When we were first married some 25 years ago, Alison and I lived in the garden flat of a converted Edwardian house in the heart of the West End of Edinburgh. As you can see from these photos Alison took at the time, our private walled garden was like a little oasis amidst the constant traffic and grime of the surrounding streets. Over the wall on the left-hand side was a drying green shared by the residents of the adjoining building, including Hugh, a posh Mummy’s-boy type, and his rather uppity American wife, who occupied the drawing room flat of the building. The pair held regular soirées in their big flat, to which they invited all their neighbours. Alison usually went along, but I always declined with the excuse of having too much work on.
Anyway, one hot, sunny Saturday while Alison and I were out in the garden, we heard a commotion in the drying green next door. So we peeked over the wall and saw a sight that couldn’t be unseen. Hugh (whom we privately referred to as Shug) was standing next to his electric lawnmower and calling up to his wife to plug in the cable he had run down from their flat. He was wearing a pair of oversize khaki shorts with a sharp crease down the middle of them, together with a floppy hat to protect his head from the sun. For all the world, he looked and sounded exactly like Mister Lah-Di-Dah Gunner Graham from “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum”. Once he received the thumbs-up from his wife, Shug switched on the lawnmower and set off up the drying green with an intrepid swagger, but only to scurry back less than a minute later after the appearance of a few heavy spots of rain. His grass-cutting adventure was abandoned.
Anyway, one hot, sunny Saturday while Alison and I were out in the garden, we heard a commotion in the drying green next door. So we peeked over the wall and saw a sight that couldn’t be unseen. Hugh (whom we privately referred to as Shug) was standing next to his electric lawnmower and calling up to his wife to plug in the cable he had run down from their flat. He was wearing a pair of oversize khaki shorts with a sharp crease down the middle of them, together with a floppy hat to protect his head from the sun. For all the world, he looked and sounded exactly like Mister Lah-Di-Dah Gunner Graham from “It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum”. Once he received the thumbs-up from his wife, Shug switched on the lawnmower and set off up the drying green with an intrepid swagger, but only to scurry back less than a minute later after the appearance of a few heavy spots of rain. His grass-cutting adventure was abandoned.