A moment

Photo: 20 years on and I’m still oiling the old bike.

A load of old rubbish

“If you like I could drop them off at your house”. I’m in town and a friendly shopper has asked if I want some old neglected shrubs to look after as they are clearing out a few old borders. “I’ll think about it”, I say cautiously. I’ve been stung before by people offloading unwanted items onto me, and I am thinking back to the times when I have been unexpectedly left holding old rubbish. Maybe if I recall my past experiences I can make an informed decision.

Skipping along

I used to spend a lot of time upside down in skips. Here you could freely rummage around inside the rusting containers to see, and be amazed, at what people were throwing out. I enjoyed the thrill of finding something that was only slightly broken or looked as though it might double up as a thingamybob for some project I was working on in the garden. I used to come home with all sorts of rubbish that might come in useful one day. I did get some good stuff occasionally. Mostly all I was doing was slightly delaying the inevitability of the junk ending up in the landfill. At least I was in control of what was being dragged down the driveway though. It hasn’t always been like that.

I still hesitate to give an answer to my friendly stranger.

You’re barred

I was working behind a bar in a town outside of Nottingham in my early twenties. It was an extremely busy pub at the weekends, with ten people deep at the bar all waiting to buy their pints of lager before beating each other up. I chose to work on weekdays when the odd passer buy would pop in for a snifter before going home. It was far less stressful but did have its problems.

A small sweaty man used to pop in every so often for a half of bitter and one day produced some items out of a well-used carrier bag he was holding. “Here”, he said throwing something over the bar. “I don’t have any use for these anymore so you can have them if you like”. The man brushed aside his comb over hairstyle and showed me a pair of shoes, two sizes smaller that I take and a pair of jeans that were at least six inches too short both around the waist and length for me. “I’ve no use for them anymore”, he continued. I watched a bead of sweat roll down his forehead to his cheek and for some reason took pity on the blokes needy look. “Yea, I’ll have them, thanks”. I said taking the bag. I didn’t want him bursting into tears.

The following week the man came back “Half a bitter please”. He beamed at me over the counter. I duly obliged and passed the drink over to him holding out my hand for the money. “What?” He asked indignantly. “I gave you that stuff last week, surely that’s worth a drink or two”, he said with a wink. I had been bought, tricked into a one sided contract. He tried to get a freebie drink from me the next week too, but I was prepared and threw his jeans and shoes back to him over the counter. He left spitting obscenities, no doubt to try it on in the pub down the road.

Still no decision and in a flash I recall another instance.

Hang ‘em high

I was working in an office when a boss asked me if I would like some “Really good wardrobes”. Not wanting to miss this bargain I took a van to his house and came away with hundreds of dismantled panels and a big bag of screws that were once grotty old wardrobes that should have been smashed up years ago. I was too spineless again to say no, as my boss was so enthusiastic about them I didn’t want to disappoint. They went straight to the bottom of the garden when I got home and stayed there finally rotting into the soil.

Pluck it

My next brush with spinelessness was when a friendly neighbour asked me if I wanted a pheasant for my tea. Having only just moved to rural Ireland from an English city, I had an image of the bird being delivered to me ready for the oven so again I said yes. “There you go”, my neighbour walked into the house barely suppressing his humour heaving the freshly shot bird onto the table. The blood trickled onto the floor and the beady birds eye followed me to the kitchen drawer where I kept the knives. It took Julie and I all day to pluck and prepare the poor thing. There’s a lot to be said for oven ready birds from the butcher.

On yer bike

My final incident with my lack of assertiveness saying no was when an acquaintance was getting ready to go home to Spain and offered me his bike before he left “For a fair price”. Always open to a bargain, he suggested I went to have a look at it first to make sure it was what I wanted. There were two bikes in his shed; one was fantastic, lightweight frame, all the extras. The other was a dull looking neglected specimen that was crying out for oil. I made the assumption that it was the better bike of the two for sale and accepted the fair price he was offering. When it came to doing the deal the following week, I produced the money and he produced the oil starved neglected bike from the corner of the shed. I handed over the money, kicking myself in the process and swearing to myself to learn to say no.

This last incident happened over 20 years ago and of course now I am ever assertive. In my head I am politely refusing the plants, determined to keep my own space clutter free. My words and actions let me down. The shrubs are being delivered tomorrow.

