It seems so early in the year to see Christmas decorations going up in shopping centres and in high streets. I know that it takes quite some time to get all the lights erected and checked in larger shopping centres such as the Metro Centre but to see work well on it's way to completion in the middle of the last week of October seems to be awfully early to me.

I've seen the first signs of high street decorations too when visiting Morpeth this week.

I notice that the shops are also filling up with Christmas items. It takes all the fun out of the actual day itself to have an extended shopping fest going on for two or three months in advance. There is no more magic when Santa Claus has been all over the place since November.

It must put terrific pressure on families with children who do not celebrate Christmas because their culture is based on other festivals. OK, OK so this is a Christian country which should celebrate Christian festivals. But there is nothing religious about the commercial festivities that have latched onto this major event in the church calendar.  In fact new shops pop up just to sell items over this period - cards, calendars, jigsaw puzzles and other such "necessities" just to add to the fund raising activities of churches and charities. Ho hum the great Saint Money seems to have taken over pride of place at this time of the year.

Mind you - there was a queue outside the shop selling Halloween costumes in the Metro Centre yesterday. Must be the time for trick and treat - extortion of money or presents with bribes then.

Oh probably this rant is an age thing - maybe if I was a brat again it would all still be fun. Mind you we never put up Christmas decorations at home when I was young until Christmas eve which meant that we never saw parcels and such like under the tree till the last minute and family often bought presents round on the day itself. Now that shows my age. Which reminds me - I might just go and see Fenwick's Christmas window in Newcastle to see if it appeals but that will wait a good bit longer - at least till December - just incase it appeals to the child in me.

It looked pleasant and sunny so I decided to go down to the plot to top up the herb beds with compost and to sort out the last strawberry bed. I moved 10 of those compost bags, just topped up most of the herb beds and lifted the strawberries in order to add good compost to the bed. Some of the strawberries were still flowering and trying to fruit as well as one was putting out runners.

A good pruning of plants whilst sitting in the sunny corner suddenly showed me just how cold the sunny weather actually was despite wearing a thick sweater and fleece. Truly I was glad that I had bought my gloves when I had replanted the border and put the tools away. I do hope that the plants have survived the frost overnight - we have had the first really, properly hard one despite the weather that other people have suffered. We have even missed out on the snow here which is unusually.

I decided that I was far too cold to clear up the pots and stack of used bags between the shed and the compost heap or to lift the cover to the compost heap to fill it up with the clearings from the strawberry bed. That is the task for another day. Sheesh and there are other odd jobs that I want to get sorted depending on the weather.

Roll on the spring when it should be possible to get on with proper gardening again rather than just getting on with holding jobs.

Remember these? - It was on 6th September this year but there are still ongoing repairs. The Chantry which hosts the Northumbrian bagpipe collection and the tourist information centre will be out of action for months yet, the library lost a great amount of stock (disaster as it's the central one for borrowing items from in the outlying areas like us), one major shop in the High Street still hasn't been able to sort out the stock which sits there forlorn whilst the shop is being dried out.

At the same time as these floods, the access through a major shopping arcade from the bus station to the High Street is closed because it is being virtually demolished and rebuilt to modern standards (not surprising as it was a nasty dark alley previously) which is not due to be completed till next September. So the county town is almost out of action with regards to shopping and attractions.

Of course there are houses which will take a year to repair as well. Some of the tenants of the social housing in town are affected. Which has a knock on to those of us in Prudhoe as we share the repairs section with said housing as both we and they are under the same social housing umbrella though we have different names for the groups. It doesn't help that the social housing in Morpeth came with a bit of a sorry reputation with regard to repairs. Poor tenants.

I went to see the town on Monday - what used to be a fun shopping experience was very sad and a long way down market. I like the town as it's an old friend and playground so wish it well in getting it's act back together.

... to move the pile of bags of compost to a storage position on the allotment next to the hedge. Daughter, husband and grandson made short work of shifting 60 off bags and equally short work of making the path very muddy again. Still it really needed doing - it would just have been nice to be able to do it when some of the paths around the edge of the allotment were not quagmires.

