As you know, dear friends, my life is constantly changing as I take on new experiences and dispense with old ones that no longer serve my happiness. Because that’s what life for me is now, and as I observed at a friend’s leaving bash: goodbye tension, hello pension. In May, I met an old friend and we had a day out in Stratford-upon-Avon, somewhere I’d not been to before. Last month we met at Leamington Spa but this, in comparison, was a disappointment. The allotment this year is looking more ordered, and the garden is showing some beautiful colours albeit in a canvas that is a perpetual project – gardens being like life. For reasons not yet clear, a small garden run by volunteers in Epping had a very creepy Dorothy, while Mum and I fought through the M&S hacking backlog by looking for smoked salmon in confusing aisles. My fellow gardening volunteers met at Bradgate Park for a guided tour, which while wasn’t new, a visit to the hidden garden was – tucked behind the outer and Lady Jane Grey’s house’s exterior walls was a secret allotment that I’d never seen before. A Leicester shop window had some rather interesting destruction, and a friend alleged they were bullet holes. More bagpipes spotted but the evidence was in June, so you’ll have to wait. Took Mum to a routine appointment at Moorfields so saw some aspects of London that I hadn’t seen since my first employment of 1985, in the square mile. Lunch at Le Relais de Venise L’Entrecote for a bit of theatre and a very specialist restaurant where the menu is limited to steak and french fries.
