Gather Ye Rosebuds

The harvesters worked until the early hours of Saturday, but with my earplugs in place I had the window open and heard nothing. I awoke to see them bringing in the hay in the sunshine, and it was timely because by late afternoon there was a deluge. Later in the morning, driving across the country to have lunch with friends, I was surrounded by the fresh gold of newly cut wheat fields, nothing for miles apart from this buttery glow interspersed with hedges and trees. I stopped the car and just soaked it all in, the beauty of it beyond any words I could find. Soon it will all be ploughed up again ready for the next stage in the year's agricultural calendar. Things come, they go, the cycle never ends, a timely reminder if ever there was one.

Lunch and bridge were as much fun as usual, saddened only by the news that Caroline plans to move away next autumn. Our happy little group will dissolve then, but it will have been a great joy while it lasted. Caroline, unsuccessfully stabbing a stuffed olive, drink in hand, marvelled at her lack of skill since she was a world class fencer in her day, and wondered if she'd have more luck with an epee. Judy told us that she and David had been summoned to their old friend Richard's house to say goodbye as he seems not to have much time left. When they left he just missed landing a smacker on her lips as she moved her face in time, and despite his condition managed to grab hold of her bottom as he hugged her. Yup, some things don't change. I regaled them with stories of couples at my two bridge clubs, and their sometimes outrageously rude behaviour towards each other while playing. One partner is often super-critical, usually though not always the man. You can immediately tell who wears the trousers, I concluded. David was thoughtful for a moment, and then asked which of he and Judy I thought wore the trousers. "Oh, I think the trousers are fairly evenly divided between the two of you," I replied, and Caroline roared loudly, saying that the image of them with one leg each in a pair of pants would stay with her forever. We all shared her laughter.