Thursday 23rd March 2023

The back door got left open all night. It was me, Adrian Edge, that had opened it. The Gay Mother said, ‘Well, it wasn’t cold and there were no burglars,’ as if burglars were no more than a natural phenomenon like squirrels or pigeons that might get in.

Coming back from the garden centre, I raised the question of the Easter menus. ‘I don’t like lamb,’ the Gay Mother said as if this has always been the case. But only a year ago she was adoring a lamb shank as a new experience. She would like to revive Piperade though. That’s the Spanish dish of red pepper and tomato cooked to a pulp then eggs scrambled into it.

After lunch one day I happened to take a magnolia walk. A Magnolia Campbellii had flowered. The owner was thrilled because it was blooming early – 25 years after planting, not 30 as expected.

On my return, the Gay Mother said few who plant a Campbellii live to see it flower. Not only this:  it can’t be planted by just anybody but only those ‘who know what they’re doing.’

The Gay Mother has never planted a Magnolia Campbellii, not having the right soil. But had she done she would surely have lived to see it flower.