A hard row to hoe

This lithograph has a personal touch. For most of my life I have lived in houses, flats caravans, and factories which were primitive, or too small, or too cold, or in the worst street. Every time I have tried to improve matters by altering, repairing, extending, building and painting. I have renovated kitchens, bathrooms and shabby furniture. This gave me the illusion of progress but in reality were often retrograde steps, though I didn’t recognise this. The most intractable problem in replicating the home and garden glossies was the garden. No matter what I did, nature triumphed over my efforts and I ended up presiding over a patch of weeds. Now that I’m over the hill, the weeds are higher and my efforts in restoring order are more futile. Time for a gin and tonic.