The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole …

We’ve got a serious mole problem in our garden.

How many or where they’ve all come from is a mystery but they’re making their presence felt big style.

It did cross my mind that if this lot had been helping out with HS2 they probably wouldn’t have had to cancel the northern leg last year.

Who knows?

But joking apart, this much mess demanded action and I was soon on the phone to the mole man and down he came to assess their handiwork.

After the obligatory softening up about how tricky they’d be to deal with (*) we got down to some serious talk about the task in hand.

(*) I was known in the trade as teeing up that there would be too many zeroes on the bill for my liking.

For half an hour we walked and talked as he shared a lifetime’s experience about dealing with these cute little velvety creatures.

I was engrossed.

How they run the fence lines where the rainwater dripping from the wire keeps the soil moist (just as the worms like it) which means that he gets to feast on the 50 grammes of earthworms he needs to survive each day.

Where they go to when the soil dries out. What happens when it goes cold.  How they tell you when a cold snap is about to end.

And even the vole holes above their runs which tell you when they’ve buzzed off.

There was a lot more in similar vein and I was well and truly gripped.

It made me realise how valuable hard-earned knowledge like this is, whatever the task in hand.

And if it helps to shorten the journey from A to B then then it’s music to my ears.

We all have knowledge gaps and a task that might seem like the north face of the Eiger to us is someone else’s bread and butter.

So, if you need any help getting a project from the drawing board to print, you have only to drop us a line.

Until next time … and with sincere apologies to Sue Townsend – author of the Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole

Have a great week.

Alec