Let's hope that there is a sunny period tomorrow when I can work over one of the compost heaps in peace. It has subsided - which was to be expected - and needs to be uncovered, turned sides to middle and covered again. Should be a fun hour. Some of the other jobs are jolly well going to have to wait till the ground dries out considerably or even till spring. A long, cold dry spell with ground frosts would be appreciated as this would allow the ground to dry off below the surface. Not much chance of that looking at the weather forecast for the coming week.

So it's going to be a game of waiting for the right moment to get jobs done. The tagetes still have a few flowers showing even at this late date along with a few summer flowers which have been left because it seems a shame to loose the colour. But if I'm going to open a compost heap and turn it sides to middle I might as well add these last items while I am at it. This then means that we shall just be adding household waste for the winter season. Almost the close season for composting really as nothing is growing. But everything  is in place for all go at the end of January when one heap will have to be moved to it's summer position and the digging in of compost can start. Of course if there is a cold spell and the ground dries I can get the compost heap moved before then just for something to do. But no matter what the season - the weeds are still growing especially the dreaded dandelions which are still flowering a pretty shade of yellow. Not having been down since Tuesday due to house decorating some of the wretches had managed to go to seed which means that next spring will be another battle with the dreaded weed!

But you can't really moan at the kids deciding that the bagged compost needed moving - if they hadn't dropped off household compost at the allotment on the way up to put up a couple of pictures for me after the decorator had finished work they would never have had the silly idea. Had I not been busy at home it would have already been done - I need the exercise! I'm getting severely out of condition with the weather having been against outside work.  I'll just have to settle down with a jigsaw puzzle or two and some books from the library over the coming weeks.

The wispa has returned. I can remember it the first time round. It's still as nice. I can still eat as many as before. With the howling wind and intermittent rain, it's no point going to the allotment as I couldn't do anything. Tea and wispas therefore!

The decorator departed yesterday afternoon with his cheque in his wallet. I'm glad that he did the work is all I can say. And to put you all out of your misery - this is Dulux Nude Glow which is the colour I chose. It comes out as a warm pink rather than a magnolia though both are in the same range of colours for walls and ceilings.  But best of all he painted the bathroom doors and the panel over what was the hot water boiler cupboard which still bore traces of the very bright yellow that had been used on the ceiling of the bathroom. It goes very nicely with the blue of the kitchen area.

The damp report surveyor turned up on Friday morning as promised and as luck would have it the bathroom wall was soaking in the normal place just to co-operate. I pointed to the damp proof paint that the decorator had used and the area in which he had used it. Both areas are part of the gable end of the building. Mind you, I had told the tenant upstairs what was going on and he came down and showed of the wet patches on his end of this shared external wall.  I do believe that the report will cover the need for a proper pointing of the gable end, a comment that the rear down pipe is faulty and that the door frame to the upstairs flat has wet rot. Now as the down pipe is causing damp in my bedroom, both tenants have a damp problem due to the gable end and the other person feels that a new door is required, we could all be satisfied if we can get the report acted upon.

I have organised hands on help to put up a couple of pictures tomorrow as one is too big for one person to handle and the other needs a man with a drill to put a couple of sockets and screws in the wall.

After that I'm free to do as I please for the week. In fact - the time is all my own till Christmas with the exception of two days in London. Probably a good thing as I've paid the decorator, bought a large load of compost and an unplanned but lovely picture to replace the ones that were in the sitting room area but which clash violently with the new colour scheme. I need a period of quiet to top up the savings account again.

The decorator had no problems stripping off the wall paper yesterday - there were many layers and strange colours but there you go, that was only to be expected as walll paper is apt to be put on to cover the last one because it's easy. Back to basics is always interesting in an old house which has had many occupiers. Off came the paper on one area of wall - the only bit that is external - and there were lots of damp patches.

Now isn't that typical - the damp survey is due to be done on Friday morning by which time the area will have been papered and painted. Decorator has put two layers of damp seal on but the lad who has the flat upstairs said that it has not worked for him where he has done the same on his external wall - mine is just a continuation of his except that some of my room is partitioned off to allow him stairs to his upstairs flat. I've asked him to see if he can be around when the damp survey people turn up tomorrow so that they can see the problem with the whole external wall. Tenants working together!!

