Prunus pendula

After a few days away with 'the lads' playing golf in Portugal, I was faced with another 50th birthday at the weekend. They seem to be coming round like 18th and 21st did all those years ago. Great excuses for a few beers with people you generally see all the time.....anyway it allowed us to stay in a new hotel attached to the Talbot Inn in Ripley. Very nice it was too as it was only a short cab ride to the restaurant where the gig was being held. The present theme at these things is often odd, and on this occasion it was 'old gits' gear, anything from slippers and a pipe, to incontinence pants and pile reduction cream!!

At one party we went to everybody had brought salt and pepper sets for the poor victim. His mum and dad did not see the funny side of it!!

Ripley is a pleasant little village very close to the RHS gardens at Wisley so it was a perfect excuse to wander down there and have a look around. The weather became a bit inclement while we were in the new glasshouse, so we took the opportunity to dive into the library and do a bit of research on one of my relatives, John Weathers.

John was a bit of a gardening character, and a market gardener in Isleworth in Middlesex, and for eight or so years he was assistant secretary to the RHS, when the Reverend W Wilks was secretary. It was he who discovered the Shirley poppy, which was the emblem of the team I used to play rugby for in Croydon. Some co-incidence eh.

John left the RHS under a bit of a cloud according to his obituary, as he released an incorrect list of Gold medal winners to the press, to much embarrassment. John also did not suffer fools gladly and was outspoken in many areas of the gardening community, he was however much admired for his illustrations, gardening books and knowledge of French, Latin and German, from which he translated a number of gardening novels. When he died suddenly it was considered a great loss to the horticultural landscape of West London.

I was unaware that John had a brother who shared his talents. Patrick was curator at the Manchester Botanical Gardens in Old Trafford until it closed. He then returned to Isleworth to work along side his older brother.

I am sure there is much more to find out about these two particular characters, but for now its good to know my gardening interests are strongly embedded in the Weathers family tree.

I just said 'Blow the Bloody Doors Off'

Have you ever got out of bed in the morning and wondered where you have parked the car? Well that happened to me today, except I had not moved the car for three days, and it was not outside where I thought I had left it.
'That's strange' , I thought, I am sure it was there last night. So some entrepreneur of low moral fibre had tea leaved it for purpose or purposes unknown.
It will be used in a ram raid, or just driven round and dumped when it runs out of fuel said the local old bill I on the other hand had conjured up the image of it being stolen to order and already being resprayed, getting fitted with new number plates and shipped off to Cuba to star in a new James Bond film.

It had a bit of stuff in the boot, and cd's and electrical gismo's, but as I am off to Portugal tomorrow for a spot of golf, my passport and most of my equipment was luckily safely indoors.

So if any of you see a 5 Series blue BMW sticking out of a shop front near you, it could be mine!

Gone with the Wind

Chicago was a very interesting place. I don't know the middle of the States well at all so it was interesting to have a chance to visit. My work colleagues and most of the people i met spoke with a fairly light accent which was unexpected, and contrasts strongly with the y'all accents of the deep South.

The city itself is dominated by the Sears building and the nearly completed trump tower, which will relegate the Hancock into third place in the high rise stakes. otherwise to the North is the vast stretch of Lake Michigan, and elsewhere the endlessly flat plains of Illinois and Wisconsin.

Its called the Windy City, because, many think, its so exposed to the weather that it is always blowy. Not true, its called the Windy City because everybody talks bull!!!

Nowhere is this more profound than at the junction of Rush and Diversity, an area of bars, restaurants and blues clubs, known locally as the Viagra Triangle. Its where silicone implants meets the grey pound. The police patrol the area in a low key style which our man on the beat could learn from, and everybody is there for a good time, but engage somebody of either sex in conversation and its spot the brain cell time!!

The work progressed pretty well but I managed to find time for a bit of sightseeing and added to my expansive collection of golf clubs while on a shopping trip. I was hugely disappointed with Macy's, but Filenes basement continues to throw up some bargains in a way which puts TK Maxx to shame.

I used to collect Monopoly sets from various country's, and have the original USA version based on Atlantic City, but I noticed in a games shop i visited that there is now a baseball version, an American Football version and popular TV shows like Cheers, Friends and The Simpsons all have their own. Its definitely a case of brand dilution for the benefit of capitalism. Pity,I can't see myself passing Go with any of those versions.

Wherever I hang my hat......

