This little gardening fork has lain abandoned on our garden table for yonks. It may even have landed there last year. I keep looking at it and lamenting my lack of time for gardening. Strangely my herbaceous border is looking fantastic considering it’s full of weeds – the plants are burgeoning and everything is in glorious bloom (take that fantastic bears’ breeches I photographed yesterday as an example.

Now though, there is the possibility that I might be able to spend some time out there. That’s a marvellous thought but it heralds the arrival of either famine or feast depending on which way you look at it. It might be considered the former if I can’t get a job or the latter if I think about spending some quality time at home for a change. In fact, is it possible to see it as both famine and feast for both the reasons identified.

I’m planning to start my summer jobs this weekend – I’m going to make my first batch of paving slabs with the moulds given to me by the gorgeous and amazing Erica, our ex-next-door-neighbour. This is fab for two reasons – firstly because I get to fire up my cement mixer for the first time this year and because making my paving slabs using Erica’s moulds, I keep a little bit of Pete the Pirate here in our home. When I’m laying them as our new patio, I’ll think of Pete, dressed in full drag, doing the village cross-dressing football match, or leaning over the back door with a glass of Buck’s Fizz in his hand on Christmas morning, or yelling “take the day off” at a million and one people passing our cottage. It’ll make me smile and remember Pete, who is sadly no longer with us. It’s now two years since he died. He may no longer walk amongst us in the flesh but there isn’t a soul in the village who doesn’t think about him and miss his roguish charm. I’m going to lay my patio with his paving slabs and call it Pete’s Place. I think he’d be amused by that.

I've got most of the ingredients for the job - all I need is to pop to Trago for the colouriser and I'm away. The only downside is it'll take ages to make enough for the patio because I can only do them three at a time and they need a week to go off before the moulds can be used again.For anyone not understanding a word of this, I've been given three moulds that you pour coloured concrete into and let it go off - then turn them out and "voila" you have three paving slabs. Erica has them in her garden and boy are they fab - just like the real deal only cheaper!