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Some of you know that I have a gardener by the name of Joe. He lives diagonally opposite in our culdesac of 12 houses and so if a neighbour and I am lucky to be able to say a good friend. He charges £7 per hour and is meant to do 2 hours work. He never does though - he arrives at 9:30 and very rarely goes before noon and sometimes even stays later. In the summer he often comes to mow the lawns in the evenings if its been too wet or busy to get in done on the Wednesday AM. He also does other odd jobs for us, like taking things down the tip and getting grass seed or top soil etc. He has also in the past made some display things for my craft business (of which he is very supportive), customised a stair gate so it fitted our alleyway, mended all sorts of things and he made a gorgeous cross for Ollies grave, who he adored nearly as much as we did.
To be honest I cannot really afford the £14 per week I pay him(especialy since I have lost my card outlett) but I get so much more from his visits. We get much more than twice the amount done during the time (even though there is only 2 of us working), he gives me the incentive to get things done, he is a great sounding board for ideas and knowledge (between us we know quite a bit) and he helps me put things into perspective and ensures my prioritys are met. Hubbie works such long hours and can earn so much more in an extra 2 hours a week so I think the cost is justified and in the new year my son will have 5 sessions paid for at playschool so I will have extra money so as you can see it is all so so good.
BUT
for 18 months now he has been in pain and the past two months he has been getting noticibly worse with a dreadful limp and great difficulty getting down onto the floor. At first they couldnt decide if it was the hip, knee or ankle which was causing the problem but they have now decided it is the hip and he goes in tomorrow to have a hip replacement. I so hope that they have got the diagnosis right and that the operation is a success. He is such an active person that the time spent in recuperation is going to be so hard for him and if it turned out that on the 2nd of February (which he informs me is 6 weeks
) he cant get back to his work he will be beside himself.
From my own personal point of view I have it in my head that we may be on our own in our garden now, as he does lots of other gardens as well as ours so may not be able to keep them all on and this I can accept. I would never get another gardener (no-one would ever give such value for money) but what so worries me is losing a dear friend - you see, sorry to be so bleak but both my Great Grandmother and my dear Nan died after hip ops. Ok they were both over 20 years ago and they were not as young (Joe has at least 20 years on them) or as fit as Joe is so I am sure he will be fine. I just have this little nagging fear and I decided to share it with you all before it starts to eat away at me inside.
Sorry its been a bit of a ramble but hope you get the gist and you can reassure me in return.
Tammy
To be honest I cannot really afford the £14 per week I pay him(especialy since I have lost my card outlett) but I get so much more from his visits. We get much more than twice the amount done during the time (even though there is only 2 of us working), he gives me the incentive to get things done, he is a great sounding board for ideas and knowledge (between us we know quite a bit) and he helps me put things into perspective and ensures my prioritys are met. Hubbie works such long hours and can earn so much more in an extra 2 hours a week so I think the cost is justified and in the new year my son will have 5 sessions paid for at playschool so I will have extra money so as you can see it is all so so good.
BUT
for 18 months now he has been in pain and the past two months he has been getting noticibly worse with a dreadful limp and great difficulty getting down onto the floor. At first they couldnt decide if it was the hip, knee or ankle which was causing the problem but they have now decided it is the hip and he goes in tomorrow to have a hip replacement. I so hope that they have got the diagnosis right and that the operation is a success. He is such an active person that the time spent in recuperation is going to be so hard for him and if it turned out that on the 2nd of February (which he informs me is 6 weeks
) he cant get back to his work he will be beside himself.From my own personal point of view I have it in my head that we may be on our own in our garden now, as he does lots of other gardens as well as ours so may not be able to keep them all on and this I can accept. I would never get another gardener (no-one would ever give such value for money) but what so worries me is losing a dear friend - you see, sorry to be so bleak but both my Great Grandmother and my dear Nan died after hip ops. Ok they were both over 20 years ago and they were not as young (Joe has at least 20 years on them) or as fit as Joe is so I am sure he will be fine. I just have this little nagging fear and I decided to share it with you all before it starts to eat away at me inside.
Sorry its been a bit of a ramble but hope you get the gist and you can reassure me in return.
Tammy
God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done
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