It is hard to believe that we've reached the first day of the metrological autumn today. Of course it has come as no surprise but for many different reasons it does feel as if the summer has just begun. The long wet spring didn't really end until the end of June. Early July was similarly hit and miss with the weather, even on the weekend of my University reunion we had torrential rain. Since then it has felt more summery, weather wise at least, though day length is rapidly diminishing now. But the real sign that summer has passed was a display of daffodil and tulip bulbs at Castle Gardens garden centre at Sherborne in Dorset.
I've an odd few days coming up so yesterday we planned a treat for ourselves, and we can offload some surplus to requirement plant pots there too (one of the few places which still do this). While we had lunch there I worked out I've been visiting Castle Gardens for over 24 years. That first visit was in the summer of 2000 (I don't think I'd been before). I'd just met Thelma and she said shall we have a trip to Sherborne as "I think you'll like the town". I'd been here before a few times before but it's a lovely town and I welcomed the re-visit. The garden centre was different then, smaller retail buildings in old buildings, as was the cafe. The site was badly damaged a few years later due to fire and the buildings expanded during that phoenixical rebuild. But I do recall on that first visit having butterscotch cake, it was fabulous and they've never served it again.
The passage of time is relentless, nearly a quarter of a century since I first visited Castle Gardens, and no sooner did my birthday occur in April this year here we are already at the first day of the last month of this year long blog. I've a challenging few days ahead, I wonder then what I'll write about on September 30th? 2024 has been an odd year indeed.
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