Wednesday 15 June 2011

Wonderfoam; abandoned teddy bears; garden news

St John's, Whitchurch Hill

I now have the rest of my stuff installed at Old Groveway, thanks to Reading Man & Van. Was missing the foam mattress topper that I acquired shortly after moving to Maiden Place, which has officially done wonders for my back. The mattress at Maiden Place was pretty saggy, but I don’t quite understand how a fairly cheap lump of foam can seemingly be better than the quite expensive mattress on the bed at Westfield Road, but there you go. Had meant to bring my stuff up in stages over several weekends, but realised that was going to take forever so Ruth arranged for it to be delivered in one go. Man duly turned up with the foam, my big plant (a rather sick-looking dragon tree which is in need of some intense nurturing), my bicycle (which I have vague ambitions to use) and a number of boxes containing the stuff I hadn’t managed to fit in the car. Ruth had warned me in advance that she’d caught Harley having a bit of a nibble at the foam – evidence pictured.

Mr Snooze

Drove over to Pangbourne on Saturday morning for a late breakfast at The Ditty – suspect that it might have changed hands as I didn’t think the coffee was as nice as last time and the breakfast menu had changed, though the food still good. As we both felt in need of exercise we crossed the river into Whitchurch and walked up to Whitchurch Hill to visit my cousins’ memorial at St John’s Church. After a potter around the quite pleasant churchyard we walked back down into Pangbourne and returned to the car. Not far from the car we encountered a teddy bear that had been placed on the pavement against a lamppost. He appeared, judging by the ticket around his neck, to have been a raffle prize at Pangbourne Fete, which had been in full swing on the meadows when we crossed the river earlier. Horrified by the idea that someone could just abandon a teddy bear by the side of the road, I snatched him up and squirrelled him off into the car. Admittedly I have been accused more than once of being sentimental, but really. Mr Snooze (which, according to the adoption certificate round his neck, is his name) is now settled in my flat.

Concerned that the cordyline in the garden may have suffered badly during the relatively harsh winter – its leaves are not looking good. Worryingly, this advice from the RHS suggests wrapping the trunk in layers of fleece during severe winters, which we certainly didn’t do. Ray and I acquired the plant around seven years ago as a pot plant, and planted it in the garden when we moved to the house in 2005, where it promptly grew enthusiastically into a splendid specimen. Rather tragic if it’s finally been killed off by snow and ice, but Claire reckons that the one in her garden has also died.

Sticking with a garden theme: the cardoon that Ruth planted recently seems to be growing exponentially, and is starting to obscure the far more attractive oleander that Dad gave me a few years ago. May have to severely prune it when she isn’t looking, to perhaps an inch or two in height.