The first task today was to contact the bank, as I noticed that my card had been registered twice yesterday when I paid for petrol at Tesco. It was one of those, your card has not registered, wipe it on your jacket and try again: which I did, but then it was double bubble. I rang really early, almost as soon as the lines opened, and got the usual rigmarole of: is your call really necessary, we are experiencing a high volume during these trying times, go away, don’t try, etc etc. So I hung on in there, gave my details, and my call was picked up after 2 rings. They are all sitting there twiddling their thumbs I think, just like in the doctor’s surgery. Anyway, problem solved, thankfully.
Yesterday Yannis and I saw a tree with the most enormous leaves I have ever seen. We stood there admiring it, and the owner came to talk to us, and said it was a paulonia, which needless to say, I had never heard of. But it was doing very well in the front garden in South Croydon, and he said he had another at the back of the house.
This picture hardly gives the scale of the leaf but it must be about 2 feet across. More information here, if you like trees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulownia
My neighbour tells me that 3 deer were in the garden today. So bold. But he also told me that they had been into the neighbour’s the other side, where there is an apple tree with fruit on the ground. The apples have decayed and started fermenting. The deer eat them, and emerge with their legs splayed and a glazed look in their eyes. I love it: cider’s ready at Bramley!
The crab apple jelly has been made. Look at this for an amazing colour.
Can’t wait to try it!
