A Day to be a Darling Bud
I used to love watching The Darling Buds of May on television. Loved it. One time, towards the start of my relationship with Robert he found me watching re-runs of the show on television. When it was finished I looked at him with a sad face.
“Aw hon”, he said, “do you want to be a Bud? ”
I did want to be a Bud, he was right.
So, it is always with a happy heart that we find ourselves at a flower show or a village fair. A village fete is even better and this past Saturday we made it a family event.
My sister lives a little way away from us and we decided to visit one of her local flower shows.
And local it was.
Local EVERYTHING! Local lavender. The scent drifted all over the field. Wonderful.
Local people growing local produce and WINNING prizes. I love these competitions and the way that normal, respectable members of the community can get so competitive when it comes to entering their homegrown produce into the local flower show.
I’ve heard tales of sabotage, nastiness and suspect methods being used to produce THE BEST fruit, veg and flowers at shows like this. Wonderful, brilliant and it feeds my fascination with the ‘Darling Bud’ way of life perfectly.
The roses were looking great…….
…….as were the vegetables.
I’ve never entered anything I’ve grown into a competition such as this. There are various rues and procedures you have to follow to be considered (as you can probably tell by the way the onions are tied up) but I did feel encouraged when I walked out of the show tent. I saw broad beans and sweet peas that, if I’m not too much mistaken, looked just as good as the ones we have been growing here at the house! Yippeee!
Oh blimey, I’m not sure I want to send my wee broad beans in to the ring. To sit there and be poked and prodded and told they aren’t good enough.
But what the hell, it’s worth it for the rosette!!!!
Next summer perhaps.
Here’s my favourite.
I love this.
A cucumber sandwich, crusts cut off, little bit soggy, wrapped in cling film, sitting in a warm tent………WINNING PRIZES!!!
That is what these shows are all about. They are unashamedly celebrating skills that, if we did but know it, are life enriching and vital but oh so simple.
It was also a really good family day out. The girls were free to run around and continue to discover the joys of having legs and Jo-Jo bought them tutus. Daisy liked inspecting hers. It was made from a fabric that she had not yet come across and she felt it was important to fully experience the way it felt on her fingertips.
Truly also enjoyed a wee spot of dressing up. These girls are bringing so much joy to us as a family as we watch them grow.
It was a really great day. Nostalgia is rife, alive and well in so many industries and I love this as I think it’s wise. We have to learn from the past to have a brilliant future and if that means bringing things back then that is what is required. I think they should bring back The Darling Buds of May to the television. Not a re-make, GOD FORBID, but the original.
At the end of the day at the flower show a Spitfire aeroplane put on a display for the people who had attended. We all looked up as a sound that many of us had only heard in the movies headed our way. It seemed unimaginable to think of what so many men went through while flying in a plane of that size and what so many women faced being here at home without them. This particular village flower show has been held on the same grounds since 1914 and we’re thinking about delving even deeper and seeing just how many pictures from shows gone by are available.
How many marrows have been grown to show?
How many pots of jam have been boiled in order to place on the table?
How many children have begged their parents for ANOTHER ice-cream in that whole time?
That is pure nostalgia to me. Not having actually lived through an event in history but getting to grips with it, as much as is possible, through other means.
The good, the bad. The Darling Buds of May and Spitfire airplanes in July, 2009.
Perfick!
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