Amaryllis

Not a lot of chance for an outside blip today so settled for this. Just after Christmas I was in the general merchants in the town, and saw this potted up with 2 nice buds on it and hugely reduced in price. Needless to say I bought it! Think it's going to be a beauty!

This general merchants sells everything - fruit and veg, parrot feed, gardening supplies, Christmas trees, peat, tilley lamp mantles, fire grates, casserole dishes, birthday cards, bread, rat poison and potted plants! You can ask them to put your messages on the bus and you can pick it up from the bus stop, or they will delive them to your work for you! If you have a glut of something in the garden - rhubarb for example, as I frequently do - you can sell it to them or they will give you have credit to spend in the shop. When I kept sheep I used to take the fleeces in to them. They would weigh them, work out the price they would pay me for them and then allow me to take wool or blankets to that value. Unfortunately this practise has stopped now - all wool these day must be sold to the wool board.

When I moved here 30 years ago there were quite a few shops like this, but every year there seem to be less, as the supermarkets become the place to go for everything. Seems such a shame.