那座房子（4）

翻译《我们建了一座花园》Margery Fish

图片来源visitsomerset.co.uk

接上文

那以后发生的事情我都不太记得了，就是记得很清楚测房师过来交房屋报告的那天。那天天气很差，下着初冬湿冷的雨。

屋里又黯又冷，尽管油了新的油漆和防水涂料，感觉到那股阴湿霉气又回来了。那个验房师，他的太太刚过世，状态很差，整个人就像天气那样沮丧。我不会忘记Walter在读完了测房师的房屋报告之后，那愤愤不平。报告说：房子好好的没有问题，就是没有“特色”。

我们倒是觉得这座房子没别的什么好，就只有“特色”，或许这么说过份了，但它肯定有“特色”。

至此以后，我体会到了这座房子的宅心仁厚，回到家，永远让我感到舒适安逸。

刚刚才把房子拿到手，我们又要将它交出去，要弄好了适合居住才行。把房子交给装修工人好几个月，我们只会过去匆匆忙忙看几眼，每次都不想望一眼那个堆满废物的花园。

有时，我可以从装修讨论中抽身出来一小会，便会发疯似的到花园里拨野草，尽可能多拨一些。Walter每次谈完装修事宜就想离开，我就会担心离开后，任由那大片杂草长大撒种，肆意乱长。我拨掉的那几丛杂草根本没多大作用，不过是心里舒服些。

当我们终于可以搬进房子，终于可以认认真真打量这个花园时，夏天已快过去了。

我们所有的时间都在收拾，利用零星时间搞清洁，彻底修剪那些纠缠在一起的黑莓灌木丛，月桂树，接骨木。我们一直在考虑该如何设计我们的花园。

我们有了共识，知道要从整体上考虑，使花园有明确的，全局性的风格。幸亏我们有那么多事情要忙碌，令关于花园的想法得以沉淀和细细思量。（待续）

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I cannot remember just what happened after that but I shall never forget the day when the surveyor came to make his report. It was one of those awful days in early winter of cold, penetrating rain. The house was dark and very cold, and the grave-like dankness was back, in spite of all the new paint and distemper. The surveyor, poor man, had just lost his wife, and was as depressed—naturally— as the weather. Nor shall I ever forget Walter’s indignation with the report when it did come in. The house, while sound in wind and limb, was described as being of ‘no character’.

We didn’t think then that it had anything but character, rather sinister perhaps, but definitely character.

Since then I have discovered that the house has a kindly disposition; I never come home without feeling I am welcome. 

It was late in the summer before we could get into the house, and some time after that before we were able to get down to the garden in earnest. All the time we were clearing and cleaning in odd moments, working our way through the tangle of brambles and laurels and elders, and thinking all the time what we would do with our little plot. We both knew that it had to be tackled as a whole with a definite design for the complete garden, and we were lucky in having plenty to do while our ideas smouldered and simmered.

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We Made a Garden, by Margery Fish, Publisher: Batsford (19 Dec 2011)