The man from Cambodia

Went to the allotment early in the morning on Sunday. Man drove up in a Berlingo. Stopped digging to talk to him. He was short and from Cambodia. He had been living in Finland for 15 years. He spoke Finnish and English. He had learnt English at church in Thailand. He said the Khmer had taught him english, this threw me abit since I thought the Khmer Rouge were all about communism and against anything western, but he explained that there were many different groups of Khmer and that Cambodia was made up of 90% Khmer tribes. Just shows you how ill informed you can be.

He showed me some special seeds that a friend had sent him from Cambodia. They were small and black about the size of a pea. He was wearing a padded jacket with a T-shirt under it. On his neck there were tattoos. I looked at his plot of land. It was neat and tidy. The beds were lovingly raised up and the earth was fine and well tilled, almost as though he had put it through a sieve. He went off into the forst and came back carrying some willow saplings to erects some structure. I wondered if it was for his magic seeds.

I decided to dig until I had a couple of beds that were 10x1.5 M. It was early in the morning so nobody else was about so I borrowed a barrow and dumped some manure on the ground as well and worked it in with a fork. The fork and spade I bought from Biltma were too short for me. But I thought that they would have been perfect for the man from Cambodia. Too much bending over puts an ache in the lower back. It would have been good if I still had my navies shovel with the long handle. It would have made the work easier.

We were the only two people working the plots. It may still be too early to do anything with the soil. It has not awoken from its winter rest. The dead stalks of sunflowers stand neglected. While digging I unearthed a few onions that had not been lifted from last year. I also found a yellow plastic marker with the word Sipuli written on it. It had been buried in the ground. The ground I have has obviously been abandoned. I bet it broke somebody's heart.

I wonder if the little man from Cambodia had magic beans and they would grow a vine into the heavens, and we could all climb it and never come back. I think not.

The seeds that he will plant will be an attempt to capture a memory, and bring back to him the taste of home. A green leaf to cook in butter and spinkle with salt and pepper. A leaf to be eaten with a laugh. A leaf to be shared with you family.

The doctor says to me that to lower your cholesterol levels then you need to exercise and you need to eat the right food. That is what the garden is for. But don't tell anybody