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.