The number of plots fell from around 1.5m in 1940s Britain to fewer than 300,000 in England alone in 1997, as councils built on land or sold it off: allotments in East London, for example, were sacrificed recently to the 2012 Olympics.
The milkman delivered every day, veg came off the allotment or from the market twice a week, we had our own hens for eggs, and because we were poor we bought a joint of meat once a week – no more.
Tesla has gone through more than 120,000 of those (again if we assume everyone claimed the credit), and plans to sell 10,000 cars a month would finish off its allotment with a quickness.
Not even a jibe from our Production Editor about "going off to the allotment" could put a dent in my pride.
Others recall the salary arrears of the mid- and late nineties, when state-enterprise workers would not see payments for many months at a time and the lucky ones lived off their land allotments, where they planted potatoes.
Seven years ago, the federal government shut off its $7 million annual allotment to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which promptly started a far more aggressive fund-raising campaign.
Meanwhile, back at Garden Organic, we at long last have our polytunnel in place, and thanks to Anton a functional leaky pipe micro-irrigation system (which means we can go off to meet more allotment holders and not depend on other staff for irrigation duties).
A council paper this month discussed selling off libraries, because like allotments and sports clubs, they are now a "lifestyle choice" and said there is "a genuine case with safeguards to make disposals".
Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby had presided over empires with which their names became synonymous, but no one could summon the vision and courage to tell two such giant figures to clear off and tend their allotments, as Liverpool did when their own great Scot, Bill Shankly, was deemed to have served his time.
Imagine that your family is allotted just enough food to feed everyone, but before you divide up your family's allotment, you skim off a significant portion of some of the best food and squirrel it away for yourself.
