Agnes

My lovely neighbour Agnes has just been over. She's about as excited as me about getting this project up and running.  I first chatted to her a few months ago when i was off work with shingles and had nothing better to do than add more plants to my tiny patch of reclaimed Housing Association land outside my flat.  I should mention here that i have a small addiction problem.  Well its not that small but I don't think it really hurts anybody.... OK my name is Helen Clarke and I'm addicted to plants. I cannot sit in the garden without taking cuttings to create new plants. I cannot pass a plant on sale without immediately reaching for my wallet and buying it. And i certainly could not let a week of perfect sunshine go when i was effectively quarrantined without doing something in the garden. But back to Agnes - i met her when we were both taking advantage of the sudden onset of summer and she had about 70 or 80 tomato plants outside her flat.


I'd been keeping an eye on that flat in the hope of meeting the gardener as i knew this would be a person i could connect with. Halstead Close Estate has been pretty barren on the meeting the neighbours front. Having lived in all sorts of places in the past i'd found housing estates to be the friendliest and the easiest to get to know people. The Ocean Estate in Stepney seems to come with a health and safety warning from all the journalists who write about it but i found it to be the most community spirited place i'd lived in. I quickly got to know the lads who hung around the entrance of the block and was on first name terms with all the women on my floor and a few of the others within a few months. By the summer i was on plant and seed swapping terms Sayeeda and her friends. Plants, it seems, can overcome linguistic and cultural barriers better than a Babel Fish.  


So when i saw Agnes tending to her 80 tomato plants and attempting to pot them all on i knew she'd be a new friend. This is a mammoth task by the way an i'm not sure i'd be able to give all plants the attention they deserve if i had 80. But Agnes is a force of nature. We got chatting and the kids came out to join us and she was most enthusiastic for a Community Garden. 

When i did some door knocking the other evening she was one of the few who answered the door without having to undo 5 dead locks. Six children popped out from the living room and wanted to exactly what i wanted and whether i wanted to join in their games - i regretfully declined - and i realised that Agnes was the true mothering kind looking after 4 other children as well as her own two. Not to mention her 70 children outside!


I wonder if Agnes will come door knocking with me next week...