Swaying Away From Wing Mirrors

I drizzling grey colander hung in the sky today while I worked on

clipping and transferring to compost the dogwood in the corner of the front drive which was obscuring the vision of anyone heading into Christchurch Road, either from our garden or from that of Mistletoe Cottage next door.

This is rather a dangerous daytime task as a steady stream of traffic whizzes past, often very close to the kerb. Particular care has to be taken not to step back and admire one’s work, and to sway heads out of the paths of wing mirrors of large trucks. Daytime traffic offers one advantage in that it is not so easy to exceed the 40 m.p.h. speed limit as it is at night, when the road is less populated.

This morning I posted https://derrickjknight.com/2021/08/19/a-knights-tale-19-she-saw-the-r100/

This evening Mat, Tess, and Poppy joined us for a few days, and we dined on Mr Chan’s excellent Hordle Chinese Take Away fare, with which Tess and I drank more of the Comté Tolosan Rouge.

79 comments

  1. You are right, Derrick – those huge hulks of lorries do have very long arms to their side mirrors!
    I’m sure both traffic and pedestrians are grateful for your work today – the hedge looks very tidy!
    Enjoy your few days together… don’t we so appreciate getting together after such a long time when it was difficult!
    The important things, that really do make life tick..!

      1. I’ve seen that happen in my hometown in Michigan. A 2-lane road that once saw a handful of cars a day is now very busy. Not good…

  2. Have you noticed that crisscrossed electric cables in the first photo create an illusion of a hammock hanging in the sky? I had to enlarge it to realize that G-d did not get Himself a hammock!

  3. We did the top of our drive the other day where a section of the hedge sits on the road side. No footpath here so also need to be careful, fortunately, we don’t have the same volume of traffic.

    Have a good few days with the family.

  4. I think this is the first time that I’ve seen the front of your house, Derrick. Your garden is the perfect escape. Hordle Chinese Take Away and Poppy…sounds like a great evening!

  5. My word — those trucks seem to take up more than their half of the roadway! It would seem that the more you can keep it trimmed the happier everybody will be!

    1. Yes. We didn’t put in the tall plants and will remove them for next year. The road was once a country lane built for horses and carts. Thanks very much, Janet

  6. That is an excellent social service rendered by you; the enterprise was fraught with mortal dangers however. The passing stream of imposing vehicles has been produced as a telling exhibit. The episode is made lively by your characteristic humour.

  7. All the photographs we have seen of your lovely garden give no hint of this heavy traffic passing by. It must have been an idyllic stretch of road before the juggernauts found it – using it as a shortcut perhaps? We live in a street above the main road into town and have found that the barrier of trees and shrubs we planted many years ago now helps to soften the sound of passing traffic a little. A street lower down used to be greatly sought after for its proximity to a private preparatory school and for how quiet it was – until a stop street was created in the main road to slow traffic down before it reaches a traffic circle. To avoid that, heavy trucks now thunder along Constitution Street, rattling windows and creating large potholes!

  8. Scary to have to work that close to fast passing vehicles, especially big one, on such a narrow road. My that is so narrow! 😮 Such a variety of vehicles passing by. Gotta’ watch all your sides as you work. I’m so glad you got such good work done safely.
    YAY for sweet visitors for a few days! Enjoy! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  9. One would never guess from the lovly photos of your back yard garden that your house has such a busy thoroughfare so close to the front of it. I certainly understand doubly now how important that garden respite is!!

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