‘I already met one – she was in my front garden. She had pink hair.’
Amanda looked pleased at this news. ‘Oh that’s Janet – she’s great. If I had to choose an animal to for Janet, it would be one of those Australian birds – the galah, you know? The one with a pink and grey crest, slightly plump and short body?’
Diana laughed. ‘I am sure she would be thrilled to hear that.’ But then she became serious. ‘I am sure she’s “great” as you state, but having her amongst my petunias wasn’t what I was expecting when I came out for my walk.’
Amanda laughed. ‘That’s hilarious. I’m sure she meant no harm. She’s super excited to see the garden properly; it’s like the most exciting thing ever for this club.’
Without realising, Diana had been following Amanda up the path towards the house, and watched as the woman with pink hair came forward.
‘Diana, I must apologise again for intruding,’ she said and Diana nodded.
‘No harm done,’ she replied.
‘I’m loving having the opportunity to have a stickybeak at this garden – it’s wonderful,’ she said.
‘Stickybeak?’ said Diana with a look at Amanda who stifled a giggle.
‘Yes, a good look around,’ said Janet. ‘Those wild hollyhocks are incredible.’ She pointed to the side of one of the garden beds. ‘Look at those thick stalks. Legs like milkmaid’s stools.’
Diana laughed in spite of herself. Janet did have the same infectious energy that Amanda had; no wonder she liked her galah-like friend.
‘I so love these Granny’s bonnets. We don’t see them enough anymore. Everyone seems to like those succulents; they call it low-maintenance gardening. But that’s not gardening in my opinion,’ Janet said and Diana had to agree with her.
‘The bees love this lavender, but it’s a bit scraggly now. Look at the old rose. Diana, was that once a hedge?’ Janet asked.
‘Yes, it was, went all the way around the kitchen garden.’ She looked around. ‘This was the kitchen garden. Not that we grew more than herbs and a few beans one year. I wasn’t much into growing vegetables and fruit, but it’s very popular now,’ she mused as she looked at the rose and lavender, with the sparse and woody stems letting the morning light onto the path.
‘Yes, well with the cost of living now, we need to grow what we can and be sensible,’ said Janet.
Diana nodded but wondered why she hadn’t grown food. Probably an unspoken rule of her mother’s, she thought. Growing food was for farmers, not for young women whose role was to arrange the flowers that she grew.
A woman approached them, a little younger than Janet, Diana thought. She was more conservative with pearl stud earrings and a knitted jumper with a small brooch of a black cat with green jewelled eyes.
‘Hello, I’m Carole Melton, Janet’s wife. What a wonderful gift this is to Amanda and in turn us, by her asking us to come and see the garden.’
Diana liked Carole immediately.
‘How long have you been in Foxfield?’ Diana was surprised at her own curiosity about the women.
‘Oh ten years – actually, closer to eleven, I think,’ Janet said. ‘Carole and I met in Manchester and then found a place to buy here. It’s lovely and Carole’s kids come and see us often. We’re grannies now, as her eldest just had their first – a little girl called Molly.’
Diana tried to take in all the information about these women whom she had just met.
‘Carole’s the GP here,’ said Janet as though Diana might know anything about her.
‘Oh?’ Diana looked at Carole. ‘I see Dr Diamond in Newcastle.’
‘He’s a very good doctor. I see him at training and information sessions.’
Diana liked Carole even more for confirming her choice in health professional and not having her nose out of joint with Diana for seeing someone else.
‘Have you met everyone else?’ asked Janet, looking around.
Diana realised she had a choice. She could leave and continue her walk with Trotsky and then return home and make tea and sit with her book she was reading. Then she would have lunch, and perhaps assess her petunias and refill the bird feeder. Later she would doze in her chair and then wake in time to do a spot of tidying, or as much as her arthritis would let her, and then she would make a light dinner of cold meat and green salad. Perhaps a little BBC and more tea and then bed.
The schedule that lay ahead of her suddenly felt like a punishment. Once she had revelled in the simplicity, but now she looked around and saw Amanda’s straw hat bobbing about some roses that needed a good prune, and she could hear her talking and laughing. This is what she came here for, Diana reminded herself.
She looked at Carole and Janet, who were waiting patiently, and made her decision.
