endlessrarities | Silence is Golden...

Thanks to a rogue cloud of volcanic ash which is currently streaming through the upper atmosphere, there are no aeroplanes. Outside in the garden, it is a haven of tranquility. The sky is a beautiful blue, without any con trails to be seen. The one jet aeroplane that came into land this morning was a picturesque novelty.

To paraphrase the words of the immortal Talking Heads, 'I could grow used to this lifestyle',

If our volcanic friend keeps going long enough I won't be too chuffed, mind. Please forgive me for my hypocrisy, but I am looking forward to visiting Crete. It'll be my third plane trip in the last fourteen years, so I don't think I'm too much of a sinner in the Green stakes. It's not as if I'm taking long-haul flights two or three times a year or flying south to London on business every week because it's a) quicker, and b) cheaper.

I spent a few hours in the garden making the most of it. I have a myriad of tiny Busy Lizzies to pot on, and I've finally put the Senetti out into their final flowering position. They're almost hardy, so they should survive a light frost.

Garden highlights of the day are as follows:-

A gravity-defying daffodil in the back garden. Normally it gets levelled at the first breath of wind. To see one upstanding is a novelty:-

The cydonia japonica (Ornamental Quince) in the front garden is just coming into its own:-

And one last view of a mixed rank of narcissi and daffodils:-

Sadly, the air quality is lousy today. There's a film of ash over the cars from the Icelandic volcano, but the pernicious stink in the neighbourhood right now is that of burnt diesel or machine oil. I have the sneaking suspicion that the death throes of the Paton's Old End Mill are making themselves felt throughout the locality.

Poor old thing. I'll have to go down and check out the extent of the damage. The fire's out now, but they've still to assess the state of the building. At least if the developers had been given the go-ahead to demolish it, there'd have been a standing building survey carried out before they ripped it down. There'd have been preservation by record, if nothing else. This way, the secrets of the Paton's Old End Mill will probably be lost forever.

It's a damned shame, and a great loss to our local heritage.