JERICHO TRUMPETS

Don't know if that's what they're correctly called, but we had one of these on a south-facing wall of a house we rented from a canny old countryman, Monsieur Paul Frix. Old Frix said they were called "Trompettes de Jericho"...

Anyway - I love them - once they get going they're unstoppable. Not only are they brilliant climbers, but their roots have amazing penetrative power - they persisted in coming up in between the close-fitting tiles of our sitting room floor!

Cleaned my glasses this morning & one of the lenses popped out along with the minute screw which disappeared into the carpet... Downtown to a kindly optician who put in a replacement screw & re-polished the lenses - when I asked, "How much do I owe you?" He replied, "Rien du tout Monsieur - un petit service!"

Humanity lives!!