GARDENING EXPRESS - BEWARE

Normally I go the excellent Blue Diamond Garden Centre near Canterbury but they didn't have in stock the deep blue lavender I wanted.  My lavender had reached it's best after 7 years and needed replacing.

I found what I wanted on Gardening Express and placed an order on May 27th with a delivery date of 7 - 10 days.  Heard nothing until 17th June when I was told 'Peak Season' so a further wait.  Finally received the plants on 30th June by which time lavender was 'going over'.  They were in poor condition and the White Lavender was almost dead - I did plant it to give it a chance and now it is properly DEAD - see photo below.

I complained to the Company and have received absolutely no reply.  Looking up their website, if you have a complaint the customer has to pay for return of the plants.  The box was extremely heavy and I imagine the postage would have been around £30 not to mention the difficulty of packing.  So I've had to accept the hit.  My bill was over £50 and that included a large plastic plant pot which I intended for the largest of the lavenders.

I read predominantly adverse comments on line but it was too late.  One doesn't think of checking on line when buying a few plants.

Incredibly disappointing and that is why I'm posting the blog as a warning.

This was the white heather when it arrived.  Gave it a chance and crossed fingers - second photo is the plant dead in the garden.   

THE BLACK PRINCE - St Rumwold's Church

 Over my 14 years of volunteering at Canterbury Cathedral - always Sundays because that is a difficult day on which to have volunteers - most people have family commitments.  My one and only is in Australia so 'I'm Free'.  We Sunday volunteers have become quite a small and close knit community of friends.

One of our group last year asked me to give my René Mouchotte talk and then told me the church has no electricity.  My Presentation has a 15 minute video and several other short videos.  Well, up for a challenge, so I rehashed the talk for an audience without any illustrations. I did have large photos with which I could illustrate the story and spread them out on the pews for the audience to look at.

Another colleague was due to give a presentation next Friday - 18th on his Pilgrimage to Rome.  Sadly he will be in hospital so same friend who asked last year requested me to give my Black Prince talk.  

Some years ago when the Cathedral was swathed in scaffolding both inside and out and they couldn't afford to drop the price (it costs over £30 million with NO State Aid to run the place annually) we were asked if any of us could give mini talks to enhance visitors' experience.  I had briefly told the story of Becket so many hundreds of times whilst standing in the Martyrdom, I volunteered to enlarge it into a 15 minute piece.  It appeared to be successful so I added in the Black Prince. However in the Cathedral I have the magnificent tomb of the Prince and copies of his Funerary Achievements hanging over the Tester as my props.  In St. Rumwold's I've no aids  and have to extend the presentation to at least double the length.  So have been madly looking up information - and you know what it is like - one thing leads to another and you can get lost in the plethora of info - often conflicting.  Have been madly pulling off and printing photos from my own photo library and the internet and am hoping that I will be able to remember all the extra information.

By sheer chance, I'm going to France for 2 days visiting the battlefields of Agincourt and Crécy with a friend who is also a history afficionado.  So I'll have to buy some posters and postcards to illustrate my talk next week.

Ah well, it is a challenge and the venue is delightful even if it doesn't have a Loo!

Was there last night when the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral gave a fascinating talk on Richard 111 - his discovery in a car park in Leicester - how they'd traced it to the actual spot - how they'd proved it was him and how with mitocondrial DNA they found 2 existing relatives one in Canada and the other in Australia and their DNA was like a mirror image. He told us how decisions were taken as to the re-burial and the Tomb and it's design.  Fascinating.

Two Roof Bosses of Joan, the Fair Maid of Kent (quite a gal by all accounts). First is rather flattering and hard to find in the North side of the Nave.  Second is in the Black Prince's Chantry aka The Huguenot Chapel - not nearly so beautiful!

FOLKESTONE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA - PROM CONCERT

 I'm very proud to be President of this excellent Orchestra.  They usually perform at the Holy Trinity Church in Folkestone.  However, for their annual Prom Concert they move to The Leas in Folkestone.

I think the programme for this coming Saturday 19th July is a great one.   Do join us for some great music by a great orchestra.

BABIES IN THEATRES

Did you know that it is permitted to take babies into Theatre Performances?  Well I didn't and was horrified when I saw a woman with a baby in the seat behind us at a performance of 'Chicago' at the Marlowe in Canterbury.

I asked an Assistant and was told it was allowed provided the baby was on a lap!  My friend had her seat bashed twice and then the child began to make loud noises.  At least the woman had the decency to leave her seat but came back once the child was asleep.  How on earth it slept through a very loud musical is amazing.

I checked on line and saw that in most theatres this is allowed.  I'm staggered.  First of all, surely a young baby should be in bed after 7.00 pm and I read that loud noise can create permanent damage to the ear drums of small children.  I can almost understand a family outing to a Panto or a Child friendly production  with a babe in arms but not to an evening out for other people.

Theatre tickets aren't cheap. Surely if you can afford a theatre seat, you can pay a babysitter for the evening.  I would also have thought it more relaxing for the mother.

JONATHAN'S ENGAGEMENT

 Never thought it would happen.  Decades ago my gorgeous son told me he would not get married and would not have children.  I was unhappy at the thought of not being a grandmother - which I would have loved - but agreed with his reasoning. The world is overpopulated and he didn't want the responsibility. Well he hasn't changed his mind on the latter but certainly has on the former.