The roofer also returned yesterday to sort out the job with the rear guttering that he didn't do properly last time he was here. Despite being told that he would need a triple ladder he turned up with no such thing and no parts to do the job. Pretty much the same as the last visit then. If he hasn't returned by Monday there will be another call in to the housing office to report him.

By the end of today there will be lining paper over the whole of the sitting room area and some further painting done. Just having clean lining paper over part of the room has improved things considerably. The place is lighter and cleaner looking. Oh and probably an inch or two larger all round after the many layers have been removed.

Stevie the son-in-law came around yesterday afternoon to return the bus fare that the grandson had borrowed on Monday and was impressed by the on-going work. He said he was quite happy to watch someone else doing the job rather than have to help do it himself. Little does he realise that the wife has him down to do the kitchen at their house next year when the savings account has recovered.

Now that caught your attention dear reader did it?

That's the colour of the Dulux paint that the decorator is going to buy this evening so that he can come and get to work at 8am on Wednesday morning.

I decided that the space problem of where to put things whilst he is working was due to the fact that the bedroom needed reorganising. It's a good thing that the bed is one of those frame and slat affairs that comes to pieces easily for moving as this allowed much shifting most easily! My goodness I did find some dust - no I knew that it was dusty as a black frame will show up dust a treat. So it was really much needed housework that was being done. 

Decisions, decisions though. Now I can decide what I want to put back in the living room when it's decorated as the bedroom looks so different. The alcove next to the chimney breast will continue to be a problem as it's too small for any nice furniture. I could but the upright mirror on it's stand in that corner or a tall bookcase but that would mean that I should loose one picture space. But when the artex (horrible stuff) is no longer in need of hiding I might not want to put so many pictures back up on the walls.

After a couple of days without any pictures, the room looks and feels different. Other than the window looking out to sea that has been over the gas fire (think old, blocked fireplace filled up with a very utilitarian item), the room might just stay bare for a while. It's become an old granny's room full of clutter. If it can be made into more of an extended kitchen area with relaxation in the rather nicer room presently the bedroom then perhaps that is the way to go.

But for some days there may well be no computer on line - how sad, too bad. There is no way that I can see to solve the riddle of where to put the computer with access to the Internet as the telephone point is over the kitchen working surface. Now there's a design that was never thought out with modern life in mind.  Sigh - I should have bought a laptop and then there would be no big desk to move with PC tower and all the associated clutter. See what happens when you are used to having a home office to work from and then retire? You end up with a lot of gear that was fine then and is no longer strictly necessary.

Or perhaps the computer will go in the kitchen and never mind the cooking for a few days? (And the family will say so what's new there mother dear).

PS - the colour of the paint is actually not quite magnolia but it sounds fun!

Despite a very wet shower that lasted more than an hour this morning, I managed to get down to the allotment and plant the garlic along with the winter onion sets. The bed was mostly prepared after the compost delivery last Wednesday and just needed topping up and any last lumps hoeing out.

The evening was moving on as the sun didn't really get out till mid afternoon - suddenly the light goes so much earlier as October moves towards the changing of the clocks - so there is still the final strawberry bed in need of care and attention. The forecast for tomorrow is drizzle so it might be a very early visit on Monday morning to get this sorted.

Tuesday is the furniture moving day so that the decorator has a free run on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. That writes three days off out of the allotment work - good thing that the season is running rapidly to a close.

The only major heavy job that is outstanding is moving the nearly ready compost heap - my plan at the moment is to put this under the central area amongst the fruit trees where it should be sheltered enough to plant it up with marrows and courgettes as soon as the weather is warm enough. This will allow me to move over the pile of heavy duty compost from near the gate which is going to take quite some time to rot to behind the shed so that it is well out of the way for the long term. The idea is that it can be a long standing heap and the base to take a lot of the clearing of items from autumn 2009. This allows me to work up the present newest heap which is now between the shed and cold frame over next summer so that in late spring 2010 it's ready for - yes you have guessed it - marrows and courgettes. The heap which is planned to go under the fruit trees will of course eventually be spread over that area which will save a lot of barrow work come next autumn.

