Friday, 20 April 2018

how to make me laugh

Earlier this week I received an email from an American publishing company inviting me to join their Editorial Board.
Now some of you may think that is quite an honour but I just laughed.
Why?
Because they want me to join the Editorial Board of Trends in Horticulture.
And why is that so funny?
Because the article of mine that they said they had read was; 'Susannah and the Lemon Tree; Mrs C.H. Spurgeon's Book Fund'.
It had everything to do with Susannah and books and nothing to do with horticulture apart from the fact that she grew a lemon tree from a pip and likened each leaf to the hundreds of books she was able to send out to ministers with little money. The lemon tree never produced a lemon.

Another aspect to my laugh is the fact that I have have very sensitive skin and do not enjoy gardening - touch anything and I come up in a rash. I stay indoors and just come out to gather a few herbs for dinner. 
It was a wonderful laugh first thing on a Monday morning but no I won't be taking them up on their kind invitation. I'm even wondering if it is a scam.

Tuesday, 20 February 2018

a technical education

Apparently Teresa May has attacked snobbery among parents who think that a technical education is for other people's children.
I wonder how our society has come to be in that position? 

In the sixties, my parents were thrilled when I went to the London College of Fashion.
Each day when I arrived home, my Mum would ask me what short cuts in dressmaking I had learned, which I would then pass on to her.
Unknown to me, when I had a couple of my designs featured in an international fabric publication, my Dad took the insert to work to show his colleagues. 
They didn't think I should be at a university, they knew where my talents lay and saw me thrive.

In the early nineties, there was no snobbery when both of my boys went to technical colleges to follow their dreams.

Who are these parents who are not aware of their offspring's natural gifts, talents and dreams?

I am proud of my technical education, it provided me with an income while staying at home looking after the children when they were little which could not have happened if I had taken the other option of becoming an actuary!