Bloomin Beautiful........ And JobsWorth Tosser...

Ok....... Most of you probably know that I LOVE going to the garden centre with the nippers and me maties.... its only about 4-5 miles from here and its HUGE, so there is loads to see there, and the nippers love it, cos there are talking birds in the hothouse which say 'ello charlie' and there is also a big duck pond where we feed the ducks..... its great in bad weather cos most of it is undercover..... its the biggest garden centre around here for miles and miles.....

Its great cos the Strange Bruvvers that started it years ago, started real small a little further up the road from where it is now.... they were sort of a couple of pikies I think....... and as the business started to grow they moved to where it is now.... and its the most amazing place......they both have their mansions built on site, but they are just normal blokes, still working in the nursery, still getting their hands dirty, I must of known them for nigh on 25 years.....

I suppose me and me matie Sharon goes there at least every 3 or so weeks....its a great morning out for the nippers to, there is so much one can teach the kids at these places.... so much to learn....... there is also a lovely little cafe in the old victorian house that use to be the house on the land, and we often have lunch there, well a scone and a cuppa tea.... they dont like it much though that we take the nippers lunchboxes with us to save having to buy them all lunch, we aint made of money ya know.....



Our minded nippers love going to this garden centre and they often hide from us.... well they think they hide but we always know they are not far away......



Here they are thinking they were hiding LOL - thats J at the back and then Sprite his sister (whom I had since she was 10 weeks old) at the front and then M and T the twins and P their sister.... I love these kids and they in turn love me.... I think LOL



And here they all are in the geranium section.... a bunch of little blondies..

The year my tosser X left me and the lads, I had just secured us a contract with the above said nursery to supply them with alpines, we preferred selling them ourselves at country shows cos we got top prices for them, and by supplying other nurseries meant they got our plants at wholesale prices and they are the ones that make the greater profit from them, without having the risks and hard work of growing them........ ya see..... we had our own little nursery business and it was just into its forth year and he buggered off...he wanted it all to himself, I had helped to build his dream and he decided he wanted it without the tie of kids and family life (after 18 years of marriage lol)...... 80-90 hour weeks I worked building his dream with him..... his father owned a nursery business so it was all me X ever knew.... he had worked for his family business since leaving school at 15, it was all he knew how to do......

I will give me X one praise though, he was the most amazing grower that Ive ever come across.... he was the brawn behind our business and I was the brains and a bit of brawn....... I can load 4000 3 litre pots of perenials and alpines on any given evening by hand onto our nursery van without a shake of a cats tail..... 80-90 hours a week I would put in, I still had me preschool and still minded nippers and ran the house and had me 4 lads to sort and still managed to work every evening and every weekend on our nursery business for 4 years building his dream......

Circumstances made us start our own place, I found and bought the land at a time when the tosser X was suffereing from real bad depression, due to his father disowning him and throwing him to the wayside.... circumstances that almost cost our young son Sams life..I had Sam in ICU and almost dead, I had a hubby with depression, a 1 year old baby, an 11 and 9 year old that needed me, a preschool to run, 12 minded nippers to suss and sort out, and everyone relied on me... I had to carry the weight for all off us on me own for 3 years, and try and help build my X's dream, so that our family had a future.....so build I did, carry I did, go without I did, love I did, struggle I did....... LMFAO then when he had got his dream in place he walked from his family....... I often wonder what we would of become if he had stayed..... him being the brawns and me being the brains of the operation..... he was as thick as 2 short planks, but by god he was the most amazing grower and cutting taker of plants......

But when he left, he forgot that it takes more then brawn to run a business, and by leaving he walked away from the brains LOL..... and a business with no brain cells to plan and risk and think, is no business at all......... it stagnates, it stand still and eventually it becomes nothing....

I miss our nursery, I miss the thrill of knowing people wanted to buy something that we had grown and nurtured...... I miss the big country shows that we use to go to, I miss the interaction with the customers, something which my X hated, he couldnt talk his way out of a paper bag, so I was the 'frontman' at the shows.... and ya know what Im like with people LOL...

