Well, throwing them away actually! My poor B&Q green wellies, bought with such excitement to tackle our new plot in 2004, have died. They’d been in semi-retirement since Euan arrived, reduced to providing a home for spiders in the shed at the allotment. I retrieved them a few weeks ago for a trip into the Forest with E but soon discovered their failings when the brook we were paddling in gushed up through the bottom of my boot. It’s a shame I wasn’t wearing a pair of seeland wellington boots, they could have held back a river.
E loves his wellies and they provide essential protection against stings and prickles at the allotment. He could do with a rubberised body suit though to really be safe at our plot. I nearly lost him a few times in the jungle we call our plot {joking of course}.
We fought our way through the head-high-when-you’re-1 jungle to retrieve Daddy’s wellies from the shed. Spiders still present but no sign of holes, obviously didn’t see as much gardening action as mine {wink}. It’s strange to think one day E really will fill boots and gloves this big. 
With just a bobbing head visible through the jungle of weeds a curious neighbour came over to check nothing untoward was happening to our shed (there’s been a spate of pointless shed break-ins over the last year or so). What good fortune it was to see Jason with raspberries to pick but no chance of reaching them without risking a thorny fall for E. In all honesty I don’t miss the back breaking work that goes into having an allotment but I do miss, with a pang and a sigh, the community of friendly, generous hearted people you’re guaranteed to find there.
A pretty fine haul even for autumn fruiting bushes for this time of year
(will probably pair them with apples to make a scrummy seasonal dessert). 
The upside of a being absent from anything is the fresh perspective you have when you return. Great things have happened during the year thanks to the work of the allotment committee; the track has been resurfaced and there’s an impressive communal shed at the entrance to the allotments. When we talk about our poor neglected plot at home there are so many reasons to consider letting it go. As soon as I set foot through the gate there are so many reasons not to. We’ve got quite a decision to make before tenancy renewals in January. I’ll have to write to Santa and ask for some weeding fairies. I’m sure he’ll say yes, I’ve been a good girl this year {not joking!}
Disclosure: this is a sponsored post for Mole Valley Farmers
He’s grown so much! And a budding gardener. I don’t envy you having to decide whether to keep the plot or not, so many arguments both ways round. Good luck with whatever you decide. Any chance of a plot-share with a like minded family?
we know it well. But like a garden, to really enjoy it, I would not want a lot of regular hard graff to maintain it. Hard work to start it ,yes, but then onwards………….and when you bring E round to us you may well need his wellies on a wet day.
Euan has grown into quite the young man, where does time go?!
Great “character photos”.
[…] It would have been fun to submerge a sand filled boot in a bowl of water for one minute as part of our Baby BOGS review but falling into a compost heap was proof enough of their durability at the time! It’s been […]