Improving Home and Garden

 It happened so gradually that I didn't notice, until my hands were almost under my chin to type!  My old office chair (which was being thrown out when I got it over ten years ago), was sinking slowly in the West - and the mechanism to make the seat higher again no longer works.

So it had to go.

I had an idea of what I wanted to replace it - not a modern office chair, but something vintage, and wooden.

I tried Fleur de Lys - I can usually get something good there - but they had no swivel chairs in stock at the moment.

So I tried the basement of Bain and Murrin - and there it was, right at the bottom of the stairs.  The perfect chair.  They even delivered for me.

 Meanwhile in the garden I was thinking that there were some spaces that needed to be filled up, so I went out to The Old Railway Line Garden Centre at Three Cocks on the bus.  I only had about an hour there before the bus back, so I needed to have a plan and not just wander round aimlessly.

I have loved magnolia bushes since I first saw one when I was eleven.  We were walking down to see a house my mum wanted to buy, and passed a garden when the bush was in full bloom, masses of cream flowers everywhere.  

As a teenager on holiday in Ireland, we went to Birr Castle.  The garden back then was still very much a family garden, and we met a lovely old lady pottering around with her gardening basket, who told us all about their wonderful magnolia bush.  We realised later that she was the Dowager Marchioness!

So I wanted a magnolia, and there were several to choose from. Initially I was going to go for a cream one, but there was a deep pink one called Emperor and since I had recently bought a plum tree called Czar, that was the one I went for.

[Edited to add: I have planted a monster!  When I read the label more carefully at home, I found it will grow to 5 metres high!] 

The weather was not pleasant, so I cut it rather fine in getting back to the bus stop.  In fact, as I trundled my trolley out of the garden centre, I could see the bus pulling into the layby, and had to make a dash for it.  Fortunately, the bus was five minutes early, so had to wait there, and I needn't have panicked!

Back in Hay, I had time to go up to the market - sadly depleted because of the weather.  The lovely plant lady was there, though - and she had a cream flowered magnolia.  Well, why shouldn't I have two magnolias?  This one is stellata, and doesn't grow very big.