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.
