Well now I can.

This is the lovely little number that actually romped home in first place - not forgetting that there were only three entrants in the first place.

I never knew John had such a flair for planting.

And here’s a couple of cylindrical rusty planters in his back garden.

Whilst you might be right in thinking that an ocean is quite a barrier to internal company communication, it’s had more to do with the fact that I’ve misplaced the lead to my camera and am unable to upload any of the pictures I took before I left. Either that or the dogs have been flossing with it.

In the absence of a photographic crutch I’ll just have to fall back on that other trusty canvas - wordplay.

Last month saw the Trawden Garden Festival take place for however many times it’s taken place, but this year was the first time that my sister and John had taken part. Now Trawden is a funny place owing to it being a village, albeit a rather sizeable one. And, as with all villages, it’s a law unto itself.

The Trawden Garden Festival’s main thrust is a scarecrow competition where all the natives make a scarecrow of some description and plonk it in their front garden for all and sundry to see as they drive through. Ideally your scarecrow should be a character, but so long as your Blue Peter skills are finely honed then you should be OK. Although, this past couple of years, they’ve received grants to run scarecrow building workshops.

Unfortunately, the website for the event hasn’t been updated properly for this year’s competition so I’ll just show you an older picture instead of the type of thing we’re talking about.

Michael Jackson?

Whilst Amanda and John - well Amanada and the kids - built a scarecrow Geronimo for their own display, they also entered the container competition with one of our rusty planters, which, like I mentioned before, I don’t have a picture of.

It managed to romp home in first place smashing all the other entrants to all four corners of the village.

Well two corners of the village seeming there were only three entries to the competition including John’s.

But, as they say, you have to be in it to win it.