Sometimes the obvious takes time to become - well obvious. Even if the explanation of rotating the compost heaps sounds complicated it suddenly seems a lot easier - if only the ground would dry.

  Just the thought of nice summer fruit kept me working today! 

It was supposed to drizzle but no such thing - today was warm and nearly sunny down the plot. I had promised myself that I would top up the raised bed containing the raspberry canes and also work in compost to two of the strawberry beds. One strawberry bed had been raised up with generous amounts of well rotted manure and compost last year after th rhubarb was removed. But after a productive summer the bed had settled and been invaded by couch grass. So I lifted the plants, cleared the weeds and worked in another generous amount of compost. After that I settled in the tidied up strawberries and stood back to admire one handsome looking raised bed.

The other strawberry bed had received some compost but not enough it would seem. The plants were not thriving and the soil was very waterlogged - talk to me of a lot of clay. So it was another case of lifting everything, clearing weeds, removing half the soil and filling up with compost which has been mixed in well with the soil left. I've also raised the height of the soil considerably. I had kept a number of runners from earlier in the season which had been standing in pots in a corner waiting for something - not quite sure what. These had developed better root systems than the ones taken out. So the bed is now full of a good mix of compost along with a good collection of strawberry plants. Two good jobs well done there.

I've turned in the compost in the area where I'm planning to put the onion sets and garlic. I need to add two or three sacks more in order to really make the soil good and to give the crop a good start. However by this time I was totally worn out. So I decided that this would be the job for tomorrow. With any luck the weather will hold for another day and I shall be able to set away another crop before the last of the summer come autumn departs.  There is one other strawberry bed that needs to be tackled as it looks decidedly shabby and in need of care and attention. It's the sort of job I like to do at the "back end" in order to give the plants plenty of time to get their feet down rather than to disturb them just as the growing season starts.

I decided to turn out the camera whilst I was waiting for the compost delivery yesterday at the allotment. (Full list of pictures at my album). It was dark and dreary on the way down but as soon as the delivery arrived the sun came out.

It had rained heavily overnight and the ground was absolutely sodden. It was no day to walk on the plot so the compost was stacked on the hard standing. Moving another time. Anyone who is daft enough to try moving it will really suffer as there is a lot of it.

Does that not look a wet type weather map to anyone who is used to reading weather maps? It seems to promise various forms of wet for days to come. Those 80 bags of compost being delivered today - well it's going to be a wet job whichever way you look at it. Even if the grey outside turns to sunny for a bet it will be muddy pie underfoot after the rain last night.

Oh well - no good whinging as the delivery is due to arrive today on my request. No time next week with three days out to the decorator when the sun will shine and the ground will be dry for three days of course just to be annoying.

On Sunday it was a lovely late summer day, warm and sunny. So I set off for the allotment bearing a large sack of shredded newspaper which was going to be added to compost heaps over a long period. I thought that it would be just a quick trip to pop it in the garden shed and catch the bus back up the hill home.

But no such thing. On arrival I suddenly realised that I had a little hebe to plant, that I wanted some carrots and that one of the compost heaps needed attention. So one job led to another, out came the swoe to break up some of the clods that were drying nicely, a topping up of the offending compost heap to make it look a proper shape ensured that I missed the next three buses (think one an hour). Then I stopped to accost a passing brown garden waste bin that was going home to be put out for the bin man next day. Well it was till it got to the allotment gate. Then the nice person shot back and filled it up again and returned. A proper compost heap appeared. He even added a little pigeon poo to start the heap warming up. What a nice friendly plot holder. He was quite happy as it saved him walking home with a full bin (home was further up the road) and then repeating the operation in two weeks time. As he said, I had actually saved him a job. So I put some polythene over most of it and secured it against wind and weather, emptied the spend compost under the fruit trees where once this season was a forest of nasturtiums and came home.