My alter ego, Scoop, aka Dick, has written an interesting article on the housing market, on his blog, here. I feel I am a prime example of the blinkered house seller who thinks the whole price crash will pass him by. Yes I put it on at a lumpy price, but I expected people to be willing to haggle, but in London that does not seem to be the case.

I started the blog 18 months ago as a chronicle of my house move, and unfortunately the whole experience has been blighted by the worldwide economic disaster which commenced with the collapse of the US subprime housing market, embraced the failure of Northern Rock and well, the rest is history.

I can relate to the fact offers are few and far between, and yes, I turned down an offer which I would jump at accepting now, but, hindsight, and all that....... so I still have a house to sell, and await the chance to negotiate a price with somebody willing to at least make an offer.

I am currently in Chicago, and it is interesting to get the natives view of the world. First they don't see a housing problem, and second, they don't see the world economic challenges as anything they have contributed to, but then the man on Main Street USA has always had a narrow view of the world.

I was surprised, however, that the rescue package put together by the smoking gun, George Bush, was initially rejected by the Senate and has only today been passed by the House of Representatives. I suspect they are afraid that they may become a third world country themselves if they are not careful. Their reluctance to protect the rank and file American citizens though was something I thought they would jump at the chance to do.

Still its all sorted now, lets just hope our Gordon has made sure we get a fair percentage of the $700bn to regenerate some interest in Chiswick real estate. Fingers crossed.

Jersey Royals

I was in Jersey at the end of last week for a friends 50th birthday. He had arranged a team of ten Londoners to play a team from the Island over two days for the Wyder Cup, a statement on our expanding waistlines I suspect.

The rounds were played over Le Moye and The Meiolles courses in jersey, under beautiful blue skies. The first day was a triumph for the London team as we held a 11.5-3.5 lead. We were followed round the course for a few holes by Ian Woosnam, the ex-Ryder Cup captain, but he quickly disappeared further up the course after on of our higher handicap golfers hit his buggy with a wayward approach shot!

After a dinner and prizes in the clubhouse we were entertained by one of the home side players who was a bit of a magician and showed us a few of his party pieces. As an aside, I went out with a magician once, when I drove her home she would put her hand on my knee and I would turn into a layby!!!

Day two saw Jersey fight back, as they pulled in a few different players in a battle to close the gap. It worked, but not quite well enough, as they beat us 9-6 but the Wyder Cup became the property of the London team.

El Tel, the birthday boy, had a great two days, and had it been my 50th i would have looked back fondly at the event. I hope he does two.

The boys returned to London Saturday morning so I took advantage and flew SWMBO down for a long weekend. The weather continued to be fine, so we saw most of the island, including the Durrell zoo which has the brief for breeding endangered species, and the beaches of the North coast. We saw sea swimming races, wind sailing and para surfing, together with the traditional sand sculptures for which St Helier, the capital, is famous. All in all a good run ashore, and a continuation of our island focused 2008.

Zimmer frame sport

So back to Edinburgh and I find that the City is embracing the World Golden Oldies rugby festival. This is an event close to my heart, as my club, Twickenham, were one of the hosts when the event visited England in 1989. The Edinburgh event is the first time since then it has been back to the UK mainland.

Gullivers Travels continue to be the travel agent of choice so it was good to meet the 'management' again. Gavin Hastings was the main celeb front man and it was good to see him kilted up on the initial parade.

The organisers had been quite smart with the opening ceremony as they used the stage and seating for the tattoo, and then marched the teams down the Royal Mile, behind a pipe band. As my project at work is Chicago based I thought this team particularly interesting, but there were also old favourites from Japan, The Fuwaku, from the States, The Washington Poltroons, Mystic River and The Jersey Jets, as well as the usual large contingent from Australasia. Teams were also there from Russia, Poland, Italy and the Pacific Isles, so a really good mix. I was unable to infiltrate the opening party, but judging by the state of guests in the hotel the next morning, it was a blast.

The rugby took place over three days, and the traditional dress code had been modified slightly. Up to 60 years old, black shorts are now worn, unless you do not want to be tackled, in which case red is the mode. Red are worn by all 60-64 year olds, 65-69 is gold and 70-84 is purple. Any older players are then presented with 'committee' shorts to wear. The Japanese have a number of players who have been awarded committee colours. Anybody not involved in tackling can run a maximum of 25 yards before releasing the ball or if fronted by a player with arms out stretched, must immediately pass.

its all good fun, referees occasionally score and with the biggest clubhouse in the world being erected at Murrayfield, the traditional social aspects have been maintained......now where did I put those special shorts of mine!