Day in My Life 2016 + 2026: Gardening, Dancing and Theatre

2026: ' It has been a good gardening year, a huge range of fruit and vegetables. The water storage and irrigation system is working well so we are able to counteract the drier weather conditions York is experiencing. I catch up with news from fellow gardeners as we work. Since the ex-Rowntree factory has been turned into homes there are a lot more residents joining in community activities.' Photo Credit: Catherine Sotheran
2026: ‘ It has been a good gardening year, a huge range of fruit and vegetables. The water storage and irrigation system is working well so we are able to counteract the drier weather conditions York is experiencing. I catch up with news from fellow gardeners as we work. Since the ex-Rowntree factory has been turned into homes there are a lot more residents joining in community activities.’ Photo Credit: Catherine Sotheran

Contributed to the My Future York project, 14th September 2016. The writer prefers not to be named.

Saturday 10th September 2016
Get up and after breakfast do some jobs around the house and garden. Then I have a list of tasks to tackle out and about, and I pack what I need. I cycle round to the library, in Museum Street, trying to rebrand as Explore. I return my books and have a quick look on the shelves, my next deadline is 11.30, so not long to look. Find a slim volume of volume of essays – Men Explain Things to Me. Great find, I think. I push my bike through town and walk the last bit to Whip-ma-whop-ma-gate where I do my weekly half an hour gardening at Edible York’s fruit and herb garden. My colleague arrives so we tidy up and chat. We talk to people going past, flourishing borage plant that will be seeding soon. Uncertainty about what will happen to this outdoor space, will it remain public with a garden and bike racks or come to resemble the picture on the building that used to be Heron Foods? Our final visitor is going to the Kyra garden open afternoon, so more sharing of info and ideas. Then on to a Click and Collect mission to pick up the laptop my sister and I have bought for my grandson’s 18th birthday. All OK but of course the parcel is a lot bigger than the laptop inside and is cumbersome to carry. So I push my bike to the medium-sized supermarket nearest to my home and on my way remember to buy a birthday card. Buy 3 essential items at the shop and walk home. At home I have lunch and see how much of the Guardian crossword I can do. Then I go outside, do some more of a major shed clear out and pruning of my greengage tree. I find a few greengages for tea. I have been asked a financial question by a fellow Edible York trustee, so I double check the answer with my bits of paper and spreadsheet.I plan to spending the evening reading the paper and my new library book. The Guardian states at interesting radio programme starts at 10pm, but they have got the time wrong, should be 11pm, so I listen to the end of the Last Night of the Proms. And so to bed.

10th September 2026
It is Saturday again, and today is the monthly Saturday morning gardening session at Greenfields community garden, which has been going now for about 15 years. I get up and have a leisurely breakfast, I have just made some greengage jam so I can eat that with my homemade bread. Then I pack the few things I need for gardening, I still have the waterproof ‘kneeler’ I made in 2010’s. It has been a good gardening year, a huge range of fruit and vegetables. The water storage and irrigation system is working well so we are able to counteract the drier weather conditions York is experiencing. I catch up with news from fellow gardeners as we work. Since the ex-Rowntree factory has been turned into homes there are a lot more residents joining in community activities. I walk home in time for lunch. I bring some produce home from Greenfields, including salad vegetables and a whole bunch of grapes, and a melon and aubergines for tomorrow. In the afternoon I am going shopping so I get out my electric tricycle to cycle round to the nearest supermarket. I have had to have had a bit of building work done so I can store the tricycle outside and get it on to the street without there being a step. I take a detour to see if there is any entertainment in the city centre, I think we are due for the Folk Dance festival, and I find that on every street corner there are clog dancers or sword dancers, and it is amazing to think that it once very unusual for women morris teams to perform at festivals like this. And on the way back another detour by the river Foss to see all the tiny fish. Sadly, the library is closed today, so no new books. I will look online and see if there are any electronic versions to download. I have a gadget that is very readable and matches my eyesight, is adaptable in size and layout to read in bed if I want, and I charge it with solar energy everyday. After tea my grandson texts to explain how the updated skype works as he wants me to use this improved video 3D system to tell me about his birthday in Venezuela. This evening I go to Rowntree Theatre to see She Stoops to Conquer. Professional actors have joined up with an amateur company to put on this show. There is a production every night now, all the year round. Before I go to bed I reflect on: was this a day of work or a day off? It is 10 years since I last did any paid work but I work everyday, most women do.