Sorry for that!: Joseph

For those of you who have been regularly following this blog, there is one fellow who has featured more than any other - Joseph the gardener. This despite the fact that Joseph was employed by the National Trust, and not by me.

And the only reason he has been featured more than any other was because he just seemed to always be doing the stupidest things - as part of his normal working day!

Joseph has been pictured weeding the concrete in the car-park (because he found a shady spot), recoiling in horror from a snake, dancing a jig at being given a free mango, standing in amazement at the tree that split in two, and, most memorably, wearing a balloon and a plastic bag as a hat in rainy weather.

Yesterday - Joseph died.

He had been unwell for some time, and though he had gone to the local Clinic, he found the tablets they gave him "bitter", and so he had resolved to follow his own medication regimen - which basically consisted of drinking Fanta. A few days ago when he came to re-fill his medicine cabinet, I took a snap of him leaving - I guess I had a premonition that all would not end well, and yesterday we heard he had passed away.

Here, then a small tribute to Joseph - the silly old fart who brought many wry grins to my face.....

His main job was cleaning dustbins....... which he did every day.

The time the tree split in half and fell over, - it was Joseph who was on hand to lend some scale to the pics....

And weeding. His moment of supreme glory was the day he spent 5 hours weeding concrete - about 4 square yards of it, in a patch of shade!

Then there was the time he was given a free mango - and danced all around the car-park with delight..

The enduring memory I shall keep of Joseph is the day he wore a balloon as a hat! A guest had given him the balloon and he wore it, with a plastic bag, for about 5 days - until it simply deflated.

He loved his balloon hat.