things your mother told you.

When I was walking home from the gym today a huge wave of nostalgia overtook me and it was very strange.  In the middle of London with planes flying overhead every 45 seconds I had a sudden whiff of caragana.  For those of you that don't know what it is, it's commonly used for windbreaks on farms in Canada...and it stinks.  Really, badly smells.  Like dead rotting meat left out and then peed on. Yuck.  

So anyways, I discovered it alongside the entrance to the walkway that leads up to the front doors of the gym and why I haven't smelled it before today I'm not too sure.  Maybe because it was hot and sunny and I was open to the smell?...but it brought back memories of a polyester red dress that my grandma made me, my Papa's mustard yellow trousers and riding sidesaddle in the hot dusty combine when I was too big to be riding sidesaddle but no big enough to ride in it alone. Then a (huge, loud and very 2008) plane passed overhead and I was brought back to the cars and Chelsea tractors I was faced with as I dodged the A316 and all the part-time weekend warriors making their way home after trying their hand at a cycle along the outer reaches of Greater London...and then the weekly run to Tesco's.

Hamish and I went out to the Green or a bit of sun after lunch and oh man, it was a lovely day.

Dare I say summer is here- if only briefly?

I was also reminded as I was gazing at the sun...and feeling a bit of a burn...about my mum. things she's told me, gentle words of wisdom and of course he inevitable 'I told you so's'- but my mum doesn't ever say that, she always sympathises and listens and agrees and we end up talking for an hour about the baby robin that fell out of the tree, the illegal picking of cherries at midnight in the orchard across the road and a recipe for 'the best' tomato salsa.  Of course, I never write the recipe down but that's not the point of the conversation now, is it? I remembered today the first time I really 'sunbathed' and used baby oil.  I was so red it must've been quite the sight, but mum just got out the aloe vera gel and ran a cool bath.  Or the time I crashed her car after sneezing.  The car was a write off (of course my dad fixed it!!!) and she never said anything.  My dad silently fumed about his insurance premium for the next 15 years though!  Or when I traded that same car in for my Jeep.  They were away at the time- and mum just hopped in for a ride when they got home.  I think dad quietly liked it...but not after it sat in their front yard for three years when I decided to move to New Zealand!  It was a unique lawn ornament for sure.  Anyways, I know that in a week on my birthday, as she always does, mum will ring me describing (over the years in diminishing detail) about the hours of labour, the silent doggedness of child rearing as a single parent and the pain when your only child ventures out of the nest.  And how much further could I have gone- to New Zealand! and then LONDON! Arugh, ungrateful child!  Oh well, she's go no choice now, does she? Maybe this all makes up for the hideous white and multi-coloured polka dot polyester pants she made me wear, the time she took me to get my eyebrows waxed (and they never grew back) and- well, I can't think of an 'and'.  She's been pretty good with her passing on of tried and tested- although I do think my bum looks big in 'that'.

soppy, those bloody caraganas.