We went for a walk in the Cambridge Botanic Garden. The day was too hot to do much
serious or strenuous or fancy walking but it’s a very good garden.
Fountain:
Echiums:
And if you like maps, quite a few maps, including this one:
The glasshouses are especially fine.
I was slightly familiar with those glasshouses because, more than half a lifetime ago, I worked as a dogsbody in this garden. It seemed like a good idea at the time but I didn’t get on very well. I was willing enough but at that point in history I could scarcely tell one plant from another and I didn’t last long.
I would be out there doing something menial like edging a mile and a half of lawn and some serious Cambridge matron visiting the garden would collar me and say, 'Can you give me some advice on my crocosmia?’ And to my shame, I could not.
On the occasional Saturday morning my job, under supervision, was to water the plants in the glass houses. I quite liked that. I’d walk around indoors, hose in hand, trying neither to under or over water, though I may not always have got that right either.
Anyway, they’ve erected a kind of memorial, which some sources describe as a quernstone, in the garden.
The caption reads ‘In acknowlegement & appreciation of the skill and dedication of the Garden Staff & Student Gardeners both past and present.’ That surely includes me, even if the skill and dedication were a bit lacking. Here I am looking and feeling honoured:
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| Photo by Caroline Gannon |
