Wednesday 8th April 2026 - Not Our Choice and Thief in the Village

Following on from my last blog, I wonder if anyone thought; why have a gardening magazine that you don’t gel with?  The answer is, this is a freebee magazine subscription, one which we get with our affiliation to a company.

Having clarified that, I’ll move on to the thief in the village on Monday.  Hopefully I was the only one to suffer at the hands of this dishonest person.  To explain, over the past few years and during the warmer months, I have put out on our drive, a variety of items for sale. These could be plants, a vase, toy, clothing, books and so on.  People have been putting the money for the items in the honesty box or even bringing it to the door.  I have never had anything stolen.  Come late September, I add up the total amount and then send this to an animal shelter in Crete, who are always appreciative of my donation.  Over the Easter weekend I put out, for sale, tomato plants, echiverias and because we no long grow it, our asparagus steamer.  The echiverias and most of the tomatoes sold and the steamer went too but who ever had the steamer didn’t put any money in the honesty box ……. they stole it!!!!  I trust they are truly satisfied with their looting and if they read this blog, appreciate what they have done – reduced the amount that will go to help animals at Takis Animal Shelter in Crete. Whatever the case, I hope each time they use their ill-gotten gains, their conscious pricks them, that’s assuming they have a conscious at all, which thinking about it; I don’t expect thieves have!!  I have also considered whether the money was put in the honesty box and then taken by another person.  Whether the steamer or the money was taken this remains……theft.

The theft was the downside for Monday, which turned out to have the best weather, of the four days over Easter.  The good weather continues to get even better which, as we have taken delivery of some new garden furniture, is well timed.  There is however, one hitch, with the chairs which like so many things, these days, have to be assembled.  The chairs are, to say the least, proving to be a challenge and frustrating too.  This is mainly because one set of bolts provided are just that wee bit too short, but Peter is determined and will not be beaten.  The table was totally different, quick and easy to put together and is now in the garden surrounded by our old chairs until the new ones are ready to sit on.

Today’s photo is of the asparagus steamer (can also be used for corn cobs) box.  As the steamer was only used during the short cropping season, it spent most of the year safely stored in its box, in a cupboard.  The box is now destined for the recycling bin.