Wednesday 31 May 2017

A touch of pink



What’s that bit of bright pink peeping over the stone wall of the raised bed in the garden?  I have to go out to investigate. 

It’s a perennial whose name I do not know. It has bell shaped flowers & silvery foliage. Each flower seems to last just the one day but numerous flowers open throughout the summer. This is the first bloom of the season.

Whilst out in the garden I notice the delphiniums - white with a navy centre - have been flattened with the onslaught of rain & wind of the weekend. We put in a few canes to support the flower stems.

Later in the day, I am somewhat bemused to see a magpie sat on one of the lollipops There clearly must have been some insects there from the way he carefully inspects the greenery, occasionally prodding his beak in.

The garden is a source of constant pleasure as well as of some worry. There is always something needing doing to it. At present we’re waiting to put some artificial grass down under the silver birches. The lad, our gardener’s son, who’s going to lay it, has unfortunately had to have a kidney operation & so is laid off work while he recovers.

We’ve also been impressed by the resin paths we’ve seen. Our present path is not very satisfactory. We seem to be permanently weeding it. When it’s wet, if I sit down on Junior, my stick/stool, I sink into its uneven depths, even sometimes landing on my backside with a bump. However, I am tempted to wait until I’ve been to the surgeon at the Breast Clinic, in case I need further treatment. That has to come first. I can only cope with so much chaos at one time.

Monday 29 May 2017

Who paid?



It rains once more. Another day the Fox will not have to water the kiddies.

The other day I listened to “Home Front” on BBC Radio 4. This 15 minute programme dramatises actual events that happened on the Home Front exactly 100 years ago i.e. currently in May 1917 during the First World War. In that particular episode Kent was bombed with several casualties.

It raised a question in my mind which I’d never thought about before. In the pre-NHS days of both World Wars, who paid for the medical needs of those who were injured on the home front?

Those involved in the armed services were presumably covered by the state as part of their contract of employment as soldiers, sailors & airmen, but what about civilian casualties? Were they whisked off to hospital with severe injuries to be confronted with the question of whether they could afford to pay? And what happened if you couldn't afford to pay? Or were all people regarded as casualties of war, civilian or military personnel, & so given free medical treatment? And how do you distinguish the fee paying person who fell down the stairs in their panic breaking their leg, from the person with a broken leg caused by a bomb landing? It’s something I’ve never thought of before. I wonder what the answer is. It would make an interesting programme.

Sunday 28 May 2017

Welcome rain



After a few days of great heat, the thunder rolled yesterday. The rain descended, at first in big drops but later as great stair rods. The world is a lot fresher & cooler today. We will not be eating out today – too cool for this delicate flower.

I now expect the garden to have another spurt. The gardens were already beginning to look dry. The Fox relished a day off watering-the-pots duty. It’s been an evening routine for him most days of late.