A boxer oblivious to the vicious uppercut that smashed into his glass jaw reels from the unseen blow, with the canvas rushing to meet him before hitting the deck in an untidy heap. In shock he leaps to his feet, rather too quickly, in denial of the blow that had floored him, and being forced to take the mandatory standing 8 count from the referee.

I wasn’t wearing boxing trunks, but this fairly accurately describes what happened to me as I was delivering to a customer on Thursday evening. As I walked up the drive I must have stepped on something that turned my ankle, and down I went in an undignified heap. Like the boxer I leapt to my feet like a jack-in-a-box, self-consciously looking around to see who might have watched my dramatic tumble, cursing as I gathered the contents of the vegetable box that had spilled on to the drive as I forward passed it like a diving scrum-half mid fall – but no team mate was there to accept my pass. I skinned my knee and elbow, and badly bruised my ego, but I was otherwise unscathed.

Lightening doesn’t strike in the same place twice does it? You must be kidding! Last evening when I was sorting the hens out before their bedtime I did something very similar, tumbling into the dust by the garden shed. On this occasion I skinned my other knee. What’s going on? I hasten to add that on neither occasion had drink been taken, though obviously it was soon afterwards for medicinal purposes. These things tend to come in threes, watch this space.

Rain you say. Rain? Pah! I thumb my nose at your rain. Granted there were some showers during the week, resulting in a total of 6.4mm being measured in my rain guage across the three occasions when there was precipitation. Was it better than nothing? Grudgingly I accept that it was, but still I feel cheated because it really only laid the dust. The Met Office is currently showing no rain in its forecast for the week ahead, but the BBC is predicting some in the second half of the week. Who to believe? On another site there are predictions of dramatic thunderstorms mid-week, but that’s the wrong kind of rain that will likely just run off the baked land and cause flash flooding – not good.

Some might say that I’m plum(b) loco (a term often used in old western films), others will think that I have landed the plum job, what I can’t be accused of is having been born with a plum in my mouth. Oh for goodness sake! This is all leading up to me telling you that this week there are plums. I am picking the Victoria plums and will be selling them in 500g punnets. It has been a good year for stone fruit, which is not particularly what you would have expected given the weather this summer. The other fruit that has been early and prolific is the good old Blackberry. I have been picking big juicy ones for ages for personal use….I do like a crumble. I can now offer cooking apples along with dessert ones, so pies, tarts, cakes, fritters and crumbles can be yours too.

To finish with fruit, I have taken a punt on a limited number of Charentais melons from France. I suggest ordering early if you fancy one. It is a cantaloupe melon with sweet orange flesh, weighing around 1kg.

There is little change in the shop this week – the cucumbers are hanging on in there and are still very limited in number, we are okay for tomatoes, courgettes, patty pan squash and red peppers. Potatoes are Charlotte, Acoustic and Orla. There are French beans, beetroot, onions, leeks and carrots. I will finally be cutting lettuce again this week, but the Little Gems are in relatively short supply.

I would like to remind you that I am still planning to take off the week commencing 31st August (or does it really commence on the 30th?) for rest and relaxation. There will be no deliveries during that week, and I will not be at Wyken for the market on Saturday 5th September. Everything is normal this week, and I will be at the market on the 29th.

Right, that’s me done. I wish you a good week.

Phil