The Coronation And Gardening

 

The Coronation

Yes, I watched the coronation on TV, or at least a little over an hour of it. I couldn’t be quite as cynical as Private Eye which previewed the event as “man on chair, puts hat on”. I thought the ceremony and views of London and Westminster Abbey would at least be worth it and so they were. I had hoped to see Charles crowned but had been invited to lunch at 1.00 ( CET) and so just missed that. My impressions then are just of what for an hour or so went before.

In truth I found the ceremony rather boringly slow and I really didn’t want to know such details as which trousers Charles was wearing. The gospel singers were an innovation but (cynically) a sop to the black community? There was a reference to “people of all faiths”, an inclusivity, that seemed subsequently drowned out by numerous insistences on protestantism. OK, the Church of England is protestant but is it necessary to ram that down the throats of people of other faiths? How well does that help the delicate situation in Northern Ireland and do we want to feed religious strife?

In all this I wonder about the involvement of various parties, who has the most influence and the final say. The government, the military and the clergy obviously have major roles in the organisation and pageantry of the event, the traditional procedures. But what about, beyond that, the messaging? Sunak was quick to say that the event showed the great in Great Britain but any politician can be expected to put some political spin on the occasion. However I am led to question just how much input the government can have on what is supposed to be very much a non-political occasion. If I’m suspicious it’s because the current government has shown that it has little respect for established standards of parliamentary behaviour and even legality, so what else may it trample on?

Anyway, Charles has been crowned king and I wish him goodwill. A good king is certainly better than a bad one and if he carries out his office as well as his mother he will be judged a good king. Going by his past record, his sympathies would seem to be to the nation’s benefit but whether he will be allowed to express them and whether he can use them to influence the government in his decreed non-political role remains to be seen

Flowers And Vegetables

The weather being particularly clement I have left my bedroom windows open. The honeysuckle rambling outside r immediately took the opportunity to ramble into the room (as in photo) and is now perfuming all the house. It is now in bloom on both sides of the house, top to bottom. The lilac by the front door is in bloom too. The jasmine one floor up has yet to bloom so I’m looking forward to a perfumed summer.

The front of the house is looking good, fully planted and people stopping to take photos, particularly of the Dublin Bay roses on both sides of the road. The one opposite (in photo) has previously been just a bush but seems to have broken through the hard core on the roadise beceause it is now way up the lime tree beside it. I think the front is is largely done, barring renewal of the hanging baskets. The back needs a little attention but is mostly planted with perennials so not much is needed.

A lot of the

allotment is already planted but I have to dig up the remains of the spinach beet from last year and the last few leeks. I’ll hold off on the garlic I planted last autumn for at least another month. Corn, spinach beet and tomato seedlings are on the way but I have yet to get the beans going and will need to repeat the sowing of lettuces and radishes. The potatoes, onions, lettuces, beetroot and herbs already planted are looking healthy.

On the fence around one side of the plot I’ve planted three honeysuckle rooted cuttings, eight forsythia cuttings and four grape vines. Hopefully they will cover the fence next year if not this. The gooseberry and thornless blackberry bushes look healthy and hopefully will deliver in due course. A great deal though will depend on water usage restrictions over the summer.

The mad English gardener, who also plays boules, strikes again! And I have my “crown” at the Rémuzat tournament I won last year to defend in September. So, enough to keep me occupied.