Garden view

Looking out of Mum and Dad’s kitchen window, this rose forms the foreground to the view. The back and front gardens are in part impenetrable. No real gardening has taken place for a long time, Mum and Dad are largely confined to the house.

The gardens give the lie to the belief that roses need feeding. There are fantastic blooms. Mixed in with foxgloves, a large nettle patch, wild strawberries, umbellifers (which I will try and identify), lots of honeysuckle, campanula, poppies, verbena - and lots more I cannot identify. There is no square inch of soil visible anywhere, it’s a semi-wild garden on steroids. The front window view is being encroached on by hydrangea, honeysuckle and bramble - they would be able to pick blackberries through the window this autumn if that were to be left, I severed the bramble branch with a pair of scissors. All the garden tools are rusted up, fortunately the scissors were sharp.

We need to find a gardener from somewhere who is prepared to get stuck in to a pretty big job. When my sister sent photos to a prospective gardener who could help, he went very silent.

I met carers Maria and Sue last night, and Tanya this morning. They are fantastic. It took a huge effort in 2019 to get my parents to accept some support. It’s been an absolute lifesaver, especially since the pandemic arrived. We have had crises over the last 16 months, but knowing that carers and other support is going in daily is a godsend.

Mum and Dad are frail and forgetful, and have no real understanding of what is going on in the world. Their life is one of daily routines, punctuated by cups of tea. But they are in there own home, safe and comfortable, which is the main thing.

Returned home via (briefly) Hexton Chalk Pits and Sharpenhoe Clappers, both of which I pass. I needed a dose of chalk landscape (extra) before the long motorway journey home.