Running Repairs

Duck tape to the rescue. Fixing the rake handle gives me time to ponder the virtues of well made tools

My rake has broken. I am only collecting up some cut grass after strimming, which is what it’s designed to do after all. The steel tube handle just buckled under the strain of it all and bent in two. I’ve only had the rake about three years and I certainly don’t want to be traipsing to the shops to buy another one so it’s a case of ‘make do and mend’. I find my trusty duck tape and an old brush handle and set to work.

The rake is just one of a catalogue of things that are giving up the ghost in the house. Just this week the kettle element burnt out after just three weeks of buying it, and no, I didn’t keep the box or receipt. Long life low energy light bulbs are popping, a tyre is deflating on the car and my strimmer head flew off into the wilderness just before the rake handle buckled. Again I haven’t had any of these things long. I’m not sure if it’s just my imagination but things seem to be lasting even less time than usual, maybe manufacturers are building in shorter product life spans to kick start the economy by getting us to buy more often that we used to. It’s called built in obsolescence, or designed to fail. In 1954 Brooke Stevens, an industrial designer in the US explained planned obsolescence as "Instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary." I don’t know about it instilling me to desire a new rake though, I could quite happily live with the one I have for a few more years. As early as 1932 there was a talk called “Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence”, so maybe the shorter product life isn’t all in my imagination.

It’s fixed

The duck tape sticks the brush handle nicely onto the bent metal tubing and within a few minutes I am back in action again. In fact the handle is better than ever.

I do have a few really good gardening tools that just seem to go on and on. I invested in a pair of Felco secatuers twenty years ago and they are still going strong. My mattock was forged out of Victorian steel and loves tearing out the brambles in the wood. There’s hope for modern manufacturing too. My Chillington hoes seem to be standing up to the rigours of the raised beds and hopefully will be doing just as good job in the garden in 50 years time.

Veggie seedlings

We have a lot of maturing vegetable seedlings taking up space on the patio table. They have been hardened off and are ready to plant out in the raised beds before the get pot bound in their modules. The runner beans got their leaves badly browned by the cold winds last week. It’s tempting to cosset the plants for a lot longer, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be in their best interest. They have to fly the nest sometime and be able to stand on their own root systems and bamboo poles. I have gone around the beds to clear them of weeds, leaving a fine bed for them to get a good start. I’ll be adding a bit of the organic chicken pellets to the soil before hand as a bonus, that’s if the dog hasn’t eaten it all.

Escallonia

I am pleased to see the new shoots of recovery on my Escallonia hedging. It’s taken a few weeks but the bare stems seem to be none the worse for their ordeal in the frosts last winter. The same can’t be said for a few of the Oleria type hedges that still show no sign of greening up. I’m sure new shoots will come from lower down the plants, so don’t go digging them out just yet. Wait until the middle of summer and re-think the situation. It might just be a case of cutting them down a bit in autumn. Looking around the garden today I have also seen another casualty of the frost. The decking wood stain has all but been lifted off with the freezing and will need another coat or two to make presentable. There’s an industry that won’t be in recession this year.

Northwest Garden Show 2010

Don’t forget the Northwest Garden Show this weekend. It is the first show of its kind in the Northwest and promises to be the biggest trade exhibition for the garden and outdoor living industry. Follow the signs to the Castlefinn Partnership Initiative Complex in Castlefinn village. There will be all sorts of horticulture, outdoor living and landscaping people there as well as entertainment for all the family. Gardening expert Diarmuid Gavin will be making an appearance and no doubt be entertaining the crowds.

More on Ticks

TICKS AND LYME DISEASE

Since writing last week’s article about ticks I have done nothing but itch. It’s probably just the thought of these spider like pests, but knowing that doesn’t really help. I put the article on the Gardening Matters blogsite and have been receiving letters from people in Ireland and the UK who have been affected by the Lyme disease these ticks carry. We are getting more and more ticks on the dog and I’ve even taken to smearing her collar with insect repellent to try to keep them at bay. The Co-op do a product called Spot On that is used on sheep, cows and horses so I might invest in some of that if the infestation gets any worse. Here are a few of the letters about concerns of Lyme disease and the difficulty getting diagnosis.

From: A representative of Tick Talk Ireland


"Encouraging awareness, prevention & treatment of Lyme Disease (Borreliosis) in Ireland."

