Tenements and Tiaras

Still feeling a bit post-holiday and Januaryish.

I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of this week tidying. I have emptied every drawer in this office, turned out the stationery cupboard (one of the most satisfying moments in my sheltered life was the day I had a cupboard dedicated to stationery – sadly not one large enough to fit two people), hoovered behind things, dusted stuff, changed long dead lightbulbs, put up unnecessary shelves, sharpened pencils, deleted 765 emails, shook pounds of dirt from the doormat, filled the bird feeder, scanned some old negatives and other important bits of procrastination.

Finally have done something this afternoon – mainly organising stuff. I now have jaunts booked to Edinburgh (client), North Wales (to interview Crug Farm Plants for SAGA Magazine), Dorset (client), Malvern (to talk about this year’s Malvern Spring Show), London (three times – a memorial service, a wedding and to give a very brief presentation for the RHS Shows Launch).

Have also started writing a piece about Aquilegias for Country Living and been to see a client in Newport Pagnell.Now I had better do some drawing.

I think 2007 has finally begun.

The photograph is of the Harrods Sale in 1981 (I think – I said they were old negatives I was scanning). I am listening to Gone Daddy Gone by the Violent Femmes – courtesy of a clever device called an iVinyl that transfers music from vinyl to mp3, so all of our very old records that have been sitting in a heap for years can be given a new lease of life.