Ever since I started working in landscape gardening my own garden has been slipping.

Think about it, when I worked in a factory, I needed to come home to a bit of green, now that I'm surrounded by green all day, I even go and work sometimes in the cows, as they're Friesians, I get to see black-and-white as a relief from all that green…

I mean, think of Mrs. Brown, who, when her husband got home, would come out with something like "Oh Capability, don't you think you should mow the lawn this weekend?" His response would likely have been less than gracious.

That got me thinking of other wives

Tzipporah (Mrs. Moses) "Moses, we've been wandering through this desert for ten years now, don't you think we should ask that Midianite over there for directions"

Obviously he didn't think so.

Mrs. Angelo "Michael, it's about time you repainted the ceiling" – guess the response.

Tzipporah "Moses, we've been wandering through this desert for twenty years now, don't you think we should ask that Ishmaelite over there for directions"

Obviously he didn't think so.

Mrs. Wren "Oh Christopher, we don't have room for the kids' bikes when they'll be invented, do you think that you could build a little shed in the yard?" Response unforthcoming.

Tzipporah "Moses, we've been wandering through this desert for thirty years now, don't you think we should ask that Bedouin over there for directions"

Still didn't think so.

Mrs. Heston "Oh Charles, the neighbors' dog has done a poo-poo on the lawn" - "No problem wife, I'll just take this M16 Armalite rifle with a grenade launcher and fix that mutt." Bang bang bang…. whoooosh explosion….. switching to automatic fire…. I love the NRA…. changing cartridge….

My father also suggested Madame Escoffier's lament "alors, Charles, you'd starve without me, you couldn't even cook an egg by yourself"

(remember, Escoffier always had an oeuf on his plate…)