My gate was open when I got to the plot to do what were supposed to be some quick errands. It fastened perfectly well behind me and it turned out that it was indeed a sign that I’d had intruders. But, unable to see through my cloudy windows anymore, they’d tried to break in through the door. Half the left hand panel was broken, but still in place and the door had been ripped away from the top of the diagonal support.

I’d not been down for a couple of weeks, but we’ve had some very heavy rain and there was no sign of dampness inside, which makes me wonder if this happened recently, maybe even last night.

I did a video call home to confer on the damage and then Mum came down to help me do a temporary repair, screwing the top of the door to the horizontal support and adding a piece of wood inside to help close the crack back together.

On the positive side, all my garlic is up and growing well, and the robin kept me company all the while. He was standing in a gap in the fence (now repaired, in case it worked as a foothold) when I checked around the plot and didn’t leave my side while I video called home. He took some persuading to get out of the shed.