27th May 2026

 A few words to remind myself about Jack's garden, is anything different from last year? Well many of the flowers were still to come out, my cheap camera did not pick up what my eyes saw.  The Prosecco Terrace was boiling hot but the sheer brilliant orangeness of the Californian Poppy was something to behold.  That it had been blended with a purple allium was masterly.

New additions: An enormous mechanical wheel barrow, desperately needed for all those winding paths up and down hill.  The new shed in the centre was to lock away tools as there had been some stealing.  The only way down to the quarry is through the house, and there is a gate into the allotments as well, which must have been the way.  The quarry garden itself has on one side the allotments, the next side around there is a council owned field, probably for dog walking.  This is where the fir trees have been cut down because of a beetle.

I forgot the third side, here at the bottom of the quarry a brook trickles through, this is the boundary line, and so the wooded area on the other side belongs to other houses.  Plenty of frog spawn but no toads according to Jack in the brook.

That reminds me of a small story.  On the train going down to Chittingfold, we were all sat on the train and Lillie screamed. She had been 'attacked' by a beetle.  My daughter flicked it off her and it landed on the table on the other side.  The woman rescued it, kept it on her finger for a while and then it went into her sushi box for transport to a safer place when we got off the train.  Such drama over a poor little beetle, but given the story of the destruction of firs by beetles perhaps we are given to over-acting about them.

Our train from Leeds had of course many fans from both Middlesborough and Hull on it, but a couple of train policemen marched up and down with gentle smiles on their faces and nothing happened.  When we got to King's Cross the shock of heat and so many people was almost too much.  The people were almost like a flower garden in themselves.  Shocks of orange (fans) amongst the crowd and the women swishing along in long dresses.  London is a cultural hotspot, happily soaking up a hot sun, though yesterday, here in Tod, ambulance sirens sounded throughout the day, probably because of the heat.

TBC