I was early enough and dirty enough to put a full load of washing out on the line to get mostly dry. Of course on Monday morning all the things that I wanted to wear where in the ironing basket. So it was a house work day. I finally decided that there was no point in keeping the cardigans and various tops that I had used for work - I'm retired with an allotment now aren't I? So a couple of carrier bags were tightly filled as I put the ironing back in the cupboard. Which charity shop I wondered? Hmm - there was one in Hexham which had a HUGE stock appeal notice in the window. As I often get good bargains there, it seemed a good place to go. I had a walk around the town - quiet on a Monday after the Farmers Market last Saturday. I had looked three times at a white fleece with red and green stripes. This time I decided to bring it home - OK so it was a tiny bit more expensive than the normal purchases that I make in charity shops but no problem.

Last night I realised that it's Wednesday next week when the decorator is coming to strip, reline and paint the sitting room area. So it did no harm to clean under the computer unit and time how long it will take me to move it. Not half as long in the moving and EEEEEEEEEEEEEK to the dust behind and under the desk. Today I hung up a picture that I bought in a sale weeks and weeks ago. It's been sitting on a bookcase whilst I decided exactly where it was going to hang. Suddenly the right place was obvious. Of course nothing is ever easy!!!!!! The hammer was down in the shed at the allotment so that was another walk down, another odd job hour and the bus home with the required hammer. I came off the plot just as the rain started to spit ever so gently. I had just made a cup of tea at home when I realised that it was raining in typical Northumbrian autumn style - heavy and horizontally.

Son-in-law came round to take down the very large picture that hangs on the chimney breast this evening. It's a two person job as one person needs to hold it whilst the other person unscrewed the sturdy security that had been put in place to ensure that £160 worth of lovely picture didn't end up on the floor in this slightly shaky building. Another job done against the arrival of the decorator.

Tomorrow sees the delivery of a large quantity of compost to the allotment so that I can raise the level of the vegetable area by some inches. The compost heap that I thought would be partly usable for this is not quite ready yet though it's pretty close. It will be fine by spring as the worms are appearing and working hard.  But that's one labour that can be left till February. Hurrah. Except that tomorrow will involve some heavy humping to stack the delivery. Won't be the first time I've done it so no problem really - it's just the thinking about it.

Obviously the rest of the week is going to involve spreading compost over at least some of the area so that I can get the winter onions and garlic planted. Here's hoping that it will be fine weather most of the time between now and next Wednesday - it can rain on Tuesday when I'm furniture moving around the house. 

Perhaps it was only looking for a map for directions home. Or it wanted to look at the local papers to see where it was. Maybe it had a fine to pay or a book to return by pigeon post. But for whatever reason there was a pigeon in the town library foyer on Friday morning. The librarian was a bit concerned that dealing with pigeons was not on her job description.

However it decided to leave quietly when asked nicely and directed to the main door. Perhaps it was the passing policeman that made it decide that quietly was the way to go.

The librarian said she wished she had a camera - now I know why I always carry one ready for action in the handbag!

Yesterday evening the lad from the flat upstairs strimmed the overgrowth from our side of the cut that runs passed the building. This clears the damp course - well till it grows again. And I bagged up the useful stuff to take down to my allotment compost heap. I took down the four small bags and loaded them onto the working heap this morning early on.

I'd spent a couple of hours yesterday sorting out the newest covered heap by adding stuff that was lying around the allotment to the one place where it had dropped or settled or generally done it's own thing and then put the big cover back on. The daughter also left a big pile of newspaper which I have dutifully shredded. There is far too much to use all at once but a generous helping was added to the hollow to fill it up. There seem to be a few worms working right at the bottom so something is right about the pile.

I wish that the council would strim the bank over the road behind the Hexham facing bus stop as I would be able to rake up quite a bit from there without doing any harm and it would be nice to have a large amount to act as a hotter rotter to speed up the newest covered heap. They have only done it once this year in March - usually they do it three times and the mowing season is coming to an end.

But there must be more to life than looking for stuff to add to the compost heap .... The trouble is that it's expensive to buy compost and there have been so many problems with manure having chemicals in that one has to do something to help the budget. In my case it's looking for "stuff" to compost.

