FIRST OF THE YEAR

Today I picked my very first tomato of the year, it was a tiny sweet plum tomato and I ate it at once still warm from the green house. I knew a gardener who always made a wish each time he ate the first of anything he grew each year,he was a brilliant gardener and today I honoured him by making my wish on the first tiny but perfect tomato of the season.

I had breakfast early with my son this morning, tea and toast which we ate in my room while we chatted. Later we woke Pa with a cup of tea and gave him his fathers day gifts and cards. Pa likes casual cloths and they are practical as he has to wear his brace over his trousers so my son and I brought him a super track suit with a gillet and in the same two colours as his brace. When he tried them on the brace looked more like a fashion statement than a walking aid and he loved the outfit at once.
We also gave him a large photograph of Twiggy complete with a lovely frame and it is now hanging above his desk.

After my son had gone to bed I made breakfast for Pa and then hared off to the shops to pick up the thing I should have brought yesterday and hurried home before the heavens opened again...I made it in the nick of time. Pa and I had tea and biscuits until the shower was over and them he went out to feed the birds and I headed for the garden to pick fruit, water the green house and tie up the tomatoes which are growing like weeds. The sunflowers also needed tying in and as I tackled the job I noticed that the first scarlet flowers had appeared upon the runner beans, how glad we shall be when they are ready to pick as we all love them and tend to gorge when they are available.

I picked a big salad for dinner which tonight was a selection of cooked meats and cheeses. Pa is having his Fathers Day meal on Tuesday when we are able to take our time and enjoyed it , tonight my son has to work, the last shift for this week and next week he will be at home. Twiggy has noticed her photograph and spent quite a time regarding it with a critical air, she looked so cute that I took another picture which unfortunately did not come out well.

I baked this morning and the five fresh loaves have been stored away an I shall not need to bake bread again for a few days. We had a crusty bloomer loaf with our dinner and for a treat we had some Ossau Irate cheese served with cherry conserve, I can not tell you how good these two things taste together, we all tucked in and enjoyed ourselves. The sun has come out and the dark clouds which have hung about all day are breaking at last. I love summer evenings,I always have. When I was a child living in the north of England my friends and I always began a game of hide and seek as the light began to fade, it was much more fun to poke about in the old barns and the woods near by as dusk began to fall, Twilight lasts much longer in the north and the sun sets seem to go on for ever, blue crimson and gold shot through with deep purple and the far hozizon dark and mysterious against the glow of the setting sun.

I think that far horizon is one of the things that I miss the most now that I live in a city, you cannot see in to the distance for all the buildings. One morning a few years ago I had spent the night curled up on a chair in the intensive care unit at Charring Cross hospital. As it happened that gardener I mentioned earlier was dying and I had stayed over night because he had no relatives close at hand.
Worn out and miserable I wandered down the hospital corridors looking for a place to charge my mobile phone, and arrived at the porters lodge just before sun rise on a chilly October morning. The porters took me in and asked the reason for my early arrival at hospital, when I told the my story they were very kind and I was so tired and unhappy that I burst in to tears.

Some time later after toast and coffee some how the conversation turned to the subject of fine views and I said that there were none in cities. One of the porters took me in the service lift to the roof of the hospital and we arrived there just as dawn was breaking over London. It was breathtakingly beautiful, in the distance the gilded weather veins and finniols on the fine old buildings in the heart of the city shone and sparkled as the sun touched them. I stood speechless with wonder as the city came to life and for a short time I forgot my heartbreak and tiredness in the wonder of all that was unfolding that morning just for me it seemed.

That friendly porter who's name I never knew will have my grateful thanks for ever, he change my view, as it were of city scape's and more importantly, now when I think back to those dreadful days when my friend fought for his life and finally lost his battle, I remember too the deathless glory of that morning, and treasure it as a parting gift from my friend.