WHISPERING SMITH: Losing the plot

But seemingly all is not well with allotments. When Alan Gammon was mayor, I went to one of his surgeries with a few suggestions on how things could be improved and some of the archaic practices moved along, so that the time for those on the waiting list could be shortened.

One way would be to free up plots that are not properly utilised. Several on my site could do with more attention, some desperately so. One near to me has not had a spade in it for over a year and is now shoulder high in weeds and seeding grass.

When you take on an allotment, you sign a contract, part of which states clearly the site must be properly maintained. Both parties are bound by that contract. So, to my mind, when the site is left uncultivated, that contract has been broken and, as with any contract, it should be terminated.

This was one of the points I made to Mr Gammon last year and, although he was sympathetic, little seems to have happened and another growing year has been wasted.

The officers dealing with allotments are efficient and very capable people and, no doubt about it, have to put up with a great deal, but the main problem appears to be the constraints of their time and working to rules that are long past their sell-by date.

It is up to the town councillors now, and if you are on that waiting list, contact your local councillor or ring the office and chat with the mayor about it. The new mayor, Emma Neno, does not hold a regular surgery day but, fully aware that she is the “front of house” person for the council, she tells me that should not dissuade people from talking to her on a one-to-one basis and that appointments, as with the surgery, can be made through the mayor’s office.

I guess one system is as good as another if the end result is a sympathetic chat with someone who can really help you with a problem and I think you will find that the mayor will do her darndest!

I’M ALL RIGHT, JACK Someone told me that, during the jubilee river pageant, a television presenter said it was now ok to call the Union Flag the Union Jack. I was always led to believe that it was only referred to as a Jack when flying on the jack staff of a ship!

However, I am quite happy with that decision, be it unofficial or not. The French lovingly refer to their standard as the Tricolour and the Americans to theirs as Old Glory so why not the Union Jack? It sounds so cheerfully friendly!

THE BONNY BIRDS All the bonny birds have flown away, or so the song says and, yes, maybe they have.

Up to last year, there were several flights of swifts dancing in the evening sky above my house. now there are very few. I wonder if renovation work on nearby older properties has destroyed their preferred habitat? In any event, I miss them greatly – they were bonny and they were very much a part of the LA summer.