Therapy of gardening

Spent a lovely day enjoying the incredible warmth, in contrast to the chilly rain of last Sunday.  I cut the grass & trimmed around the pond.  Still want to get some more plants for it, perhaps grasses would be good.  Need to be natural-looking.

In the afternoon went around gardens in Norwich, great for nosiness factor.  Lime Tree Road has some incredibly large houses & gardens.  I actually found those gardens sometimes lacking imagination - the beds weren't packed & there were large areas of grass.  Much more interesting were the gardens on Park Lane, York Street, Carnarvon Road and West Parade.  Some intriguing architecture as well.  I would love a conservatory, saw some beautiful ones today, both traditional and also a steel-framed garden room with a folding door.  Will have to think how to fit one in here.

France

Just want to capture a few memories of France.  Spent a week in the south - Avignon, Arles & Lyon.

• Beautiful architecture in all the places
• Surprising number of beggars/posh kids playing at living rough
• Delicious fruit - cherries, plums, peaches, nectarines
• Delicious cheese & bread
• Apricot & lavender jam
• River Gard warm for paddling, Med quite cold
• Nightingales singing in woods near Pont du Gard
• Winnie from Hong Kong was a delightful companion around the Camargue
• Wonderful sight of flocks of pink flamingoes
• Smooth & easy travel on the trains
• Never seen such an amazing large hall as the dining room at Palais des Papes
• No mosquitoes in Camargue, but they made a beeline (?) for us that evening in Arles
• Wine/beer quite expensive in restaurants
• Swifts & housemartins everywhere

What's real life?

Last time I was on holiday, it struck me that when I went back to work, that the 'real world' is life outside of work.  Our culture seems to view the workplace with a reverence that suggests it's more important than life outside.  Maybe this is a product of patriarchy whereby male activities are more valuable than female.

I like work, I like to achieve things, but  I like my life outside of work more.  The ideal would be a job with birds or something else that feels like reality to me.  I value education greatly, and am proud to work in support of that, but there are so many structures that have built up primarily to make people important.  Hmm.  Better stop now, 3 homemade cocktails probably making me ramble (Moscow Mule, Basil Gimlet & Pimms & ginger)