in those dozen years. It's a huge boost and very humbling. Thank you. Since I was a young child, writing has been my thing. I started this blog during a creative writing course with The Open University in 2...
Read more

Just like the Durrells, we moved from Dorset to Corfu, but eight decades later

By -
Image
So, what do you think of it so far? The Durrells , I mean. If you live in the UK, Sunday evenings on the telly have just got a whole lot gentler. The always-watchable Keeley Hawes heads the cast in a series based on Gerald Durrell's Corfu Trilogy. And it's pretty sublime. The warmth and light of Corfu shines through in this very enjoyable series. It's a bit like The Darling Buds of May  only set in Greece. Just the thing for a Sunday evening. It's got me hankering after Corfu, where I lived for a year in 2012-2013. I do pop back there from time to time and I know how lucky I am to have a foot in beautiful West Dorset and another in the jewel of the Ionian (although I have to be careful not to do the splits). Corfu Dorset Just like the Durrells, we left rainy Dorset, pretty much on a whim, for life on a Greek island. Who wouldn't want to up sticks and escape the drudgery of the day job? Especially to Greece. Dorset Corfu But my grown-up g...
Read more

Batten down those hatches, it's recycling day

By -
Image
It's blowing a hooley out there.  The wind is lashing against the windows and the dogs are play fighting in front of the Aga before one of them goes too far and I have to break up the party. It's recycling day today and the wind knows it, whipping up through the street into the square and down the alleyway from the church to present the village with a soggy mess of paper, cereal packets and plastic all along the side of the road, a twice-monthly confetti for the marriage of consumerism and environmental guilt. You can tell a lot about people from what's in their rubbish. Forget about stealing ID, I'm talking about their character - where they shop, the type of people they are. A small, white bottle with a label denoting that it's  kefir,  a fermented milk drink good for the gut, rolls around my doorstep. It's not mine.  I pick it up to dispose of it and can feel there is still some miracle juice inside. It was clearly not to the user's l...
Read more