Hello - I loved the topic of ticks and the problems with repellents. I was infected in the States. My 3 dogs would be treated with frontline flea & tick repellent and yet every time they came in I had to kneel down & pick the little blighters off them. Unbeknown to me, as I was kneeling down a tick decided to run up my leg and feast on me instead. Only after 18 months of ME did I realise I had Lyme disease. Sadly now, it may be too late to completely eradicate the disease due to delays in my treatment.

A lot of emphasis is given on the Elisa tests for Lyme but the test kit manufacturers themselves state that a negative result should not be used to exclude diagnosis. Sadly this information never seems to filter down to the physician who requests the test. There are some private labs that will test for Lyme in the States and Germany at the expense of the patient and even then patients results are disbelieved, so getting treatment can be very hard indeed.

We are very keen to encourage the Department of Health in Ireland that Lyme is made notifiable - hopefully in time it will be so that more doctors can be made aware of its existence and of its seriousness if left untreated.

Thanks again for highlighting a problem unknown to many. Lyme disease can have the potential to afflict anyone of us, including doctors themselves!

With best wishes,


Tick Talk Ireland


From: Joanne Drayson Surrey
Re: Ticks. There can be dangers with ticks, especially:

1. In removing the ticks by hand.
2. If removed by any other means than thin nosed tweezers or a tick remover you don't just risk squishing the contents on yourself but if stressed the tick regurgitates it's stomach contents into the host.

3. Not all ticks carry Lyme but they can also carry other difficult to treat infections and we cannot ask the tick whether it is infected or not. One leading professor of entermology said at the 2008 Lyme Disease Action conference that an unknown percentage of ticks carry Lyme Disease. The infection comes from other small mammals rats etc.

4. Ticks do not need to be attached too long. If they have already had a partial blood feed they can transfer the infection sooner. There are many case studies, which show infection in less than 24hours.

5. Not all patients get the tell tale bull’s eye rash but if you do you are infected and should take immediate antibiotic treatment.

6. There are increasing numbers of patients very very sick with Lyme disease in Ireland and England.

7. Sadly our health authorities (in the UK) say the tests for Lyme Disease are 100% accurate but research shows that doctors can miss 50% of cases.

8. Patients can present with such an array of symptoms that they are often misdiagnosed such as, ME/CFS, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Muscle weakness, Neurological illnesses such as MS, MN, Parkinson's and even Alzheimer's as well as psychiatric illness, ADHD, OCD and autism. Sadly most of these people will receive only symptomatic treatment and may be refused the inadequate Lyme disease test. People can spend years suffering, not realising that specialist doctors will treat on long term antibiotics helping to improve symptoms and their life.

To read more about this awful illness I would suggest you read ILADS and/or Burrascano Guidelines found on www.ilads.org. The UK charity www.lymediseaseaction.org.uk also has much information on this matter.

It took 5 doctors and 3 rheumatologists 4 years to diagnose me and 3 years to treat me on long term antibiotics but I am no longer crippled with arthritis and muscle weakness and can cycle and enjoy my gardening once again.



From: Denise from iPetitions

Hi there - I really would like to warn you that Lyme disease is a real problem for dogs and humans, and horses too. I've got Lyme disease, caught in Scotland on holiday in 1985 when I was 33, happy and very fit. No one diagnosed it, not until private tests 20 years later. Too late for me now to get better and the NHS won't give any treatment anyway, so I buy my own antibiotics when I can afford them. Without them I go downhill even worse than I am now.

By the way, Ireland is absolutely rife with Lyme disease; even in the mid 90s they found it in about 8% of the blood supply. Some people can carry it for a while before they get ill. They actually don't know what to do about it, except pretend there is no problem.


Please have a look at our petition

We don't think the government are taking things seriously enough - there should be warning posters and leaflets in every doctor's surgery and at every park and forest and country walk.

If you go to the petition have a look at the comments and it will shock you how bad things are and how many people are suffering.

Perhaps some ticks are not infected, but it's best to think of them as if they were. They can even carry things such as nematode worms and flukes. Those of us who have been through hell with the disease are horrified at the thought of so many people not knowing about it and we want to prevent anyone from having to go through it. Some people die, from a stroke or heart attack, and others are paralysed or affected mentally.

CAUTION
So there you go. Become aware and informed and make sure you take every preventative measure when dealing with these parasites.

