Forget gardening

Delightful afternoon last Friday, when our friend Steph celebrated her 40th birthday, and invited us to a rather fancy do at the Spa Hotel.  It was great to spend time with her, her brother and parents.  My word: what a great job Claire and Richard have done on those two!  I did find the noisy ambience a bit trying: I struggle to socialise when I can’t hear what people are saying.  But a great experience nonetheless.

More u3a stuff: computer group last Wednesday, Scrabble on Thursday and German conversation today.  There’s a huge range of classes and activities on offer from u3a: next, I’ll be trying to rescue the remnants of my French.

Bachelor life here again: Martyn’s sister had a hospital procedure yesterday under general anaesthetic, so he’s over at her place to keep an eye on her for a couple of days.  Results reassuring, I gather.

Daily gripe: two years running I have bought tomato seeds from an outfit calling itself Buy4seeds, specifying our favourite miniature plum variety, Sweet Olive.  Each time the fruit have ripened to chocolate brown and cherry shaped.  The flavour is OK, but the colour is a turn-off for Martyn, who won’t eat them.  I bitched at them last year, and got no response.  So I’ve probably wasted my time again this morning by complaining again via amazon, attaching photos.  The rest of the garden is looking rather sad as we approach this year’s fifth heatwave.  It’s just too hot to garden during the day, so it’s watering at sparrowfart and dead-heading in the evening - and a lot of skulking indoors in between.

Fin-juîllet

Around this time we’d usually have been in Lagrasse enjoying (some of) the cultural events. As it is, we’ve pretty well decided than long road trips are no longer for us.  The Yorkshire trip was a bit much for us, and even a trip to the sea yesterday reminded us that driving is not fun these days.  Appalling roads, worse still driving: we used to enjoy going out for a drive, but not now.

We went to Dungeness for a bit of fresh air and a little stroll across the shingle.   My superb new walking stick helped: we went and collected it on Wednesday from my dear friend Dave Mann, who had crafted it from burr elm. Gardening tends to be at dusk these days, given the high daytime temperatures.  I did a bit of planting a couple of nights ago, but find that I missed the tray of busy lizzies: a job for later this evening.

I’m standing back a bit from political commentary: others are doing it so better than I can.  I’m welcoming the good news of our new PM’s utterances, but am old enough to bide my time.  As for the Untied States of America, I think the electorate is finally coming to its senses.  I hope I live long enough to see the results.