Our Nerine bowdenii has flowered for the very first time in five years, and has cheered the garden up just as everything else is starting to look a bit tired [click any pic to embiggen]
It's another snippets post, dear reader:
- Behind closed doors no more news: A gallery at the Natural History Museum has reopened to the public today after 83 years [having been used since WWII as the storeroom for an archival collection of dried plants]! The new exhibition Nature and Us is the first of many new galleries planned to open in the run-up to the venerable institution's 150th birthday in 2031.
- Will they ever be "Putting It Together"? news: After all the hype that Wicked co-stars Ariana Grande and the gorgeous Jonathan Bailey were to star in the latest attempt to revive Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George at The Barbican Centre next year [for which I had earmarked our Theatre Tokens - a Xmas gift from Mother - to buy tickets as soon as they were released], plans have gone tits-up! First Milady Ariana decided to "take a step back from visibility" after a barrage of social media scrutiny about her appearance and health. Now Mr Bailey has withdrawn from the project, and it has been cancelled! After the ill-fated plan for the previous Broadway production starring Jake Gyllenhall to "cross the pond" was thwarted by the COVID pandemic, we're beginning to wonder if we'll ever get to see a big production of the show in this country at all...
- Farewell to "London's seaside village" news: Gabriel's Wharf [pictured above], one of the quirkiest, most artisanal and unexpected places along the South Bank of the Thames - a collection of jolly hand-painted "shed-like" shops, bars and restaurants, huddled in a sort-of-village-square, complete with bandstand - is to be demolished at the end of this month, to make way for redevelopment (with proposals to build a nursing home on the site) after 40 years of operation. What a shame. Gentrification gone mad!
- Frankenstein or Danger Mouse? news: Eek! Neuroscientists in the US have successfully adapted mice to have part-human part-mouse brains. "These are not mice that think like humans", according to the scientists. Gosh, that's reassuring. The mouse we currently have under our bookcase [thanks, most likely, to having the back door open to cool down during all the heatwaves this summer] isn't actually reading our books and planning a world takeover! Like A.I. Only smaller.
- And finally: RIP, Mademoiselle Catherine Ringer. Who? I hear you ask. She was an avant-garde artist, performer and jazz singer, and one of the musical geniuses behind this beloved house fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers! [In fact, she wrote the song.]
Now I have that as an earworm for the rest of the week.
And the weather? Not bad at all - some good bursts of sunshine today. Make the most of it while we can - it's the Autumn Equinox next week!
Are they trying to dumb down the mouse population?
ReplyDeleteSorry to read about Gabriel's Wharf - it looks lovely in the picture. The London I knew is gone.
Sx
Gabriel's Wharf is unique, and the South Bank is worse off without it. There used to be a "pub-in-a-shed" with a beer garden there that we used to go to regularly; it made a lovely change from all that concrete at the Southbank Centre. Redevelopment will just homogenise the area with more concrete and glass. Sigh. Jx
DeleteP.S Congrats on the dramatic flower!!! My garden is once again lush green with elements of mud.
ReplyDeleteYou need to borrow a cat.
Sx
We're continuing our mission of "succession planting" - to have something in flower all year round - and the arrival of the Nerine after all this time is a joy! As for the mouse vs cat idea, there's a danger of entering "I knew an old woman who swallowed a fly" territory. I don't like cats either, so then we'd need a dog to chase it off, and so it goes... Jx
DeleteGorgeous nerine!
ReplyDeleteAnd as for bunging a nursing home in that sweet-looking village...!#*&!! bollocks! surely the Council could find something scruffy that NEEDS tarting-up!
Lambeth Council has plenty of dereliction that would be better targets for redevelopment, of course - but money talks! Gabriel's Wharf is in a prime site on the river, and whatever development takes place there the council will get its kickbacks out of it, so why would they give a stuff what mere people think? Jx
DeleteGorgeous flowers! I LOVE the video!
ReplyDeleteI've adored Marcia Baila for years - and I have absolutely no recollection of where or how I first stumbled upon it..! Jx
DeleteSad news about Gabriel's Wharf. London needs quirky, non corporate places like this.
ReplyDeleteBut three cheers for our Nerine
We need some joyful new colour at this time of year!
DeleteThe loss of Gabriel's Wharf is only to the detriment, not betterment of London. Jx