Cuckolding in the Cotswolds.

 

Don’t worry –it wasn’t me and it was all a long time ago, of which more later.

The taxi arrived in plenty of time – as we thought – but we crawled to Taunton and Taunton itself was virtually at a standstill.  Chris – the taxi diver helped me to the station and I thanked Heaven I had my many tickets in my hot little hand.

 

Whilst chatting to Chris I said I had seen two garden gnomes in Minehead.  One wears a bright striped jersey, a snowy white beard, and his white locks covered with a woolly hat.  The other one is like a black and grey version whose clothes look as if they have a life of their own.   I was told they reside at The Mayfair which is for disadvantaged people and there have been complaints about Verne’s disreputable appearance.  The Proprietors take great care to keep their resident clean and tidy but -

 

“Verne won’ ‘ave it!”

 My new el cheapo trolley case was quite manageable but I decided to take the lift.  Help!

All I wanted was a #5 – for platform 5 but there were just weird symbols – all Greek to me, and I didn’t want to press an alarm button – so I mounted the stairs.
Hooray there was an info desk and he told me helpfully that the last coach was the one I wanted.  Next time I would know which end of the coach I wanted, but there was time to find my seat – albeit already occupied.

Did I want him to move?  Er – yes please.  The carriage – a quiet one was fairly full.

 

Day dreaming my way to Cheltenham it was great to see Margaret waving - with a huge smile on her face.  A quick spin in the car and we arrived chez M&M with Malcolm offering drinks before a delicious lunch.  With such good old friends it was pure pleasure from beginning to end and it was great to be able to talk about MTL without any awkwardness or embarrassment.

 

M&M have always been gifted gardeners; now they have a tiny garden but it is a treasure trove of colour, fragrance and beauty.  Behind the garden is a hill so the eye carries on and makes the garden more spacious.  The weather was fine but not a lot of sun and a constant wind.  All the photos below are their garden.  Malcolm has done wonders with the actual earth which was just Severn mud.  Under that was old field earth and then thick heavy clay.  Malcolm worked on it – a square foot at a time breaking it up with his hands and then spreading good healthy compost.  You can see those plants are living the life of Riley and revel in their constant care.

More later.  See below.