Z shops, but not for myself

I spent most of the day with Weeza and the children – Weeza has been immensely helpful and kind (I say ‘has been’ but it’s an ongoing thing) to her old mum and dad, busy as she is, and Gus is taking a long time to get over the general state of unwellness that has afflicted him for a while.  One cold has led to another, he’s quite a skinny lad at the best of times, so when he’s unwell and loses his appetite, he looks quite peaky.  Anyway, I suggested we spend a day in Norwich.  Weeza has become so marvellously slender that she keeps shrinking out of her clothes (she’s thinner than I am, boooo) and I wanted to buy her something.

She was able to buy new jeans – skinny as, darlings – and a top in Gap and then we went for lunch.  It’s such a pleasure, taking any of my grandchildren out for a meal because they are charming and well behaved, and in any case I’ve a couple of party tricks for bored children waiting for food and was, for a couple of minutes, drawn to use one of them for Zerlina.  But then the food came, so that was fine.

I asked little z what she would like me to buy for her and, after consideration, she thought she could do with a new party frock.  Her mother agreed, she hasn’t got such a garment that still fits and one never knows when a party may come up, so has to be prepared, and we thought that Laura Ashley might have something (it was just round the corner) – and so it (one can hardly say ‘she’, can one, so long after the lady’s death? Did she fall downstairs, poor woman, or is that my faulty memory – CBATG, I’m afraid) did.  It was the first dress that z tried on that fitted the bill, and it had 40% off.  Oh joy.  £24 the original price, um… … … £9.60 off … must have been £14.40, and it was certainly a bargain.  Then we went to Jarrolds and discovered that the toy department was rather nicely set out nowadays – they’ve had a bit of a revamp since I was last there before Christmas, I’m sure, and the children played happily with wooden toys and Lego for some time.  Sadly, Gus suddenly became tearful again and we had to beat a hasty retreat, just when I was about to buy him a toy.  I owe you, Jarrolds, I shall not forget.  I’m the one who made the Lego horse, though it would have been a camel had I had five more minutes.

Weeza and I chatted at her house while Gus napped and Zerlina played with James-next-door.  When I left, I called on Ro and stuffed the back of the car with some of the branches we’d cut down last week.  There’s an awful lot more, he’s going to see if he can find someone with a trailer to take it away.  I pruned a nice rose bush while I was about it, but I’m afraid the clematis is beyond help and we’ll have to cut it hard back and see if it will survive.  It cannot be simply pruned – I tried.  I failed.  

8 comments on “Z shops, but not for myself

  1. Anonymous

    The clemati here(four deciduous, one evergreen) seem to do best with a hard prune. A nice polite pruning is ineffectual.

    Reply
  2. Z

    It’s huge, has taken fallen off its trellis and taken over most of the path and patio. It’s impossible to disentangle the shoots in bud – it’ll mean cutting it almost to a stump. Pruning hardly describes it.

    Sav & Mike – yes indeed!

    Reply
  3. Blue Witch

    Clematis that are overgrown usually respond wonderfully to very hard pruning (irrespective of the group they are – pruning by month according to flowering time is over-rated IMHO). You can take cuttings very easily from the ends of the chopped-offness too, just in case. But you probably know that.

    Reply
  4. Z

    Thanks BW – there certainly won’t be any flowers this year.

    A quick trawl round the wine merchants never goes amiss John, even if you do get most of it delivered! I like book shops best, myself.

    Reply
  5. Blue Witch

    Depends what sort of clematis it is – and even if it’s the sort that ‘shouldn’t’ be cut this time of year, I’d still err on the side that there will still be flowers, at some point (particulalry given the weird weather). Clematis are wonderful as they are so unpredictable. Probably why I’m so fond of them…

    Reply

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