I’ve had to bring her home - the bookshop lady; poor thing.Ming doesn’t seem surprised. I think he knew it would happen.
But if I hadn’t gone to Manchester, I wouldn’t have understood.
And I wouldn’t have bought her a train ticket before I knew she'd be coming.
And I wouldn’t have wanted her to come - unless I had gone.
Which I did.
So it’s worked out fine after all.
(Well, not exactly ‘fine’ - but it will in the end.)
(I hope.)
(For the future of our world is at stake.)
* * * * *
Ming’s stuck an awful plant in the garden.
It’s about two foot high and two foot wide - with sparsely clad thin twigs arranged stiffly at inelegant angles. Its leaves are small and dark and dull. There should be thorns - but it seems to have lost them.
Ming says he ‘got it off’ some council workers who were ‘landscaping’ (ha!) a roundabout. They’d filled the available space - so they didn’t need it - and couldn’t be bothered to take it back to the depot - but they said it’s good ground cover and needs little care.
(Which is all it will get!)
Ming says it reminds him of a guinea pig he had as a child.
(They must have some very odd guinea pigs on Mars.)
The bookshop woman's called Marjorie.
She's very nice.
* * * * *
In the two days I’ve been away, the garden has lurched from Spring into early summer.
Snails are mating.
Convolvulus is at the top of the currant bushes (again).
(If Hitchcock had been a gardener, he wouldn’t have bothered with 'Birds'.
‘Bindweed - The Movie’
Would have been made instead.)
Flowers on the Spanish Broom are coming out; starting at the top and working down.
The first Rambling Rector Roses have opened; on
e here, one there; mostly in strange places - like underneath leaves.Didcott and Worthing have grown during my absence. They are now sixteen and have jobs in the Riveting Department at the M.O.D..
Marigolds have come up - which is encouraging. (Calendulas.) (Not Tagetes.)
Californian Poppies too.
* * * * *
I'm going to start some new tomato
plants.
For Tomorrow