2020 Covid-19 Memories

Martin Finlayson, Inverleith Allotments

Pottering in a Pandemic

It started with a new plot,
on a new site,
a wee half plot,
with a wee brown shed.

Work to be done,
paint the shed, and the bench,
dig the beds,
keeping busy.

Preparing for spring,
it’s not a normal year,
there’s sun in March,
and there’s a virus afoot.

Calm turns to panic,
plant, plant, plant,
before lockdown,
before the allotment closes.

Repreive for now,
normality resumes,
back to the plot,
my haven of tranquility.

Pottering and chatting,
from a distance,
making new friends,
talking shop and Corona.

Feeling privileged,
to be in this space,
where magic happens,
from seed, to life, to plate.

And nature continues,
the birds sing, louder,
the tatties grow, bigger,
at Inverleith Allotment city.