The Blair Allotment Project

I was recently bouncing around on the Internet, as you do, and I chanced upon a site that asked for my support for an allotment in the South East that is to make way for the 2012 Olympic Village.

Well how very dare they? Who would consider building on a such a sacred piece of ground? To be threatened with the disabusement of your allotment is second only to having the very beating heart ripped from your chest by Beelzebub himself.

Is Blair bovvered?

The gist of the petition was that "these beautiful, productive vegetable gardens are due to be demolished to make way for a four-week footpath during the 2012 Games despite the land being given in perpetuity."

The Allotments in the petition are the 100 year old Manor Garden Allotments in the South East. The campaigners hope to encourage a more imaginative Olympic development which keeps the site intact.

The Government have tried to respond with a pragmatic approach. Unfortunately the Allotments have found themselves at the heart of the Olympic Park, and the ground levels at the site will need to rise by up to 6 metres to prevent flooding. Also, the Allotments will be at the centre of a large construction site for the next few years and so safe access will be impossible.

The Government have promised that following the 2012 Games they will reinstate at least the same number of allotments within the Legacy Park and all current Manor Garden Allotment holders will be offered one of these new allotments. Also, in the interim the London Development Agency is working with the Manor Allotment Holders to relocate them during the period running up to the games. If a planning application is accepted then a temporary site will soon become available within a mile of the existing site.

So, does this constitute being bovvered? I think it probably does. It will inconvenience the allotment holders, but what can you do if we as a nation want the Olympics, and in the congested South East.

One thing does concern me however. What is the value of making a gift of land in perpetuity if the local authority can walk roughshod over it?

Come on you legal beagles out there, explain this one?

The Existentialist Allotmentor

What's it all about? The sun, the moon, the stars, Jose Mourinho?

In truth we don't know. Many have adopted philosophies and creeds to cope with the sheer magnitude and mystery of the universe in all its glory, but in the end we don't have a clue.

The problem is, as humans, we are part of the system. We don't think we are, and our brain doesn't help as it flatters us into thinking we are somehow above and different to the rest of the food chain.

Even if we globally warm ourselves into oblivion, the Earth itself, ie that great big lump of rock on which we live, doesn't actually care. The dominant race would then become ants or some other such insect that has yet to find a use for a 4x4 off road vehicle. However, I suspect they would evolve their own version of the Champions League, it would only be a matter of time.

Some of the secrets of the universe are to be found in growing vegetables. Many of these gems have been encapsulated in old English sayings that have emerged from the great wisdom that is naturally assimilated by the allotmentor.

Here's an example:

The more one gardens, the more one learns, and the more one learns, the more one realises how little one knows. (Vita Sackville-West 1892-1962)

How about this Chinese proverb:

If you want to be happy for a day, get drunk
For a week, kill a pig
For a month, get married
For life, be a gardener

People are increasingly realising the truth in the last line, thus the long waiting lists for allotments.

This next saying will ring true to many vegetable growers:

Four seeds you have to grow
One for the pheasant, one for the crow
One to rot and one to grow

And finally, doesn't this one just sum it all up:

We come from the Earth
We return to the Earth
And in between we garden

Enjoy the sunshine.