Bloom

A long-deceased allium bloom lies drooping in a long-empty Bloom gin bottle .... 

I collect gin bottles. Firstly, I collect full gin bottles, then I keep the empties. These - or at least the most interesting - are displayed in our garden room, filled with seed heads and dried flowers. I predict others will make an appearance as future wet-weather blips ..... 

Our ‘garden room’ sounds grand. It is a lovely space with french windows leading to the garden - an ideal place to sit and read or paint. In reality, it ends up as a dumping ground for muddy boots and garden paraphernalia, but one day ..... 

Back to the gin. I remember the days when Gordon’s was the standard, and Bombay Sapphire was exotic. Now I have a collection of craft gins from around the world. ‘Bloom’ was a birthday present from last March. A lockdown birthday. Little did I think I might be celebrating the next in similar circumstances ... 

Still, there’s always gin ......