If I could turn back time...

No, this isn’t a tribute to Cher. That title’s not even my favourite Cher song. I didn’t even realise that I had a favourite Cher song until I started writing this post. I think it must be that searing indictment of the hypocritical nature of townsfolk against those who travel as part of their life – ‘Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves’. I like this song even more because until very recently Ian thought she actually sang ‘Thieves, Thieves, Tramps and Thieves’, which would be a song with a reduced diversity of mistrust and abuse.

I appear to have digressed.

So what am I actually on about? Well, who hasn’t wished they could travel back in time. Obviously if this were possible, the most important thing would be to right wrongs done, to spend more time with loved ones, to let them know how much you truly loved them and to have a chance to say ‘goodbye’ properly. Second to those actions would be to avert crises and wars, to make the world a better place for more of humanity. Only after that would be my desire to remove curves from the garden borders.

When we first came to our current house, it was the traditional family garden of big lawn with a foot wide border around the edge.

 So I dug huge borders, curving borders, as I wanted to kick against the straight lines and to have lots of room for plants. 

I do love the depth of these borders but I’ve never been entirely happy with the shape. This slight disappointment doesn’t stem from the plants, and I didn’t really know what I didn’t feel comfortable with, until we had the old patio taken up and a new one put down, with another one at the bottom of the garden. I loved the crisp straight lines of the new hard landscaping but felt that now there was a mismatch between these sharp lines and the curves of the borders.

I’ve lived with the juxtaposition of curves and straight lines for five years now. It niggles me most in winter, when the herbaceous plants have died back and the curves can more clearly be seen, hence this blog post as I noticed it again today. One day, I will reshape the borders so that there is greater unity of line through the garden, unless in the meantime someone invents the time-machine. Then, after love and world peace, I may make my lines straight.