Notes on a train twixt Oxford and Tisbury. 

A while ago I wrote about Basingstoke Station and included a couple of handy hints for anybody involved in espionage or escape and evasion. I have another tip for budding George Smileys. Platform two is overlooked by a tall pole – outside the station – full of cameras pointing in every direction. Platform One, therefore is a much better bet if you want to set up a dead letter box or carry out a little light assassination. You should also bear in mind that, at the time of writing, the rear entrance to the station is closed so you should not rely on it as an escape route.

The following is not at all train related:

Somebody (and for the life of me I cannot remember who, I‘m afraid) blogged a while ago about receiving some uninvited chocolate body paint as a freebie. I also have freebies but, unfortunately, nothing as intimate although much more useful. I have recently had two windfalls. The first (courtesy of the charming Simon Chapman) was from Hozelock who very kindly sent me a couple of their Aquapods. The idea is that you link these little things together and each has four pull out tubes that then drip water into a collection of pots. The water supply is controlled by a timer attached to the tap. I entrusted the setting up of these to my elder son and very efficient he was (although, as is the way with teenagers, the packaging and instruction booklets were left cluttering up the joint). I then turned the thing on and went to Scotland for a week and a bit: nothing died in my absence which means that the things were a resounding success. They are pretty straightforward to set up so if you have a cluster of pots on a terrace somewhere, they will do the business.

My second freebie was even more exciting. The nice people at John Deere sent be a very spiffy lawn mower to try out for a year. It is shiny and green and has a roller on the back. The handles are ergonomically designed so that old sods like me do not put their backs out when mowing. I am particularly keen on the very simple grass box full warning system. This is a gauzy piece of fabric that flaps when you are mowing: when it stops flapping you need to empty the box. I am thrilled and very delighted: nobody has ever given me a mower before (even though I have to give it back after a year). The variety I have is the R43RVE with a roller on the back for stripes and stuff.

So thank you to both my benefactors: I am considering changing my name to James Hozelock – McDeere or, at the very least, tattooing their company logos on my buttocks (although that might have an even smaller audience share than, say, Gardens Illustrated – although equally exclusive). Sometimes I marvel at how very cheap I can be if I apply myself. 

Mind you if somebody did want to send me some chocolate body paint I wouldn’t complain.

I completely missed the eclipse on Friday. This was particularly neglectful as, according to my horoscope, it was important to my future happiness. 

The photograph is of Thalictrum polygamum. I am listening to On the Edge of Atonement by Barry Adamson

Last year I was writing about a very small garden in London.