Whilst watching a TV programme a few weeks ago, both my wife and I were surprised to hear a so called "gardening expert" say that he had never heard of apricots being grown outdoors in England and had only ever seen them under glass. He himself was surprised to see them outdoors in the south of the country. He must have led a very sheltered life!
This is a picture taken this week of an apricot tree growing in a neighbour's garden where it has been for almost twenty years and it is fully laden with fruit just about ready for picking. We have often noticed when travelling to the south of England that it is usually warmer than here in the East Midlands. In fact a phrase we often use is that it is "a top coat warmer down there" and I've often noticed when looking at sites such as Cornwall Cam that when flowers are in bloom there it is about three weeks later before they flower here. So my advice to that "gardening expert" not that he will ever read this, is to get out more and come a bit further north than the Watford Gap. He might learn a thing or two and then can truly be regarded as an expert!
Let us be grateful to people who make us happy: They are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. - Marcel Proust (1871 - 1922)
In 1966 a novelty song by Allan Smethurst who was known as the Singing Postman entered the charts and stayed there for nine weeks. That song, sung in the Norfolk dialect was called "Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy?" as Allan, although born in Lancashire in 1927, was brought up in Sheringham in Norfolk. He went on to record many more songs before quitting the music business in 1970.
Allan died in 2000 but when I saw the above notice scrawled on a newly erected board outside the Larklands Hotel my first thought was "The Singing Postman is alive and well and performing in Ilkeston." On second thoughts, it's probably just a spelling mistake but a few months ago when passing a pub in Spondon and unfortunately unable to take a photo as I was on a bus at the time, I did spot another sign there advertising a "femail vocalist". Mail or femail, I just hope their song delivery was not second class! But mistake or not, it did serve to remind me of the delights and songs of Allan Smethurst.Mistakes are the portals of discovery. James Joyce (1882 - 1941)
Whilst at the Lakeside Festival at Kirk Hallam last week I was approached by representatives of Green Squeeze and asked if I would sign a petition about the proposed access roads into the Stanton Ironworks redevelopment site.
Now whilst the developers who are proposing upwards of 5000 new houses plus some light industrial units are to be congratulated on the use of former industrial land, their proposals for access require much more consideration. Take a look at this map on the Green Squeeze website and in particular at the proposals for the red and pink routes. Both of these link into a new junction on the A52 and would be fine for traffic to and from Derby and the west. But any traffic heading towards Nottingham and the east or north and south via the M1 would, human nature being what it is, surely use the existing road network through Stanton-By-Dale, Sandiacre and Risley among others.Furthermore the red and pink routes would forge a way through the rolling countryside such as that seen above between Dale Village and Stanton-By-Dale and have a huge negative effect on the environment. The green and blue routes provide a much more sensible approach but as we all know, common sense is often ignored when financial considerations are involved and red would probably be cheaper in the short term than green. It appears some routes have already been rejected making the cheaper options more likely so I would encourage all local people to explore the Green Squeeze website to read more about the proposals and to make their feelings known to the powers that be before our landscape is ruined forever.
It is a bad plan that admits of no modification. Publilius Syrus (1st century BC)
