Like A Magnet

I'm so glad to have Nick coming every week to work in the garden. He's vey skilled and knowledgeable, and he doesn't need supervising. Yesterday he planted and transplanted several things whose positions needed tweaking, and he removed the spreading clump of Japanese anenomies that I foolishly brought from the front two years ago to fill out the perennial bed. These plants, along with their friends the echinops, are as bad as Russian vine: give them an inch and they take a mile, burrowing under the ground and emerging in all directions to start again. It's a pity the anenomies are so pretty. They've been moved to the area behind the summerhouse where they can't spread themselves out too much. Nick then continued clearing weeds from the bottom of the garden, though we don't always agree on their entitlement to exist. He knows all their names, and unless they are horribly invasive he welcomes them all. Yesterday he persuaded me to taste something - speedwell? - and it was as good as watercress. He knows all about birds too, and animals, my own personal Chris Packham.

My plumber, Neil, turned up yesterday to discuss putting in a much more powerful extractor fan to replace the one he installed with the new shower. It fails to extract, and with a north-facing room jutting out of the house, lingering steam is not a good idea. As we chatted he showed me his copper bracelet with six magnets, and he reckons that in just 8 weeks it has massively reduced the pain and stiffness in his knee, his elbow and his wrist on his right side. With his new-found mobility he was walking the dog more, and that had lead to him buying a fitbit, to record his calorie intake and energy expended every day. Along with the improvement to his joints he has lost several pounds and plans to continue monitoring everything and getting fitter. I was impressed, and have ordered a magnetic bracelet of my own. It's my wrists and thumb joints mainly. I reckon that moving house 10 times in the last 30 years, and carrying thousands of books to shelves from packing cases and back again has buggered them up. Not to mention gardening. We'll see. Neil bought his at a country fair for £40, down from £60, but I've seen the same ones on Amazon for well under £20 (don't tell him). I've been told about the efficacy of these magnets before, but stored the information away for a rainy day. And today? It's lashing.