Saturday 5th August 2023 - Best Thing Since...., All Paper Poppy and Better Weather

I have a new garden tool which I think is, ‘the best thing since sliced bread’! The other day, I was fast forwarding through BBC’s Gardeners World on iplayer, stopping to watch sections that were of interest. I paused, when I saw an elderly lady dead heading the flowers in her much-loved garden. In her advanced years and reduced mobility, she was still able to dead head whilst sitting on a chair, using what looked like a litter picker. Yes, it did have a grabber but it also had a cutter. The cutter removes the dead head, the grabber retains it, stopping the dead head from falling back into the border. Just what I need, I thought, to save me having to put a foot in the border and stretch across when I remove the withered blooms at the back, with my secateurs. I found, what is termed as an easy reach pruner, on Amazon and ordered it. Delivered on Thursday, I was soon out in the garden snipping away, not only the faded flowers but also various plants that needed a bit of a trim. A neighbour was so impressed with my new ‘toy’, I ordered one for her too.

The Royal British Legion have been looking into developing a plastic free Poppy. It’s taken a couple of years but starting with this year’s appeal, a new all paper Poppy will be available. I am the Poppy Appeal Organiser for Overstrand and have been sent one of the new Poppies ahead of placing an order for this year’s supplies. I’ve included a photo of the Poppy, below.

It looks as though better weather is on its way. The forecast from this Wednesday, for the following ten days, is looking good with temperatures in the twenties, sunshine and most important, little or no rain. A warning was put out for a mini surge to hit the coast on Thursday morning. The fishing boats were brought up to the corner of the zigzag, (see photo below - it was a very dull morning!) but thankfully Overstrand came through with no evidence of any damage. The boats have yet to be taken back down onto the promenade. Storm Antoni is approaching, bringing with it high winds, heavy rain and will probably whip up the waves as well. The storm was supposed to have reached us today but although it has rained pretty well all day, it now looks as though, the winds will pick up during the night and carry on through most of Sunday.