After the exhausting gloom of the planning enquiry that I wrote about recently, we set off for the Home Counties and the RHS's Hampton Court Flower Show. We stayed in a hotel of decaying splendour which was once a fine place to stay – though not recently. The day at the Show was wonderful: such beauty – and a pleasure mixing with people whose working lives are dedicated to it. I was particularly taken with the bonsai, one of which was about 100 years older than me – and, it should be said, in better shape.
One thing perturbed me; in the long tent filled with stands every one seemed to have a prize. Is there grade inflation amongst the peonies, I wondered.
And there was no litter. Why was this? Was it because of the sort of people who went there? Or that, unlike, other events – Glastonbury comes to mind – were there just a lot of convenient bins? Well, there were bins – but there were at Glastonbury as well. I came away not thinking about the bins or non-litter, but about the flowers.
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