The Bit in the Middle: The Curiously Comic Tale of a Gardner in the Scottish Highlands

Patrick Vickery

Sep 2016 · Troubador Publishing Ltd

About this ebook

The author takes us on a meandering ramble through the life and times of a rural gardener in the Scottish Highlands charting the chaotic, absurd and often extraordinary aspects of everyday life in the 21st century. We also take a brief look back over his shoulder to those who have gone before, including a time span stretching from 1716 to present day and covering Southern Ireland, the south of England, Wales and the Midlands, finally concluding in present day north of Scotland. Many of the tales in this autobiographical book were written as a monthly newspaper column and illuminate the fact that no one’s life is ordinary – we all live extraordinary lives. The “bit in the middle” refers to the time span between birth and death, the only two indisputable certainties in life. The author’s incisive humour and surreal observations illuminate the meaning of our existence as perhaps never glimpsed before. As a full-time gardener in the Highlands, the author has had access to a wide variety of people over the years, observing and interacting with them in their natural habitats! This is essentially a book about people, as well as a powerful testimony to the fact that life is extraordinary no matter who you are, where you live or what you do. The “bit in the middle” is something we all share. Laugh and enjoy.