Heavy rain has left everywhere looking lush, nay, almost putrefactional. As if there were a bayou adjacent. Not that I'd recognise a bayou but Colette's evocative comments have left my mind heavy with Tennessee Williams. Trying to recall why The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Any More. I'm inclining to the belief that it never did. Stop, that is.
Part of the sodden patio is visible to the left. There's champagne and a particularly pungent Spanish white wine a'waiting but the odds are we'll drink them lolling on couches indoors, consumed in vigorous discourse. Why such energy? Perhaps because we're urbanites and the countryside reminds us of all those apostrophes in George Eliot's Adam Bede. The curse of literature.
Because we've known each other for years there'll be no need for that tedious introductory phase of conversation. Arguments that have lain dormant for half a year may re-ignite in seconds. However, old age will ensure the flames are of short duration and we'll return to that state of mind Thurber captured so well in the cartoon: "Now we're all disenchanted."
Chances are I'll reflect on the squalor of our crumbling apartment in north London in the sixties, and compare it with the four-bedroom detached residence (with garage) of today. Do I deserve this transformation? Was I better behaved than I imagined? I've always aspired to being middle-class but never thought I’d make it. The undeserving poor (Quote!) was more my mark.
I like unusual positives ("kempt"). Once a friend alluded to a maiden as "couth" - it perfectly described Her youth, beauty and calm self-containment.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your company!
ReplyDeleteKempt? Pebbled!
ReplyDeleteAvus: A capital H for Her! I assume she was beatified as well. Mind you, all teenage girls looked like that to me at the time.
ReplyDeleteColette: One adjective in particular has subsequently been tinkered with.
Sabine: A good synonym is manicured, as in a manicured lawn. It is never intended as a compliment, hinting at fussy, even precious gardening.
Gruntled
ReplyDeleteDid you ever come across the Hessayon Expert books (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._G._Hessayon) on all things do to with plants and gardens?
ReplyDeleteMy wonderful father in law doled them out like sweets and they have been the curse of my existence at times.
When we become the owners of this house with its overgrown garden, I sent my daughter out to do the "lawn test" according to the good Dr Hessayon's "The Lawn Expert". She returned somewhat disgruntled, if anything, it's a cloverfield, she moaned.
In time, the "lawn" has shrunk, replaced by raised beds for delicious vegs, bedding plants, exotic experiments, a small orchard etc.
Beats the boring up and down with a mower every 10 days, and we don't do croquet.
Sabine: Within five years of moving into our present house, we removed the shabby lawn and replaced it with a decorative brick surface. That was fifteen years ago. I think I need say no more about my being a possible purchaser of The Lawn Expert.
ReplyDelete