Allotted Time
\nby cricketjeff on October 17, 2010.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved
\nThere were cabbages and runner beans and record breaking leeks,
\nHis carrots grew as straight as arrows flew.
\nWhen the village show was nearing he would disappear for weeks,
\nCasting magic spells that only gard’ners knew.
\nHe could plant three hundred seedlings after nine hours at the face,
\nAnd his potting shed was pristine not a dibber out of place.<\/p>\n
The allotments would be buzzing with the men he’d always known,
\nAdding horse manure to Sunday’s rhubarb tarts,
\nThen a pint or two of comfort as they talked of all they’d grown
\nAnd they played a game of dominoes or darts.
\nWhen the barman rang last orders he would head back home to Nan,
\nAnd the sausages and bacon that she’d left him in the pan.<\/p>\n
He was closing in on sixty when they closed the local pit,
\nSo he took the cash they offered and retired.
\nDouble digging tatty trenches would be sure to keep him fit
\nAnd the veg he grew ensured he’d be admired.
\nHe and Nan were always happy though they seldom seemed to meet;
\nHe was out by ten past breakfast, never stuck beneath her feet.<\/p>\n
Till the council sent a letter “the allotments had to go”,
\nFor a supermarket car-park and some flats.
\nFor a year or more the diggers fought against the dreaded blow,
\nBut they couldn’t beat the hoards of men in hats.
\nHe still had his little garden but things couldn’t be the same,
\nWhen they took away his kingdom they put out a special flame.<\/p>\n
Now there’s just a single grow-bag with tomatoes for his tea,
\nAnd he lost his Nan a dozen years ago.
\nIn his room he keeps the trophies of the man he used to be,
\nAnd some pictures of the leeks he used to grow.
\nNow he’s waiting to be compost for some other fellows weeds,
\nOne more victim of a system that ignored his simple needs.<\/p>\n
Author notes
\nNo, it is just a story.<\/p>\n
Punctuation to follow …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Allotted Time by cricketjeff on October 17, 2010.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved There were cabbages and runner beans and record breaking leeks, His carrots grew as straight as arrows flew. When the village show was nearing he would disappear for weeks, Casting magic spells that only gard’ners knew. He could plant three hundred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9692,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4791","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6716,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4791\/revisions\/6716"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}