RYAN AIR  Ryan Air is rough.  Hard narrow seats which do not recline.  Paid £2 for extra leg room, and £8 for priority boarding, and 4 + euros for tea & biscuit.  But it got us there on time.   VALLETTA.   I was in Malta as a baby and christened at the Holy Trinity Church, Sliema – then war broke out, and Pa who served at Bighi Royal Naval Hospital, was rapidly sent back to the UK.  Ma stuffed every crack in a room with paper, so we wouldn’t inhale poison gas if the Germans released it over the island (presumably we’d asphyxiate instead).  There she was with Robin 6,...

November Leaves hang, heavy, tired and sick, longing to die, longing for the hard frost that will release them.   Trees and perennials long to be free of their sodden weight, but the leaves just drag on, like a dying person still clinging to life. I have two Cotoneaster rothschildianus, and this year they have berried up prolifically – loads of gold berries.  Earlier, I wished I only had red berried cotoneasters – then Rosie Sturgis saw these through the window and marvelled, and I too realised they were beautiful.  Sometimes I need someone else to see things for me. Tried to plant tulip...