So I went from almost losing the life of my precious son..... to both my parents dying within 10 weeks of each other, to my X walking out on his family, all within a few years...... but cos I was use to carrying us all, I think that is why I just slipped into the roll of mum/dad nurturer, breadwinner when I had to do it all alone... cos to be honest, I'd been doing all alone for years.....

I have only shared the above (you are just getting a glimpse not the whole kaboodle) with one other cyber person... the same person that I had shared many of the happenings in my life, I hope that person keeps my stories safe, and places them next to my soul for safe keeping... stacked on a shelf somewhere together....

Anyways...... I digress LOL and have probably said way to much.........

So, the nursery that we love spending time at had a sale on a few weeks back, and it was one of our few sunny days, so we loaded up the 5 nippers we had between us and headed for heaven.. opps sorry, the nursery...



This is what we found....... oh my.... it was orgasmic LOL



As far as the eye could see....



The nippers are at the garden centre with us so often that its like a second home to them LOL.... besides the greenhouses and plants there are HUGE buildings housing every conceivable thing you can think of to do with gardens.... and even some home furnishings with a garden theme..... so we also love looking around those parts of the garden centre....

We often as not dont buy anything, we just go for a few hours to get out, but we always come home with cuttings LOL.... and no, we aint taught the kids how to nic cuttings yet, what do you take me for Fagin LOL ...

Most that know me also know that no matter how good, how quiet I can be, trouble ALWAYS seems to find me/us..... and the day a few weeks ago at the garden centre was not exception......

So, there we was in the home and garden section when we spied some hats, ya know, hats that posh people must wear whilst watching their gardeners do the hard work lol..... the minded nippers KNOW they are NOT allowed to touch or pick things up without first asking me or Sharon...... but I said 'shall we try on some hats' to which they squeeled YES.... so we were all laffing and having a whale of a time, trying on all the different hats, all way to big for their little heads.... and you know me with me camera..... I says..... ok, each put a hat on and let me take your photos......... and they all sat on the little patio furniture for their photo..... just as a member of staff walked around to see what all the laffing was about....

Here is the photo of the nippers, complete with labelled hats LOL



And this is the conversation that followed with the 'staff member'...

Bloke - Please do not let the children touch the goods..

Me - Goods? oh you mean the beautiful hats..

Bloke - Yes, please do not touch them unless you are thinking of purchasing them ..

Me - Maybe we are letting the children try them on so that they can choose which ones they want to buy..

Bloke - That obviously is not true, because the hats are adult sizes and way to big for them..

Me - And MAYBE I like to buy things bigger so that they grow into them, cos your prices are so ridiculasly high we cant buy new each year..

Sharon - giggling and giving me the 'look' ..

Bloke - Now you are just being a smartarse..

Me - Dont you know the customer is always right, its in the good customer guide, page 4, paragraph 3, subsection 2... where it clearly states, and I quote 'The Customer is always right'..

Bloke - Please dont let the children touch the hats..

Me - Ok kids, put the hats back on the rack, your probably right, Mr? 'jobsworth', they all have headlice and I dont suppose it was a good idea trying on hats now was it, and as you say they are way to big for them, so Im not going to buy the hats, cos I dont want my children to look ridiculas now do I..

Bloke - HEADLICE?.. and its Mr Dallas not Mr Jobsworth (HE SO DIDNT GET THE JOKE lol)

Me - Yeah, I so need to get that stuff for their little heads that kills the lice and stops them from infecting others..

Bloke - They have headlice? .. but headlice are catching, ewwwww

Me - Please do not say that infront of the children like that, it can be quite upsetting what with the constant itching, you should see Jons head, its a mass of scabs where he has scratched til he's bled...

Bloke - I really think you should be purchasing the hats now the children have tried them on while having headlice...

Me - Nah its ok, I mean, you said they were all to big for them, I think we'll leave it fanks very much and maybe we'll go buy an ice-cream..

Sharon - Dam jobsworth..

We walked away and Sharon whispered, does Jon and Sprite really have headlice...... No I said, but he dont know that LOL....



These are the 4 perenials that I bought..... a bright red victoria lobelia, a purple lobelia, a plum coloured penstimon and a true blue Salvia...

Why dont some people just mind their own dam business..... why do jobsworths always decend on us when we are out LMFAO.....

Enough boring Twaddle for a dark Friday evening..

x