Summer Musings

Summer

Summer is here, even if the weather doesn't seem quite sure about it. We've recently had very hot days and warm but overcast days in almost equal measure. Rain is often threatened but rarely materialises, which means I've spent a lot of time watering. The results are definitely worthwhile, however, with bot front (pictured below) and back looking good. My numerous clematis, mostly blue (fancy that) are in full bloom in both the front and the back, as are the fuchsias and the pelargoniums and, at the back, the campanulas (blue again). Come on Chelsea!

Also, for reasons unknown to me; the honeysuckle this year, of which there six front and back, seem to have found their perfect conditions and have run riot.  The perfume at the front is overwhelming and those at the back have combined with climbing roses to break the pillar and arch over which they climb. That is going to be a major job in the autumn.

Summer doesn't begin officially here until the 24th of the month (don't ask), with the fêu de la St Jean. There follows a whole month of celebrations of various sorts which I find enjoyable and look forward to, as well as the weekly Saturday market throigh to the end of August and the mussels and chips sessions on Thursday evenings. Bring it on.

Musings

I keep wondering what makes plants either perennial or annual in different places. If the winter kills them, obviously they must be regarded as annual but I can't understand what it is about winter that kills some plants and not others. Temperature doesn't seem to explain it entirely and neither does position and I wonder if humidity has a rôle. For instance, marigolds, antirrhinums, larkspur and california poppies all proved to be annual when I grew them in England but are generally perennial here despite winters reaching much colder temperatures. On the other hand, winters are drier here. I shall just have to muse on.

UK politics also occupy much of my musing. I remember a time when political debate was subject to thought. Now lies, fantasies and illusions seem to be the order of the day. As Saul Bellow once remarked «Great intelligence is invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep». The front-runners to replace Theresa May as PM and leader of the Conservative party, the traditional home of prudent economics, all propose a no-deal Brexit to wreck the economy and tax cuts and extravagant spending as a way out. To ensure that the democratic Brexit vote is implemented, it is proposed to suspend democratic parliament. Meanwhile the Labour party, almost certain to win the next general election in spite of itself, unless there is a hung parliament (please God!), is tearing itself apart. My mistake in my musings here is probably to try to apply any sanity to the situation.

There has been one disturbing legal development. A private prosecution of Boris Johnson for deliberately lying to the public when in high public office was thrown out by the High Court. The Court has yet to give its reasons. An initially suggested reason, that it was because the case was politically motivated, surely cannot be true. That would give the green light to all public officials to lie ad nauseam. I shall be interested in the Court's explanation for its judgement.