CONSIDER  THE ROSES AND THE PORTUGESE LAUREL

Well, at present Gerald is busy planting two rambling roses in the garden against the wall which I look out on from my usual position at the kitchen sink.    Yesterday he gave a second coat of white paint to the same wall.   It looks great now although the activity exhausted the poor soul.   This same 7feet high wall used to be covered with clinging ivy.   Always it was green and cheery with, in summer, blackbirds flying out from their nests, and blue tits swerving in and out of it.   But, last winter the snow brought half of it down, Peter and Shirley next door pulled it up again from their side, however, during this so-called summer with rain and high winds, the hedge fell down again.   So we are planting stuff against the wall to make it glamorous and attractive.   G. is just off the phone and to please me he has purchased a Prunus lusitanica (Portugese laurel), a gorgeous tree with purplish leaves.   It’s already about 7feet tall, so I am excited about that.    Small events please small minds I hear you say, but I look out of my window often and I might be like Prince Charles and talk to my plants to keep me and them happy.  

So, it is the end of the Ivy and the beginning of the Prunus and the new roses.   It seems to be the end of a lot of things from my point of view.   I just finished knitting a very expensive Fair Isle scarf.   It is almost 5feet long, (I was starting to go wonky with it so couldn’t quite make the suggested length).   It has taken at least a year and is composed of eleven different colours of wool. And about twenty differing patterns.   Like the ivy hedge, I am sorry and glad at the same time that the scarf has come to an end.   I hope to wear it in the cold weather just to show it off.

What about the badgers that the government had intended to slaughter?  They wanted to kill at least 70% of these poor animals (in one area) because many of them are said to have tuberculosis, and with this they are infecting many of our cattle herds in the UK.   Very hard on the cows and the farmers as the animals (not the farmers) are immediately slaughtered if they test positive to TB.   Anyway the cull has been postponed for a year because the task of killing so many lovely badgers is proving too difficult and  too large to start on at this time of year.   But another end is coming.

Let us hope it is not soon to be the end of President Obama’s term in office in the USA.   I prefer his politics and his outlook on life.   Ask yourself which one of the two contenders has most experience of the struggles and hardships of the majority of the people who make up the population.   I would say Obama.   He is a family man and, relative to his opponent, is not, I think, rolling in money.   On the other hand the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, a multi millionaire, seems to have a very easy position in life and ……..   well, he appeals less to me, what little I know of him, than does the Democrat Leader.

One end I am sure you will be glad about, as I am, is that of Jimmy Savile.   What a horror that man is proving to have been!   Too bad that he is dead in a way, because he is not around to hear how much he is despised and hated for his paedophile activities.   He confused many people because of his smokescreen of raising millions for charity. It’s hard to get one’s head around the contradiction. But some people knew his game.   They should have spoken out   The children and young girls should have been listened to.   The monster  should have been caught and put in jail.   He has brought shame on the country, on the BBC, and even the charities that received the money feel so tainted that they are disbanding and giving the money anonymously to other good causes.

Holy Moses!   Where will it all end?   Talking about swearing, I did just that last night at the beginning of the News on the BBC when I thought that Celtic, Glasgow’s football team, had beaten the mighty Barcelona.        1 – 0 for Celtic the announcer said.      “Bloody hell!” I said.   But by the end of the news, we were informed that in the dying minutes of the game, the famous Spanish team had turned a coveted 1 -1 draw for Celtic  to 2 – 1 for Barcelona.   I was so disappointed!     I needed a Gin and Tonic to revive me.   So many things seem to be going wrong.   My mother used to say, “The back is made for the burden”, especially if she was referring to women with many children.   Anyway enough of this ranting.    “The end is nigh!”   I shall just  have to concentrate on my Prunus lusitanica and my rambling roses.   Oh I must not forget the Tweeting Birds (mechanical) which I left on by mistake, in the summer-house where they live.   They scared life out of Gerald yesterday as he passed and the three tweeted at once.

ATTACK IS THE BEST FORM OF DEFENCE

I like Barack Obama, and I am sorry that at his head-to-head discussion with the Republican leader in the USA, he came off worst.   This shows how difficult it is to get your message across.   We know that Obama is on the side of the most deprived in society.   We know that he has spent much energy in trying to achieve a better Health Programme for those most in need of support in accessing Health Care.   And yet Romney, who reportedly has a low opinion of those on whom hard times and poverty have fallen, wins the debate, or so the media pundits tell us.  Let’s hope the next two debates give Obama a better outcome.    He should be ready to go on the attack from the first seconds, just as Romney did.   As they used to advise young teachers when irate parents appeared at the door of the classroom, “Attack is the best form of defence!”   For example say, “I am afraid Mrs. Smith wee Jimmy is impertinent, and may be said to be slow in the uptake and DIFFICULT TO TEACH!”   This to be said before she has time to speak.

The same goes for the politics of the United Kingdom.   I support Ed Milliband and of course, therefore, find fault with David Cameron and George Osborne and their mates.   So I wish Ed to be ever-ready for the attacks that will surely come against him in the future.   The cleverest person in the world can be floored in front of an audience by an opponent’s or an interviewer’s carefully and slyly thought up question .   It takes time, seconds, minutes, even hours to present a cogent answer to sharp and cleverly-thrown up questions.   I have long been of the opinion that TV debates are unfair and that the best actor often wins.   Am I wrong in believing that Nick Clegg and David Cameron looked young, good-looking and almost charming against the tired and older worn-down Gordon Brown when they debated as a threesome and Brown was beaten down by their savoir-faire?

Enough of politics and opinions!   I have my own troubles.   For example, to stop enjoying my food so much, and to keep my promise to go down a dress size this month.   Also to stick to the suggested amount of liquor suitable for a lady.   (no laughing!).   Well I just remember St. Augustine’s prayer all those centuries ago as the Holy Man, living the life of a monk, and devoted to follow the life of Jesus, he tried to contain his lust for the pleasures of the flesh   -   he prayed, “Oh Lord, give me Chastity and Continence -  BUT NOT YET.”

My sainted Mother, Honor, (God, rest her soul) used to say, “We all have our own ways of going daft!” and I think she had a point.   So endeth the lesson.