"EARLIER ON TODAY A WOMAN RANG THE BBC AND SAID SHE HEARD THERE WAS A HURRICANE ON THE WAY... DON'T WORRY, THERE ISN'T..."
(Michael Fish, Thursday 15th October 1987)
Today I celebrate a birthday, an anniversary and a new life. My birthday, returned before I've come to terms with the last: gifts of bubble bath and bulbs, a silent seduction of spring - looking to the future. An anniversary, silver, of a storm they said would never come. Trees torn from the ground leaving hollows in place of their roots, felling ancient oaks, vistas returned from time long gone - a reminder of the past. And the present - a precious gift: the baby born to loving home, I join the ladies cooing over tiny fingers, forgotten whimpers and squeaks, each mother reminded of her own child long ago.
To the birthday I hold up my hands, there's no fighting the passage of time. The bulbs, a gift from my parents, Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation' AGM - a real treat in store. In my mind I picture the border, the flowering balls providing a dash of colour against lime-green Euphorbia and rounded tulip petals as the days lengthen once again.
For the anniversary I remember, being called to sleep in the sitting room as the winds rattled the windows, blowing hard enough to move the curtains through the glass and the morning devistation, unable to leave the road for fallen trees, electricity and telephone lines down and bedrooms opened to the elements by the canopies of trees that came to rest against buildings in their path. Naturally my birthday party, my thirteenth, was cancelled that year.
To the child I smile: the newest member of our ladies lunch group. Flowers from the garden for the host, dusky pink Hydrangea against Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' AGM foliage, gentle and romantic in their tones. The time passes fast as we talk, a friendship borne from the history we have in common.
Appledore, Tuesday, 16th October 2012
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