This is part of a letter my friend Anwen Corbett wrote to me which made me smile, so I thought it might amuse other people too.

Ann will be impressed that I was out in the garden weeding it this morning. First, a little desultory weeding in the back garden (campanula, black clover, excess quantities of violets), then the axis of evil in the front garden. Dandelions. Have you ever seen a dandelion with leaves three inches across? (Answer: no – nor would I have done if I’d pulled it up when it was small and parched.) I took my trusty trowel to it. We passed the greenfly level; we passed the earthworm level; we passed the level at which precious minerals are mined from the earth – and at that point the canary-in-a-cage-on-the-end-of-a-pole began to look a bit sick. Deeper still we went; those roots were calling to each other “Look out! there’s a sheila with a trowel!” at the point at which I cut in and gave up. Yes! I admit it! “Gave up”. Sad to say that the canary and I took a vote on it and gave up. I know what it means: the dandelion will live to see another day – but look at it this way, so will the canary!

First published in the Bucks & Oxon Group Group Newsletter Autumn 2008
and subsequently in Cornucopia Issue 25.
© Copyright for this article: Ann Draycott

This article was taken from a copy of Cornucopia that was published in 2010. You could be reading these articles as they are published to a national audience, by subscribing to Cornucopia.