Garden developments, SW1 and TN3

The Rt Hon and criminal First Lord of the Treasury continues to cling shamelessly to power, having presumably persuaded his similarly fined real Treasury man to stay put for fear that the latter’s resignation would accelerate his own departure.  Meanwhile, he is trying to distract the public by gestures towards Ukraine and the utterly batshit crazy idea of flying asylum seekers to some sort of oubliette in Rwanda for ‘processing’.  We are becoming little better than an international laughing stock.  I’ll be interested to see how the electorate treats the party of ‘government’ in the forthcoming locals.

We now have a watertight hot water system (and a much depleted housekeeping account), but still await plastering and decorating of the hall ceiling.  The next upheaval approaches: the bathroom refit.  We just hope the first job is finished before the next one begins.

The weather is good enough once again for the occasional lunch out on the terrace, and the garden is both rewarding and demanding.  We’re making some inroads into the seriously weedy bits, but it’s slow going: the arthritic joints put a limit on operations.  The magnolia Susan is flowering well, but approaching the end of its season: the stellata out the front has also just about finished, and the flowers on the white camellia are looking sad and brown.  The ornamental cherry up at the top is in good blossom, but of course that’s ephemeral.  (I may have mentioned before that we didn’t realise what it was for years: its  blossom must have come and gone during our Easter holiday trips to Lagrasse.)  The long drive was made more pleasant by the masses of cowslips on the motorway verges.  We have precisely one stalwart plant: it’s always a pleasure to see its return each year.

It’s also the time of year when, with the sitooterie windows open, we’re never done rescuing bumble bees and putting them out.  Sometimes they fly straight back in again.  But out in the garden they are having a fine time in the daffodils, pulmonarias and the rest.  I saw one the other day with its furry abdomen completely coated in brilliant yellow pollen.  Hope they’re as keen when the apple blossom begins.