Re-Creation.

There was no doubt in everyone’s mind that the speed of the driver had caused the accident, in that he had driven down the hill too quickly, taking the bend at too great a speed to keep control of his tractor, and, as a result, had misjudged the width of the heavy load on the trailer. But, in view of the fact that no one had been hurt, that knowledge seemed irrelevant. The most important factor was that the driver had been able to walk away with his life in tact. Looking at the photograph of that upturned trailer, it was nothing short of a miracle.

Thankfully, also, it had not happened the previous day when I had been working in that part of the garden, or I would not have lived to tell the tale. Bearing all this in mind, we decided the best way forward would be to concentrate all our efforts on our next project – the garden makeover. In the meantime we had to be very patient and play a waiting game. Costs for the damage to the wall and the loss of the trees, shrubs and flowers had to be estimated and approved by the insurance company, all of which takes time.

Immediately following the accident, it had taken the best part of a day to remove the upturned trailer and its load. Five months later, two young lads spent a week rebuilding the stone wall. Afterwards, we spent many weeks clearing away the devastation left behind in the wake of the accident - tons of straw from bales which had split apart and had since begun to rot, tons of broken stone and rubble from the remains of our sixty feet of stone wall, as well as a lot of heavy work digging out the roots and trunks of the two mature trees, not to mention the removal of all our ruined shrubs and flowers.

But, seven months after the accident, on a sunny day in April, there we were at the Garden Centre, clearing away the bad memory of it all by finding renewed joy in choosing conifers, trees, shrubs and flowers to bring life once more to that part of the garden. In the months that followed, birds, frogs, hoverflies, bees, butterflies, snails, insects and worms all made their acquaintance with the new plants in their garden, and we were pleased to renew their acquaintance.