I was an early adopter of the idea of writing Christmas letters. Some people call them Round Robins. Many ridicule them. But general feedback on mine is that they are welcomed and received with interest. So I shall continue to write one even at the end of this very strange year of 2020, even though I don’t necessarily feel like it. Like so many of … Continue reading A Christmas Letter – Part 1 “us”
One of the few artefacts I have from my childhood is a composition (as they were called in those days) I wrote at primary school where I expressed the desire to live in a house in the country with roses growing over the door. I never lost that wish despite decades living in (albeit leafy) suburbia. Someone once accused me of having a romantic fantasy … Continue reading Plus ça change plus ç’est la même chose
2020 is a year that marks a new beginning for me; much more time at my disposal and a long list of things I wanted to incorporate into my days. By the end of March I would have expected to have been at the French house several times, quite worn out from heavy-duty gardening for hours on end, but oh-so-satisfied with the progress that would … Continue reading Here? There? Roadblocks in a no-man’s land …
The best laid plans of mice and men … (Robert Burns, so Google tells me). These were the plans: 14th October, arrive at the French house, stay for three nights, back to the UK, final preparations for my final event, draw breath briefly and then get stuck into a new life that some call retirement. Well, change has occurred but with it has come some … Continue reading The best laid plans … calamities and change
I’m hoping to write a post which will review 2018, a year when we made some wonderful progress in the garden, a year when special memories were created. I plan to write and publish it soon. Before I do it seems prescient to look ahead, very briefly, to 2019, a year which many of us have been fearing, which we have to not only live … Continue reading What does 2019 hold in store?
The Renaissance Gardener 