Cant even face my garden

Nope. But I just think you should look on the bright side that things could be much worse than they are.

 

I know you're right. Thing is, I used to enjoy gardening. Now I see it as a job, a chore. It's now in the same category as mopping the kitchen floor. I know it has to be done, for my own sake and the sake of my family, but it's not something I'd book a day off work to do and look forward to.

Except unlike keeping the kitchen clean, looking after the garden is not technically necessary. We have many good outdoor spaces round here that the kids can play in. In a more extreme case, I could sell up and buy a terraced house with a yard. The trouble with me is that when something becomes just a job, I start planning my exit from it. This has always been the case in my career, and even in past relationships, and its the same now with the garden. Although I don't want it to get that far. I want to try to rediscover my mojo.

 

Ditto.

But perhaps you need to take stock and see what you have achieved or make the garden less maintenance heavy, which is something I'm thinking about at the moment.

I see weeding at the moment a time to switch off and sit still, even though I am being productive (or destructive depending on your look on it)

 

Nothing I can add really. Sorry to hear you're having a rough time of late though. Sounds like your neighbour has been fleeced by someone - an all to common occurance in my experience. I've often been called in to try and fix a tree that has been so unashamedly and brutally destroyed.

Sycamores, generally, can take a fair bit of abuse so they may fluff up again but will look dreadful for a long time to come. It will do no good going after the party responsible for the hack job though - you'll just been putting yourself in the firing line for all sorts of trouble.

 

Any luck?

 

No. Not really. I'm just going to have to get a grip and do it.

I've taken up a second martial art. Aikido. It involves lots of throwing people, and being thrown, to the floor. That plus that fact that 1.1 and I are now at a stage in our main martial art practice that we now train with big sticks means I need to turn the lawn into an effective training area. Within the next 6 to 9 months it's also likely that I will reach a stage in my training where I have to demonstrate one of the most horrible feats of endurance I've ever seen, so I need to prepare somewhere to train for that. If nothing else, I should be able to use that motivation to turn half the garden into a training area.

 

Now there's a good reason to get stuck in

 

As an aside, seeing as you mentioned it, kung fu doesn't mean very much. I'm reliably informed by my Taiwanese mate that while there is no direct translation to English, kung fu means something like 'great skill'. Although nowadays it is more widely accepted to simply means martial art or combat skills. Karate is kung fu. Except it's karate because it's Japanese. So the Japanese, in choosing a name for their previously unnamed martial sport/art, chose 'the way of the empty hand', which in Japanese would be kara (empty) te (hand) do (way). In korean it would be called Kong soo do, exactly the same translation but different because it's a different language. I practice tang soo do, which is almost the same translation except the tang gives acknowledgement to the strong influence of Chinese kung fu.

But anyway. I digress. I forsee no artificial turf. I see a widening of the path between main flower beds and lawn, so I can go out there even on wet days, or when the grass is a bit long, without risking standing in cat poo. Then I might be more inspired to crack on with it.

 

Kung Fu was a cheesy old program with David hang myself in a hotel closet Carradine. He was a marshal arts master in real life.

I bet there are some great forums about these trained arts that may be able to offer advice on how to marry your art to your domestic gardening needs?

 

There are many martial arts forums. Sadly they are not frequented with martial artists. I've joined a few over the last couple of years, and ditched all of them after a very short time. I found extreme sexism, along the lines of, obviously women can't match a man in a sparring match (there are young ladies, barely more than girls, at our club that through their refined skills can and regularly do kick us blokes butts). I found extreme stupidity, mostly in the form of extremely tall tales about how the poster repelled an attack by 10 Russian gangsters who were all armed. And extreme arrogance along the lines of 'that art that has been refined over a thousand years by actual elite soldiers is all rubbish and will never work because it doesn't work for someone who trains in controlled conditions for an hour per week. I even saw posts along the lines of 'your grandmaster is a liar'.

But anyway. This thread isn't about martial arts. Except that I might be able to use my passion for the art to rekindle my passion for the garden.

I remember Dave Carradine by the way. I'm not quite old enough to remember the TV series kung fu, but I am aware of it. I think David had a scene in Enter the Dragon with the legendary Bruce Lee.

 

He was quite charming and talented. He used to pop into my local once in awhile.

NOW, here is your lecture from an old dame across the pond....

You are obviuosly in good physical condition. Buff right?

So figure out how to use that strength and self control to swing a spade. And pull the kids into transitioning their fitness into helping.

Off your behind tomorrow You're better than a whiner. You didn't get through all your injuries by sitting or pampering yourself. Yes, when pain hits you work slowly back to fitness so use that logic in your garden.

Or get artificial turf and call it a day

 

Maybe 20 years ago. Unless the new definition of buff involves the pectorals, deltoids and upper arm muscles all migrating and converging on the belly.

 

My pecs get a workout lifting bags of soil and doing a lot of physical work however I still need undergarments to keep me presentable in public.

I used to think 60 sucks but now, I don't care. If I feel good, accomplish my goals, who cares.

I am at my personal best every day and that best is a fun and realistic! No granny at the olympics mind set...

Give yourself an atta boy and caŕry on gardening!

oh oh , do I see Sidney resurrected. .