Wince, our gardener, is such a nice man. He's worked here for nearly six years, having been at the same job from the age of 15 until 60, when he was made redundant because the business closed. He didn't want to look for another job, so decided to do odd jobs - just what we needed.
He rescued me, many years ago, when I fell into the icy river and, though I could stand, couldn't get out, and we'd always passed the time of day (what an odd expression, but you know what I mean). He always lived at home with his parents, then his mum, never married, though he has got a girlfriend and now he lives alone since his mother died a few months ago. He's very interested in nature, conservation, photography, engineering and music, but it's not easy to know him well, he's quite self-contained.
He was such a help to me after Russell died. I'd been really struggling to keep the garden going - mostly, the grass cut - for several years but, even though I thought I'd sell and move on, I didn't want the place I'd lived happily for nearly thirty years to be neglected. So I bought some new equipment and Wince was very pleased with it. He isn't as much of a gardener as I (theoretically) am, to tell the truth, and has sometimes dug up choice plants when he is carried away with the weeding, but that's accidental.
When he arrives on a Thursday morning, he wants to know if I have a Plan, and professes to be disappointed if I haven't. I can usually tell what he has in mind, though, because he brings a wheelbarrow with any tools that I don't have and he does - today, it was a hedge trimmer because Rose had some tidying up in mind and Wince correctly surmised that I didn't have many jobs for him. Often, I've mentioned two or three things that need doing, sometime in the next few weeks at his convenience, and he's done them all by the end of the day. He just never stops. Today, having done the pruning and tidying that Rose needed, it suddenly poured with rain - so he took himself off to the barn and split logs until the rain stopped. Then he said he'd finished an hour early, so wouldn't take a full day's money. As I said, such a nice man.
He rescued me, many years ago, when I fell into the icy river and, though I could stand, couldn't get out, and we'd always passed the time of day (what an odd expression, but you know what I mean). He always lived at home with his parents, then his mum, never married, though he has got a girlfriend and now he lives alone since his mother died a few months ago. He's very interested in nature, conservation, photography, engineering and music, but it's not easy to know him well, he's quite self-contained.
He was such a help to me after Russell died. I'd been really struggling to keep the garden going - mostly, the grass cut - for several years but, even though I thought I'd sell and move on, I didn't want the place I'd lived happily for nearly thirty years to be neglected. So I bought some new equipment and Wince was very pleased with it. He isn't as much of a gardener as I (theoretically) am, to tell the truth, and has sometimes dug up choice plants when he is carried away with the weeding, but that's accidental.
When he arrives on a Thursday morning, he wants to know if I have a Plan, and professes to be disappointed if I haven't. I can usually tell what he has in mind, though, because he brings a wheelbarrow with any tools that I don't have and he does - today, it was a hedge trimmer because Rose had some tidying up in mind and Wince correctly surmised that I didn't have many jobs for him. Often, I've mentioned two or three things that need doing, sometime in the next few weeks at his convenience, and he's done them all by the end of the day. He just never stops. Today, having done the pruning and tidying that Rose needed, it suddenly poured with rain - so he took himself off to the barn and split logs until the rain stopped. Then he said he'd finished an hour early, so wouldn't take a full day's money. As I said, such a nice man.
1 comment:
Our gardener is a gem! He comes every two weeks and keeps everything from looking wild and uncared for! He knows that gardening isn't exactly my forte, so he sort of does what he thinks needs doing which is perfect for me! 2 weeks ago we were in the middle of really crappy cold winter weather here, so as he said, there was absolutely nothing that he should do besides pick up a few branches that had fallen and pull them to the curb, so he was off and no charge to us for the time. xoxo
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