Here is my Facebook diary entry for May 6th 2012:
Began the day reading pieces from England in Particular, ‘a celebration of the commonplace, the local, the vernacular and the distinctive’ by Sue Clifford & Angela King. This consists of a collection of small articles about anything remotely to do with England. Today I read Choughs, Churches, Churchyards and Cider & Cider Orchards. so you will see I haven’t got very far. Fascinating stuff. Thanks to Sam, who gave me the book for Christmas 2011.
I then spent an hour preparing a new flower bed for Elizabeth.
The three of us went to the Bishops Waltham Garden Fair held at Wintershill Hall, Durley. Despite the dull day the rain kept off. The produce was all in tiptop condition and we bought lots of plants, many of which Elizabeth and I planted in a bed prepared last autumn. Jackie did a considerable amount of weeding.
I also bought another birthday present which cannot be detailed here for the same reason as the one bought in Wickham last week.
Most of the cars parked in a field allocated for the purpose got stuck in the mud and had to be dragged free by a tractor. We were fortunate and by dint of careful driving by Jackie and a push from me and another man we were able to get out of the mire.
Elizabeth and Jackie between them bought a very nice and sturdy arch for the rose which lost its support last week when the acacia blew down. This necessitated a lot of pushing and shoving, testing of the car’s upholstery, and dispensing with all but the driver’s seat. Jackie took it back on her own with bits of metal pressing into her in all sorts of places and having to bend her elbow into very strange positions to change gear.
The two ladies are preparing a roast chicken meal as I write.
(Today’s Header Picture comes from the same event of May 5th the following year, by which time I had begun to illustrate my posts