I inherited a compost heap on the allotment and added to it last summer. This year I grew things on it and when they had finished cropping I moved it to use it as soil improver.  I'll tell you now of some things that don't rot at all well on the compost heap:

• China cup handles
• Rusty nails
• Garden twine you use for tying up runner beans and such like
• Airfix soldiers (remember those from long ago?)
• Plastic sweet papers
• Chocolate wrappers
• Chips of garden fence panel
• Bubble wrap
• Brussel sprout stems (they will if you put them back a few times - eventually anyway)
• Plastic of any sort

Honest it wasn't me that added these things! So if you are going to make compost - remember not to use these items.

There is another meeting of the older people and the environment project at the start of November - hopefully we shall get some speakers to visit this time so that should be interesting.

I've decided to take a coach down and persuaded the son that he can put me up overnight so that I can travel home the next evening after the event. He's happy with that so long as I take down some pickles that I have made. Well he can have some beetroot and red cabbage. Suppose that I ought to look for something for the cats just as an added extra. But that is going to be an interesting bit of shopping - the local pet shops are useless for cats and the local supermarkets seem not much better. Hmm - all I wanted was some cat toys ...

Number 1 daughter is organising her daughter to buy a present for another granddaughter's birthday - well at 16 there is some chance you will get the right thing for a 14 year old and much more likely than granny to do it right.

Number 2 daughter came down to the allotment yesterday with the car in order to take away some rubbish that needed to go to the tip - car required as too much rubbish to take on the bus and too far to the tip. She had filled her car boot with offerings for the compost heap. She hadn't told here husband that she was going to get rid of the tomatoes and peppers from the conservatory as he had stopped watering them. Bit late now as it's been on compost heap since yesterday afternoon and he hadn't come home from a stag weekend he was off to with a friend.

She's also going to get me some environmentally friendly shampoo and bath foam through her wholefood co-operative. The shampoo is only a little more than what I have been paying and goes further. The bath foam is more expensive but one has to have some small luxuries where possible - again it goes far further than the supermarket own brand I had been using.

Earlier in the year I looked at the cleaning cupboard and thought - we can do better than this. It's taken time to find the suppliers. There's a also moral somewhere here about not always using the same supermarket. I had reason to be in ASDA one day - stocking up on herbal teas from a good range at a good price - when I discovered the washing soda otherwise known as soda crystals. Great. That means that the heavy duty cleaning and laundry is cheaply done at around 52p a kilo. Even better there was borax and soda bicarbonate on the shelves. It seems that what ASDA has Tesco often does as well. Someone gave me a Tesco gift voucher which you can't spend on-line for groceries but which you can spend in-store for the same. Yep there were the same products.

Please people will you go and buy these environmentally friendly products. With a little distilled vinegar as a softener you are onto a far cheaper laundry product. I mean - where are you going to get a kilo of branded washing powder for 52p? Even adding 98p for Borax to shift the stubborn stains (think shifting compost heaps on allotments and cutting privet hedges which are both hard to move stains) you are still looking at less than the cost of the supermarket own brand full of chemicals.

I picked up 2 x 5 litre containers of no chemicals washing up detergent from Faith in Nature for £9.10 and I've not even gone through the litre that I put into an old Ecover bottle yet after a couple of weeks of boiling beetroot, making chutneys and generally excessive use of cooking (over 50 bottles of various goodies in store). So how far it will go when I go back to the normal cookery regime is a good question.  I was saving on the delivery you see because I wanted to try out their laundry detergent as well. Now one of the 5 litre laundry detergent does 110 washes - believe me you really do have to put only a squirt in the washing machine to get up a good lather. It's fine for everyday washes where you haven't been getting filthy - ideal for bedding, woollies, and general stuff. It moves the mud off the allotment gear but not the stubborn stains as above. It also works out at 14p a wash compared with 27p on a better detergent with softener (think Bold, Ariel) from the supermarket.

The bicarbonate of soda, borax, distilled vinegar and soda crystals can all be used as general cleaners as well as mixed for stubborn dirt in the washing machine. So I feel that investigating going green and chemical free has been an excellent saving in the long term with prices as they are rising at the moment. We all need to look at ways of making our money go further and if it means putting some coppers aside for bulk buys on the Internet periodically so be it.  If it's good for the environment and good for the pocket then it's a double good hit isn't it? I feel that there is no need to retire from being environmentally friendly because of cost if you have the knowledge and make the effort to look for things.

