What We Did During Half Term, By The Phantom, Aged 47 and 1/3

The Spring weather led us to a picnic at Kew. Foodwise, the highlight was the homemade bread rolls stuffed with char siu pork and piccalilli, all home produced. (Photo's promised next time I make the char siu (barbecued) pork).

We lost ourselves in the green jungles of the Temperate House


























And enjoyed the Green Fugue of the Hemorocallis




















Later in the week we went to the RHS spring show in Vincent Square.

This English Elm bonsai is less than six inches tall, pot included.

























And back home Tigger did his impersonation of Ming the Merciless, quietly plotting world domination from the safety of our sofa...

The Top Shelf...

...Of the newsagents in Caherciveen, Co Kerry.



Only in Ireland, tractor porn...

Ireland Past and Present

Caherciveen is the nearest big town to our first stop, Valencia Island.

This is the civil war memorial there. The soldier has a soviet-era look to him. A little bit cuddly and rounded.



The strangest things can give you culture shock. We are so used to seeing Pound Shops in the inner cities, but over in Ireland they have...



Look carefully, and you can see what the Euro Shop was in a previous life.



How many people went into banking for job security, and were overtaken by technology?

There and Back Again

Curses, foiled again! I took my card reader with me, and then ended up without a fast internet link to send the photos through.

I can't complain though. The countryside is simply stunning...

I was taking photos before I had even arrived at the terminal building. I couldn't resist this sign...



There is something "Twin Peaks" about it.

Autumn Vine Leaves

Our grape vine, Vitis Brandt, is not really designed for it's harvest of grapes. They are tiny, pea-sized. But at this time of year, the rich colours just demand a post all of their own...



I'm off to the West of Ireland soon, to meet my better half. This time I will take my card reader with me. Valentia here I come! More soon, with photos hopefully.

Bring Me Sunshine

Those of us old enough to remember Morecambe and Wise will know that the song was only performed at the end of the show. My wife and I were certainly singing it when we got back from holiday last Sunday.

We got in to Gatwick airport at around 7pm and everywhere was cold, overcast and dreary. A fine drizzle completed the re-acclimatization and reminded us that Greece wasn't just 3 1/2 hours away, it was gone for another year.

We instantly started suffering from SAD, and it has been too depressing to post for the last few days.

We have been surrounded by damp piles of washing, and the house and garden alike smell of Autumn, musty, damp and cool.

This morning though, I woke at 7 to see the sun sneaking through the window blinds. Tigger was calling for his breakfast, and everything looked brighter again.

It is good to be back, after all.



And remember, One Person's Sunset is Someone Else's Morning.

How Quickly Life Changes

On Wednesday afternoon, during my lunch break, I booked our summer holiday. We could both do with one. It has been a tough spring. My wife and I were planning a lovely meal for the evening, and everything was good.

Then my wife got a phone call. Her mum (who lives with us) had collapsed in the street, and was in the local hospital Accident and Emergency unit. We were not too worried. They said she was OK. We figured it would be three for dinner while we pampered her a little.

When my wife got to the hospital it turned out that my mother-in-law had had a "massive" stroke, was paralysed down her right side, and had lost the power to speak.

We have since learned that she has developed a chest infection. The next few days will be critical. She is in her eighties, and things could easily get worse quickly.

But in the middle of this there are still moments that bring a smile to our lips.

Tigger, one of our visiting cats, has good reason to like the old human with the white hair. She opens the patio doors for him most mornings and gives him his breakfast long before my wife and I are up and about.

Yesterday, I let him in. He wandered around the kitchen, sniffing. Then he strolled off very casually and went upstairs.

After ten minutes or so I went up to check where he was, but couldn't see him anywhere.

Then I looked in my mother-in-law's bedroom.

No sign of Tigger anywhere...

Then I saw the duvet on the bed moving ever so slightly, rising up and down with the breathing of a very contented Tigger, under the covers, fast asleep in my wife's mothers bed....

Spring is Springing

In our part of London last week was half-term, a chance for students and staff alike to gather their wits and strength for the exam season to come. I spent many (too many?) years as a student, and it is only recently that the thought of June has ceased to give my stomach a sick lurch. (Now working in the education world I can enjoy watching the discomfiture of others without the sleepless nights that always accompanied my exam build-up).

Last week passed too quickly, and today's back-to-work feeling is only just wearing off. It isn't that I dislike my work; just that being away from it for a week reminded me that I rather like not working. This is different from being unemployed. (Being unemployed is miserable. I should know. I had an enforced career change that left me jobless for a year and a half.) Not working means being able to play with the visiting cats rather than pushing them out through the door in the morning. It means being able to make bread for the next day's sandwiches, to be consumed with a flask of tea at Kew Gardens in the spring sunshine. It means having the time to print and frame some of the digital photographs you have taken.

Mind you, it also means tidying the bedroom and cleaning the oven out, but you cant win 'em all.

Tonight, after a week not a work, I really noticed that I was arriving home in daylight. Spring is definitely here now.