I was in a shop in Sandwich today and the phone rang.  Normally I'd never make or receive a call in a public place - but I know the assistant well.  Jonathan rang to tell me that he'd proposed to his girlfriend Sveta.  He had done so in a most romantic way.  They both have birthdays this week so took a small break down to the Margaret River winelands in South Australia.  He organised a helicopter trip over the winelands, pilot landed on a deserted beach and Jonathan proposed.  I've had some pretty romantic moments in my life but absolutely nothing like that.  He is a very kind and caring young man - well youngish as he will be 44 on Sunday but like his mother, he is young at heart.

The wedding will be in Australia but whether on a beach or at a Vineyard, I've no idea but I know he will make it a very special day for them both.

He has not had a charmed life - testicular cancer early 20's, losing jobs, changing the whole course of his working life in 2019 when he was very unhappy, losing his father  3 years ago and seeing me through some very difficult times with broken marriages.  So I hope and pray this is the calm period in his life and he and Sveta will continue to love each other and have good times together for many years t come.

 BEST MAGAZINE - PODCASTS

Last October Best Magazine launched a series of Podcasts called Newly Single and I was invited as a guest - Lord knows why as I've been single for a quarter century (not of choice).

It was a good day out and I warmed to Siobhan Weekes - Editor and Tim who conducted the interview - it was really more of a chat.  To my total surprise my Edition garnered over 57,000 hits - Lord knows why unless women wanted to discover how stupid I've been in my choice of men over the years- and perhaps learning how to avoid some of the pitfalls.😀

Because of this, Siobhan asked if I would be 'up for' talking with a Dating Agency which I did - SARA EDEN Introduction Agency with offices in Windsor and London - in the business for over 35 years and winning Best Agency in the SouthEast for the last 4 years.

It was early days but they wanted me back to talk about my experience.  I felt it was early days but went ahead.  Yes, I have been introduced to a gentleman roughly my age who is a very interesting character and pleasant to be with but we've only had 2 'dates'.

I'm not an easy person to match with - I'm 83, have been married many times, and have the kind of career which put me in the spotlight more often than I would have wished.  All that is behind me now and many of the Producers today wouldn't even have been in nappies when I was at the height of my career.

So if you want a laugh at this silly woman who still believes in LOVE - even at my advanced years go onto You Tube and have a look at both Podcasts.

I believe it is better to have loved and lost than never to have lost - I'd rather not have lost but there you are.  If you shut down and cut yourself off from love and loving, you are missing out on a great deal in life, in my opinion

This is the link to the original Podcast - at the moment I can't find the link to the second but you can search for it on Youtube.

https://youtu.be/he1zA93NnoM?si=x3StqrNRvXrlLB_m

 SEEING A DOCTOR

The 8 O'clock rush for an appointment, where you can press the redial button repeatedly for a half hour only to be told all the emergency appointments have gone - was, I thought, being sorted by the Current Government.

Down here in East Kent it's even worse.  If you do chance your luck with a phone call and actually do get through before your dial finger drops off😀 you are politely told you must do E.Consult and if you don't have a computer or are unable to do so you must phone between 8 - 10am and will be helped.  E.Consult is open from 7 - 10.00 am.  I am a touch typist and even then it takes a good 15 minutes to fill in - heaven help the one finger typists on their phones.  You send it and are promised a call back before 6.00pm that day.  Many of the questions on E.Consult are slightly ambiguous and you can't be somewhat ill - there's a bald Yes or No as to whether you are 'dying' or can wait😀

I received an appointment in 4 weeks time, not with my doctor, but with one of these Paramedic people.  I am not a happy bunny.

My friends who still live in leafy affluent Buckinghamshire are able to get a Doctor appointment within 24 hours.  Not down here in East Kent - for the most popular doctor in the practice (sadly now retired) unless it was an emergency there was a 6 to 8 week wait.

We suffer from a dearth of Doctors and Nurses in East Kent and I'm told it is because they don't want to live here.  There are some very nice places in East Kent and many millionaires have second homes here so it can't be too bad😀 There are also many doctors who work part time and there are far too many patients on their 'books'.  When I was born the population of the UK was 48 million - it is now creeping towards 70 million.  Doctors qualify and after a short space of time, can leave these shores and set up in much nicer places like Australia.  I don't blame them but we are so short staffed in the NHS it's a constant drain.  I suppose if the Government put an obligatory period for newly qualifieds to stay in this country, even fewer would sign up to train.

I heard with dismay the other evening that over half the newly qualified doctors are women.  My most caring doctors over the decades have been women BUT they take time off to have babies as is their right but it doesn't help the scarcity situation.  

I know we all have to die and I'm closer to meeting my maker than many.  Obviously I want to go quickly but I now have a morbid dread of ending up on a trolley in a corridor with no one to fight my corner - my son lives in Australia, my sister suffers from COPD and lives 2 hours away and that's it.

Believe me, if I had the finance, I'd be out of this country like a shot - preferably to Australia to be near - but not too near 😀- my lovely son.

For what it's worth I believe there's too much bureaucracy in the NHS and the constant money thrown at this Sacred Cow is going in the wrong direction.  It should be going to the nursing staff - the boots on the ground.

I remember the days of MATRON who ran a ward with a rod of iron - with nurses who didn't have to have a degree but were brilliant.  It was the Consultants and the Matrons who ran the establishments and not a lot of pen pushers, being paid exorbitant salaries, in so called NHS Trusts.

I'm in a mood for ranting today😀😀😀