OK so I haven't mentioned personal cleaning. Hmm. Vegetable soap is easy enough and cheap enough to find in almost any supermarket worth the name and not greatly expensive. However shampoo and bath/shower gel are a little more difficult. I have thought long and hard about the shampoo stakes. For a long time I used the supermarket own brand shampoo and conditioner but found that my hair was beginning to look - well scruffy when clean. Obviously it was either the diet (fine actually) or the shampoo. So I traded up to Timotei which at the time was £1.89 for 300ml, dropped off the conditioner and used distilled vinegar as a rinse. This has worked absolutely fine - but the bottle has now been raised to 400ml and the price to £2.39 and that seems to be everywhere. This makes the Faith in Nature products at £3.99 for a same size bottle not so out of the price range. So I ask myself - do I look for one of these that suits my hair and then go for a 5 litre container which brings the bottle down to £3.29 in effect but that is still a price rise of £1 even though again you need far less for each wash. Difficult decision that one. Well on sheer price though I suspect that with using less and the bottle lasting that bit longer I'm no worse off. A dilemma to ponder whilst I use up the stock of Timotei that I bought at a £1 a bottle on various special offers. Or do I go back to the supermarket own brand so long as it's not tested on animals?

Bath gel. Hmm now I like a nice bubbly hot bath of an evening. I went into the Pound Shop and bought two bottles of bath foam for a pound. And a waste of a pound that was as they lasted half the time that the 89p supermarket own brand not tested on animals. I treated myself to Faith in Nature shampoo, conditioner and bath foam from the local Oxfam shop to test out the products. I'm quite struck on the bath foam as after two weeks I am not even half way down the very small 400ml bottle. Now I would have used 1.25 litres of the normal supermarket not tested on animals own brand at 89p a litre in the same time.  But again the cost is that little bit more expensive.  So I am discussing with myself the situation with regard to shampoo and bath foam. The bath foam is half way to being green in that at least it isn't tested on animals. But only half way. And no soap in the bath is no fun. Fit a shower? Gee - I have quite enough problems with the flat without trying for total demolition with a shower even if it would be possibly more green. Step too far.

I was asked what I was doing on the allotment yesterday afternoon in amongst the showers, just as the evening suddenly became cold and I was about to do some polythene management.

Basically shovelling compost from here to there. As I said to the questioner - well compost heap that was here is over there and the compost heaps that were over there, over there and over there are now over here.

At that point he and the dog went home. How sensible. I still had to fetch the polythene roll, open it out and cut a suitable sized piece to cover the compost heap that was now over here in place of the one over there. And it was getting dark with only 20 minutes to the next bus home. The heap was covered, the polythene weighted down and the roll stowed in 14 minutes. I caught the bus. And it was most definitely chilly.

Today was much nicer. I returned to the allotment with some more donations for the compost heap as well as the intention to harvest carrots and fennel. I found a few late pods of peas to scrump in my walks around the plot. So the last peas are still on site and not yet cleared to compost just in case a few more pods turn up.

The carrots and some spring onions that I found left a couple of tubs of spent compost. After some head scratching it has been placed under the fruit trees - there are a lot of nasturtium seeds lying around and the compost covers what is a bit of an eyesore. The soil there is still too wet to allow either raking up or turning in the offending seeds. The area is going to take some time to dry out after the cover of nasturtiums that have been there for most of the summer shading the soil from any sun hat has dried other areas of the plot.

It is definitely the scruffy end of the year - just waiting for the last flowers to loose the last of the colour and the last of the vegetables to be cleared. We shall be well towards the end of the month before all the last edible bits and pieces are used unless the weather causes earlier damage. I'm debating whether to put in some over wintering onions but we do have a goodly number in store so it isn't strictly necessary and it might be better to wait for a complete composting regime to be done over the next couple of months. The soil can certainly do with plenty of additions to it if only to raise the level which seems to have dropped from the pathways round the edge.