Unintelligent Design

I'm not very good at gardening. This won't come as much of a surprise to anyone who's ever seen my garden.

If it's indoors and in a pot, it's effectively dead (only the two spider plants have survived more than a few months - they're almost indestructible, but even they've almost given up the ghost once or twice).

If it's outdoors, it might simply die. Or it might be swamped by weeds and hidden from sight, never to emerge again. The front garden has carnivorous budleia. The back garden has brambles, nettles and tangled things that are harder to put names to.

Somewhere in the back garden, there are raspberries. There's a healthy looking (and quite large) bay tree, too - but you'd have to fight your way through the shrubbery to get there. Once upon a time, there was rhubarb, but it's probably gone now.

Not a good starting point. However, it's all getting a bit more attention this year.

The budleia's been ruthlessly butchered, revealing some straggly roses, which are now looking a little more alive. The back garden's going to need a lot more work, though - which is why it's getting levelled somewhen in the next week.

In the mean time, I've got a row of potted herbs sitting on the patio. Mint, sage, thyme, rosemary and sorrel. None of them are dead yet, despite the unexpected delays in preparing their new home (although I'm starting to discover that sorrel is a very thirsty plant).

I've just repotted the thyme - the second time I've done this. It appears to be thriving. I'm sure that's not supposed to happen to plants in my care. Well, ok, it mght be supposed to happen, but it's not quite how it usually turns out.

Pleasantly unexpected. I could get used to this, y'know...

Today has featured a Cy Twombly exhibition at the Tate Modern, evensong at Westminster Abbey... and beer at the Porterhouse.

Not bad. There's been a lot of London in my life this week, and it's mostly been extremely enjoyable. It's just the bits involving trains that all went wrong.

Anyway, I now need some sleep - I may ramble about some of this in a little more detail tomorrow, though.

Currently reading Jason Goodwin's The Snake Stone, the second 'Yashim, the Ottoman Detective' novel. As it happens, I haven't read the first one yet, but that doesn't seem to be spoiling it.

There is, however, one thing that made me go 'feh' - the advertising.

As mentioned, the by the same author page describes it as the "Ottoman Detective" series. The front cover describes it in slightly different terms, as "A Yashim the Eunuch Mystery" - and the ads on the London Underground had a dire tagline along the lines of "The detective may be a eunuch... but he's missing nothing..."

This has not renewed my faith in marketing. But it is a pretty good book, so far.

I'm considering a long weekend (or two) away somewhere - so... where should I go...?

(I do have opinions of my own, you understand, but it's always fun to ask the interweb...)

Rather good day, really.

There has been a lot of geeking involved, for some reason. Also vast quantities of roast pork, accompanied by a lovely fruit crumble and a splash o' wine. Many thanks tokeris and davefish for food and hospitality!

Which reminds me, as I mentioned this to people earlier but didn't have a link to hand - Canada's Little Mosque on the Prairie (season 1, episode 1 - a slightly wobbly start, as it takes a couple of episodes to really get going...). There's going to be an American remake in the near future - it'll be interesting to see how it compares...

...has been enjoyably odd. Good food, good company, unexpected ravens and some shopping for household furniture. There's even been some conversation about why tigers will fit through letterboxes but orangutans don't...

(blame aoakley)

mrbear should now be a very happy man. And I may need to watch the Sarah Jane Adventures.

...just how long does it take to watch Battlestar Galactica (without imploding your brain), anyway...?

• The garden gets sorted somewhen in the next week or so. This will make a major difference, if only because it means I'll have a working gate at the end of it, so can easily move wheelibins. I'm also planning to plant a small fruit tree this winter...
  

• I'm talking to the builders about the kitchen extension tomorrow. I want a couple more quotes on this one, as it's not going to be cheap and I want some confidence in the people I'm handing my money to. Still, it's a start - and doubling the size of my kitchen (which would more than double the free space within it...) would make a massive difference to the house.
  

• ...and I've got the guy who's probably doing the bathroom renovation (i.e. ripping it all out and starting again...) coming round to talk on Wednesday morning. As with the kitchen, getting this fixed would make a huge difference to the house.

Once all of this is underway, I can start planning the smaller stuff in a little more detail - the hall, the stairs and my bedroom are currently top of the 'part two' list.

Gah. So much for my wild youth. I'm definitely getting old. :)