Managed to get to the plot on Friday. A cheery 'hello' welcomed the arrival of my neighbour Boula, on her bike. She has recently moved from her previous plot, under the shade of the tall trees (soon to be felled) to join the happy group at the bottom of the hill. Talk about a hard worker! She also tends a plot at Hampton Court - but I doubt if even she travels between the two by bike! We had some fun sharing my old glasses (kept in my shed) as she sent a text to her friend. "Is this how you spell ......?" she asked. "Pass the glasses back. I can't see" I answered. And so on. Eventually the text was sent and the reply received and read (with the aid of my glasses). Now she knows where I keep them, so they could come in useful in the future. I think we are going to get on very well, and have some fun too.
Quite an eventful weekend. It was Father C's 50th anniversary as a priest, and on Saturday the church was packed to capacity for a celebratory Mass, followed by a festive feast in the church hall. The tables, down the centre of the hall, were laden to capacity with an amazing variety of delicious concoctions, and the queue for food seemed to stretch for ever. Along with the ladies of the parish I worked flat out to serve the waiting line as quickly as possible. What a lovely event.
I was thoroughly spoilt on Mothering Sunday. There were flowers and a card from our youngest son A, who also prepared a very tasty lunch, and more flowers, a card, and a little scarecrow for the allotment from R, S, A & W, who called round later, and finally E joined us (she'd been at work all day) before she and A set off back to her house. The snowdrops at the bottom of our garden couldn't look better, but they wont last much longer, so I made up three little posies of them for the girls and for E's mum.
Yesterday Mike went for a scan at Selly Oak. Hopefully the results will show that the recent radiotherapy has done its work. We should find out when he returns to the QE on Thursday. I was hoping for some quality time in the garden but by the time I decided to get out there, the clouds had come over and there was a biting wind, so I missed my slot.
We've been taking advantage of our recently built conservatory during the sunny spells. It's lovely to sit in there, feet up, reading. This morning I began reading 'A Tale of Two Gardens' by Elspeth Thompson (the Sunday Telegraph Urban Gardener), and although I've only managed a few pages, I know how much I'm going to enjoy this book, which I bought for £1 at the new remainder bookshop in Sutton. If any of my 'followers' enjoy a good read, I'd recommend they get down there asap and buy a copy.
The 'Grand Pretensions' of the title of this blog refer to our conservatory. Little did I know, when I came to live in the Midlands, that this type of structure (a lean-to glass construction without gables or any fancy curlicues) was referred to as a 'verandah'. In fact our first glass 'lean-to' was sold to us as a 'garden room', which I did think sounded rather pretentious. However, I couldn't help but notice the raised eyebrows when I called it a 'conservatory'. To me (from Lancashire) and Mike (from Yorkshire), a verandah was an entirely different thing. I looked it up on Wikipedia this morning - 'a roofed, open, gallery or porch', and 'often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extending across the front and sides of the structure'. The word 'verandah' comes from the Indian word(and possibly Portuguese/Spanish) referring to 'a railing, balustrade or balcony'. I'm sorry - I can't get to grips with the verandah thingy. However posh it sounds, our lean-to is a conservatory! At least Mike and I agree on that. We've had some fun, over the years, with the Lancashire v Yorkshire differences in pronunciation and meanings of words. Viva la difference!
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