Noisy distractions

Yes, I could easily blame the weather, which has been as leaky as a wicker roof lately, but that would be unfair on my old mate Huey, the Aussie Weather God. No, I only have myself to blame for a quiet patch both in the garden and in the blogosphere. Oddly enough, I've actually been quite noisy during this recent quiet patch. Mechanically noisy, that is. Yep, the Death Wish has taken hold and this old gardener has bought himself a motor-sickle (with Pam's blessing, surprisingly enough – what a gal!). I once did earn my living riding and writing about bikes, before I became a genteel gardener, so a regression into some kind of wistful remake of my wild youth has always been on the cards.

And it's quite a nice way to do it, in fact. A lovely Italian Moto Guzzi 750.

It looks new but it's not, but it is only one year old. The previous owner likes polishing bikes in the same way I like growing plants.

Well, I think it's pretty. The paint is pearlescent white, the chrome suitably gleamy. The sound is a deep baritone burble. And it's not garish and insect-like, like so many modern bikes. It has a simple elegance that works for me.

Talk about distractions. Last Sunday, the heavens stopped leaking for a few hours. I could have gone out into the garden and thinned the seedlings, pulled weeds, picked up fallen fruit. But no, as the weather forecast for the next few hours was fine, I put on the helmet, headed south and rode off into the distance, making a deep burbling sound as I did so. I was back for lunch, mind you, but what a lovely distraction after so many years away from motorcycles.

Now my gardening is going to take on a completely new dimension. I am going to have to redesign my garden so it's easier, less time-consuming to care for. I need time on sunny weekends to spend time out on the highways. Yet I still want a lovely, productive garden.

Now, this might not make too much sense, but spending so much time in a garden, as I have done in recent years, almost makes gardening too easy. If I couldn't grow nice plants given the hours I spend out there, I really should give up. No, the new challenge is to grow nice plants with half the available time. It's a bit like a "gardener's challenge" which this whole new arrangement offers up.

I guess this probably does mean a lot less garden blogging, but I don't plan to give it away completely any time soon. I'm quite intrigued by the idea of what lies ahead. And so if any of you are regular readers and you notice that there aren't anywhere near as many posts as there used to be from wordy, long-winded old Garden Amateur, now you know why. I'm probably out on the road somewhere, listening to an Italian Moto Guzzi sing its beautiful highway Opera.