Advertising, Gardening and a great TV series!

I’m sitting in the garden writing this and the sun is beating down on me so it feels more like mid summer than the beginning of spring! The photo above though isn’t my garden it’s Savil Gardens in Windsor where I walked last week 🙂 Judging by the weather forecast it seems as though most of us have seen the sun, so I do hope you’ve been able to get out and about in it. There have been some pretty clear nights too which is when I got this photo of the moon – hardly ever see the crescent!

Thank you very much for getting in touch on the last blog and for my birthday wishes. I can’t believe it’s almost a month since we were in Malta, but as always, we have filled our time with family, friends and trying to find time to finish the refurb! Work has begun on the front garden now as it’s going to be almost completely gravelled over. We’ve had a disaster trying to grow a lawn on a very dry and rough patch of ground and so we think this is the best option. I currently have one flower bed at the end closest to the house and that will be extended so that it’s the full width of the garden – any ideas on what I could put in there? I currently have a fabulous cone headed hydrangea that was a present from Richard Jackson when Colin and I got married 10 years ago! I also have two rather beautiful purple leaf bushes that have these frilly pink flowers and I may well get another one just so it’s symmetrical but I don’t remember the name of it! Any idea what it’s called? If you do, I’d be really grateful if you could drop me a line at the end of the blog – thank you!

Talking of names, is it just me, or have you been a little blindsided by the change in pronunciation for some of the major retailers? IKEA was the first, then Hyundai and now Skoda! It seems odd to me that nobody mentioned the pronunciation before because branding is key to a successful advertising campaign. It reminded me of when I worked in advertising and our agency created a series of bus side posters to celebrate BT’s new rates for phoning Europe. Our copywriter used the Spanish word Bueno on the Italian poster when it should have been Buono! No one spotted it for the first few weeks and then there was an uproar and all the posters had to be scraped off the buses! The copywriter luckily kept his job but he was a jolly sight more vigilant after that!

Colin and I have been back to see baby Florence several times since I last wrote and as you’ll see from the photographs, she is changing all the time! She’s gaining weight and much more alert now with such huge eyes! Sam and Elise gave me a beautiful framed photo of her and I for my Birthday present which is lovely, and I’ve had several others printed out and reframed so my collection is growing! Last weekend all but two of the children came to join us for lunch, with our grandsons Corey and Rhys, and baby Florence! It was the first time Richard and Jordana had met her, and as you can see they loved her on sight.

We had a belated birthday celebration for me and our soon to be son-in-law Will, but also an early get together for Corey’s 4th birthday! We also celebrated Mother’s Day and I had some beautiful cards and thoughtful gifts from the children and grandchildren and it compounded my constant belief that I am truly fortunate to have so many wonderful people in my life. I travelled to Swindon on Sunday as Lucy had organised a massage course for my Mother’s Day gift for her, Honey and me at a place called The Zen Den. We all learned the various techniques by practising on each other, and are now quite proficient in giving a foot, hand massage or head massage! Colin is very pleased with my new found skills!

Since I last wrote I’ve also met up again with Kathy Tayler – we had a walk and then lunch as our birthdays are just one week apart. We chose Savil Gardens in Englefield Green and saw the most glorious Magnolia and Camellia trees (that’s the photo at the top of the blog). Some of the blooms were as big as our hands! I then had a visit from Claire Sutton who came to see me on Friday. Claire and I haven’t seen each other since the 12th March last year and so there was a great deal to catch up on and not enough time really, but we were adamant we’re not going to leave it so long next time. I had a lovely couple of days with my sister too and we walked to Hinton Ampner which was a mighty six and a half mile hike but well worth it.

I’m still listening to the book Truly Madly Deeply by Leanne Moriarty, and I have very much enjoyed it. I’ve downloaded We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes which I think is her latest – have you read it? Colin and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Protection on TV with Siobahn Finnerman in the lead, and I’d highly recommend it. It’s all about Witness Protection and has a great cast and is very well written. I’m also very much looking forward to watching the brand-new series of Grace this Sunday based on the best-selling Peter James novels involving DS Roy Grace played by John Simm. Again, excellent writing and really addictive. Anything new you’ve been enjoying? Do let me know 

I’m going to head off now but thank you so much for keeping in touch here, on Instagram and Facebook, and if you enjoy this blog, feel free to share it! Take care and stay well,

With my love,

Ali xx