Flora

In the garden, the fritillaries, magnolia Susan and rhododendron praecox are flowering.  The daffodils are going over, but some little narcissi are doing well in their pots.  The composting bin was emptied on Thursday, well filled with boughs and foliage of leylandii.  I have been doing a bit of clearing out overhead of the cold frames, since they don't seem too successful.  One lost its glazing during one of our recent storms, but I have cobbled it back together.  However rickety they have become, they are good over-wintering places for half-hardy fuchsias, which are shooting away nicely.  The composting bin is full again: I have brutalised the conifer at the side of  the house where it overhangs the footpath.  I took the opportunity of having the machine to hand to tidy up the box hedge I planted a few years ago in place of the rather silly little wicket fence left by the Previous Administration.  A mixture of home-grown cuttings and half-price plants fron Fortnum's, it has grown well - for box...  The penstemons, potentillas and iris sibirica look better of their trim.  If the grass dries out enough to be mown before next Thursday week, I'm damned if I know what to do with the clippings.

We've been hardening off the perennials that we started in the sitooterie last back end.  The've been potted on twice now, so are installed on the (now rather tired) picnic bench on the terrace.  The onion sets are putting down roots (as I discovered after a squirrel or someone had hoiked one out the other day.  We'd enriched the raised bed with some muck and decent topsoil, so are hoping for the best.  We've sown leeks and basil, but there's no sign of germination yet.  The potatoes are ready to go out in their growing sacks, so I'll probably make a start on them on Tuesday after physio.

As for celui-ci, I'm not sure it's doing any good.  I've been at it for for close on six months now, and for about three months since I saw the sawbones.  If there has been progress, it's not enough.  But I have so much to be grateful for: I must have walked about a mile in aggregate yesterday (no, not wading through sand and gravel...), which is much more than many can manage.

Yesterday's leg work was to attend a performance of Dvorak, Brahms and Mendelssohn choral works at Christchurch, Spitalfields, given by the Islington Choral Society and a neighbouring orchestra.  Very enjoyable, and a nice chance for a brief chat with Kate (soprano) and John (bass), who had supplied us with comps.  We being of a certain age, a 'super off-peak' return from our nearby country branch line station to London cost the princely sum of £6.00 per man, but Management had to pay for his bus rides, being a mere stripling.  Supper before the concert in Spitalfields market was draughty, not cheap, and highly flatogenic, given the amount of cabbage accompanying my pie and mash.  I exiled myself to the snoring refuge overnight...