h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Saturday was devoted to feverish cleaning up of the garden and mowing grass (lawn is too refined a word for the species we have here). The problem with mowing is where do you stop? There is always a little corner that might be prettified. And then emptying the mown grass at the foot of young horn beam hedge. After a while, and many trips, you walk bent like an old retainer. O/H was doing the wilder areas, comfortably sitting on the big one.

Then the lady gardener came (Gisèle) and she approved, she liked the garden, we were very relieved. She likes to visit gardens but doesn't like to have to pay. We learnt that she is hors concours (?) in the garden competition in the village otherwise she would always get first prize. And she is also out of the competition at the département level. She is that good. She brought roses and a lettuce and she got a pot of young basil. We will take her to the garden festival in Chaumont. It is a provilege to meet people like this.

Then back to Paris with O/H this time to drink champagne with my sister who is now the proud owner of a squalid bedsit next to her own little flat and is excitedly planning an extension... She was so happy to be able to buy it (la peau des fesses) and as the seller had inherited it from his mother, it was not overpriced since it would have gone to the taxman anyway. No real estate agencies, no intermediary. Perfect transaction (apart from the price). Her O/H is a genius at decorating and he's already at work.

But do papers grade themselves? They do not. Midnight oil again. Thundery showers today.

Martine, I don't think you have _anything_ to worry about regarding your garden. Your pictures in the lockin look absolutely wonderful. I've only just started to learn about gardening and can't manage anything that requires a lot of maintenance or specialised care. Even so, I think I can identify a well-tended plot, and that's how yours looks to me.

Ooh, meant to add that if you ever visit the north of England, you might really appreciate the Alnwick Garden (and if you have children who like Harry Potter, they would like Alnwick castle, since some of the films' exteriors were shot there). My Whitsun journal entry got too long say much about the planting schemes besides the poison garden, but they were ALL absolutely wonderful. I can't recommend it highly enough. Its website gives more juicy details of forthcoming developments - it's all still quite new.