MUSINGS FROM THE BOWER 9

　
Well, it’s back to everyday life after the holiday, and for the most part it’s been enjoyable. One definite high spot was going to visit the Bibliophile Mail Order Bookclub in London, where I signed a quantity of two of my collectables’ books – ‘British Dolls of the 1950s’ and ‘British Dolls of the 1960s’. Years ago I was a freelance book reviewer for the company, and regularly received huge cartons of books all waiting to be read and then written about. I loved the work, but sadly, it eventually proved too time-consuming and I had to give it up. Although we had corresponded for years, I only met Annie Quigley, the owner, for the first time last year when I was invited to a tea party at Bibliophile to celebrate the occasion of the granting of a Royal Warrant to the company by the Duke of Edinburgh.

So it was lovely to meet up with Annie again, and after a delicious lunch we began working on the pile of books – Annie turned to the title page that she wanted me to sign in each book which certainly speeded things up, and I duly obliged with a flourish of the pen! It didn’t take too long, and much to my surprise, I didn’t develop writer’s cramp, which I had half-expected. Nowadays I’m more used to keyboard tapping than writing with a pen. All too soon it was time to leave, but hopefully it won’t be too long before I return to see Annie and her team.
　

A few days later, I was up early and by 7am, my daughter and I had taken our places in Harlow town centre ready to see the Olympic torch pass by. We were determined not to miss this moment of history. Although we had to wait for over an hour, the time soon passed as we soaked up the atmosphere of the whistle blowing, flag waving cheerful crowds, the banter of the officials and the various promotional, police and security vehicles that appeared. There was even a Salvation Army tea van that soon attracted long queues. I hadn’t seen one of those vans in years. Then the Salvation Army band struck up and began playing their stirring tunes – ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’, ‘Bread of Heaven’. Rousing stuff. Then someone shouted ‘Here comes the torch’, and the cry was taken up by the crowd. The bearer – Tianbiao Ni – looked so proud that he had been chosen to run a lap, and he was the subject of hundreds of photos as we all clicked our cameras, phones or ipads. And then it was over, and my daughter and I went back to the car, and home for tea and toast!

As with most places in Britain, we’ve been subjected to torrential downpours over the last few weeks, but I’m pleased to report that the bower is still looking pretty. At the moment it is sporting several passionflowers, and I think there will be blooms on abundance going by the quantity of buds – the humid conditions certainly suit this plant. There is a beautiful creamy-white rose with a faint apricot tinge out as well. It’s a bit of a mystery, this one, as my daughter purchased it a couple of years ago as a ruby anniversary gift for my husband and I. It was labelled and sold as a red rose, and is lovely, even though it is the wrong colour, but I wish I knew what it actually is. There is also a mass of honeysuckle and some clematis by the bower as well as various other plants including a scented jasmine. If only the weather would improve – at the moment it’s too chilly to sit there for long, and the few warmer days we experienced a couple of weeks ago are already a distant memory.

Even so, I’m still visiting garden centres, and have been to two this week though have bought few plants. Instead, I’ve been browsing and buying various sundries. I do enjoy visiting garden centres, they sell so many interesting things, often unusual gifts and home accessories that you don’t see elsewhere. Recently I found a delightful soapstone hippopotamus! This week’s buys included two more bird feeders – our feeding station often has long queues, and the greedy pigeons and squirrel don’t help the situation. I also bought two ornate labels for the only herbs I manage to keep going in the garden – Rosemary and Mint –deciding they deserved posh labels for valour, and a solar owl whose eyes light up at night. I looked out into the darkness a couple of days later and it looked really scary, so maybe it wasn’t one of my wiser buys!

Another thing that I love about garden centres is that so many have their own cafes, and invariably they serve home-cooked or locally prepared and sourced food. When I’m away from home I always keep a lookout, as it’s much nicer and much more relaxing to stop for lunch at a garden centre than a roadside venue, and often these days even the smaller centres will sell sandwiches, rolls or cream teas. I’d rather support garden centres than the service stations or roadside café chains!