Firethorn

The thought of going to The Exchange for a coffee and tea cake while the cleaners were in the house was very tempting. However, I had several errands to run. First of all I dropped off the king-sized duvet at Tiptree Dry Cleaners, then popped to the post office to send a parcel. I had a boot full of stuff for the tip, so sat in the car and booked a slot online and headed off for Witham for a cathartic hurling of items into skips. Once back in Tiptree I got a couple of top-ups from Tesco, and by then it was time to go home.

The afternoon was quite busy too. I put the bed linen through the wash (two loads, being king-size), and opened another box. Then I had fun taking all the memorabilia off of an old pinboard I’d forgotten all about. There were photos from the early 80’s, lots of tin and enamel badges, cards from restaurants I spent my 20’s hanging out in with friends, and ticket stubs from gigs I went to in that same period - among them Pink Floyd, Genesis, David Bowie and Elton John. I photographed the photos to create a digital record of them. See Extras for a collage of some of the ticket stubs - if only gigs were that cheap a night out these days!

It was getting late by now, and I hadn’t got a blip, so I went out into the garden. In honour of the start of meteorological autumn in the UK this weekend, and the autumn school term next week, I give you the vivid red berries of the Firethorn (Pyracantha Red Column). The birds will be very happy with those!