Blooming

Not, not me - I'm not blooming; I'm a tad crabbit and preoccupied. But the best thing about this time of year in this part of the world is the way it's suddenly full of colour and scents as the azaleas and rhododendrons burst out and the lilac at the foot of my garden is having one of its good years and is absolutely laden with purple - and I do nothing to it. And my wisteria is just coming into blossom, though it's not the kind of weather in which it releases its perfume yet. 

You can tell from all this that the rain let up somewhat today, especially in the afternoon. I spent the rather damper morning in domestic and forthcoming travel activities, including filling in the form that we have to hand to the group leaders at the start of HF holidays; they ask you to note down any physical problems that might make some walks unadvisable and this year I noted down that I was rather more decrepit than when I first booked the holiday two and a half years ago ... I wonder if there will be other people in the same boat?

Went a walk in Benmore Gardens with pal Di this afternoon. I was being very annoying on the photograph hunt - it's been very hard to choose for today's blip, but I've settled on that vibrantly golden azalea beside the stump of an old tree, and for an extra the strange leafless pink flowers beside the pond. We met a couple with a dog the size of a lion - a Yugoslavian sheepdog, apparently - and a woman I've known for 46 years without ever finding out her name, but to whom I always chat. We first met when we went to look at her house with the thought of buying it, way back when we first arrived here, and privately I always call her by the name of that house ...

Did we detect a deliberate tone of voice in Charles' reading of the Queen's Speech? And did you see that wee boy in Odessa telling the BBC reporter about the missile attack? And finally - is anyone watching The Terror Mark 2?