Feeling good!

Hurrah! I have finally done some more digging! I was afraid that it might set back my flu-recovery, but I actually feel much better for it, and the next section of the lot (and one quarter of the whole lot) is clear.

See beyond our compost bin, where the ground is covered in green plastic? Looks like our neighbours (who used to rent our plot as well and who let the whole lot get so overgrown for so long) have been spurred into action at last! I'm ashamed to say I feel a bit miffed; they've neglected it all this time and now with one burst of activity they've planted their potatoes before me! I'm trying not to feel too smug about the fact their soil is just rotovated and will probably be covered in weeds again in a few weeks...
Talking of getting crops in the ground; I've discovered a flaw in my plans. It's time to be planting my potatoes but the area I want to plant them in is still three strips away! I think I'll have to skip ahead; the plan is too fixed in my mind to start shuffling things around now. I finally bought some seed potatoes from Homebase today, having called Suttons to discover that mine were lost in the post; they were very apologetic and gave me a refund. I also discovered that Suttons are all out of the asparagus crowns I wanted (I thought I'd already ordered them, but apparently not!), which was enough to cause me a mild tantrum, but after a fairly short search I found some at Blackmoor Nurseries which are almost half the price! Hurrah again!
My digging method continues to develop; I've been trying to do it more quickly and less thoroughly, telling myself I'm never going to rid of every single weed root anyway. If I go faster and leave some behind it'll make weeding a little bit harder for the next couple of years (any weed'll give up in the end if you keep hoeing it up every time it rears its head) but at least I'll have some crops in the ground before July! However, it's more difficult than I expected not to be thorough, and unfortunately my tools haven't been able to keep up...
Eddie broke the head clean off the edger yesterday (although he found it made a far more effective tool without it; a snapped metal stump being much sharper!) and today the head snapped off my fork too. It was Eddie that insisted we buy cheap to start with, but now I shall have my Spear and Jackson ten-year-guaranteed tools! And I shall be emailing the company I got these ones from...
Hopefully he'll let me buy this storage bench soon too. I can't wait to have somewhere other than the ground to put my things; I picked up my handbag today to go home and a huge shiny beetle ran out of it! And I've been known to inadvertently bring home snails...
Finally, I found something strange on the plot today. At the far end, opposite from where we are digging, someone has weeded and put stones around three little plants - baby trees I think, or maybe raspberry canes.
It's very mysterious... I've noticed one of the plants before but they definitely didn't have stones round them then, so who's trying to lay claim to them? Or is someone just pointing out something useful? Next time I see our neighbour Terry I'll ask him if he knows anything. Until then, the mind boggles....