See the first post

TICKS

I’m losing the battle with our new dog for pack leadership. When she arrived we covered the best armchair in the house with clothes baskets and books to stop her using it as a bed. Consequently none of us could get the benefit from the chairs plump cushions and panoramic views. Nevertheless every morning we would come into the kitchen to find her wedged in the most uncomfortable looking postures wrapped around our deterrents The chair has since been covered with the dog’s own duvet cover and when I walk past the chair, she looks at me with a comfortable air of victory and supremacy. However, we have a more pressing issue this week that needs immediate attention, namely a parasitic invasion -Ticks

TICKS

The dog is covered in them so we are discussing the best way to remove the pests. “How about painting them with nail varnish?” I suggest. “You could burn them off with a cigarette like you would leeches.” All interesting suggestions from the family. “Yea, the chef Heston Blumenthal fed leeches up with goose blood and cooked them up for a gothic feast, maybe we could do that with ticks.” The topic is getting a bit bizarre now and for the squeamish amongst you I would stop reading this now……

REMEDY

April to July is the time of year that ticks are lurking in the grass to jump on to unsuspecting hosts. These ticks are tiny spider like creatures that attach themselves to animals, normally sheep or deer, and don’t let go until they have gorged themselves with the hosts’ blood. Our new dog tends to spend a lot of time up the hill and in the woodland terrorising the pheasants that are around this year (courtesy of the gun club releasing loads into the wild). She never manages to catch one but she is very persistent, if she had a tail it would be wagging. The only thing she does catch though are the ticks, at least twenty a day.

I’d be looking guilty too if I stole someone’s chair.

I rather enjoyed picking them off initially, but the novelty has worn off. Nothing seems to deter them. (We have been heaping spoonfuls of dry garlic into her food). I go to the chemists to get an over the counter remedy for ticks and fleas. “I have two types of liquid to put on the dogs skin,” the helpful girl behind the counter tells me, “One for small dogs and one for dogs over 25kg.” I thought anything over 25 kg was a horse, but convinced myself and the girl that my Springer Spaniel was very large and needed a large dose. The girl looked a bit concerned but I assured her I am responsible.

At home, I follow the instructions on the packet, smearing the liquid in four key places along the dogs back. Three days later I am still picking the ticks off and they seem none the worse for the chemical attack, in fact they are thriving. One has even attached itself to her eyelid, which is proving difficult to remove.

REMOVING THE TICKS

Removing ticks can be tricky without leaving the head of the parasite embedded in the skin. They need to be turned anti clockwise from as close to the skin as possible with the thumb and forefinger. The reason for this is two fold. One, the ticks burrow into the skin clockwise so they need unscrewing. Two, if you squeeze their bodies and they pop you will be left with a splatter of blood, risking the chance of infection if any gets into the host’s body. This can lead to Lyme’s disease. Lyme’s disease is very rare in Ireland, but a handful of cases do happen every year so it’s best to be wary.


NOT FUSSY

The problem with the ticks is that they are not fussy whose blood they suck and can attach themselves to us when we are gardening or walking in the long grass. We have all had them at some point, as do most people who spend a lot of time out of doors. The ticks will drop off eventually when they are full, but removing them within 24 hours of becoming attached reduces the chances of getting Lyme’s disease to practically zero. Treatment for the disease is possible if it’s caught quickly.

There are some things we can do to keep these tiny blood suckers off of us when working in the grassy, bushy or woodland areas of the garden

• Cover your arms and legs. Wear long trousers tucked into your socks or boots, and long-sleeved shirts with cuffs fastened
• Wear shoes or boots rather than open-toed sandals.
• Use a natural citric insect repellent on clothes or on limbs if it is not practicable to cover up.
• Inspect skin and clothing for ticks every three to four hours; check children's skin and clothes frequently.
• At the end of the day, check your and your children's bodies thoroughly for attached ticks, including skin folds such as armpits and groins.
• Remove a tick as soon as you see one attached to the skin remembering to unscrew it as the tick's head can break off and be left behind.
• Following a tick bite, there is likely to be an area of redness; the vast majority of these look like nettle or bee stings and are just allergic reactions to the tick's saliva and do not indicate infection.
• See your doctor if you develop a rash or become unwell with flu like symptoms after being bitten.

This is the busy time for the ticks. Thankfully they ease off later in the summer. Just in time for the wasps to come out.

More on ticks