This is pallet heaven. After carrying heavy loads, after being raised and lowered by fork lift trucks, after being stacked behind warehouses, the allotment is where pallets often end up. There they are resurrected as compost containers, shed walls and - most recently - one of my neighbours made one into a throne. And from the midst of old pallets, new life springs: a hazel tree in its new green gown. Behind the stack of pallets is the celebrated allotment shed which once sheltered a homeless man for several nights and then hosted a party. Now it is occupied by nesting blackbirds. There's also a congregation of broken mowing machines, carpets, old barrows and lengths of piping. All await conversion. It's not the first time I've sketched this paradise. Nor the last, I hope. It's sheer heaven. |