78 Comments
User's avatar
Gina Ferrari's avatar

I always enjoy reading about 'nothing important' because these are the important bits that make up life.

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

Well yes EXACTLY

Expand full comment
Mark Diacono's avatar

You and the rotter were made for each other, so you were x

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

I think you may very well be correct x

Expand full comment
Louise Marston's avatar

This reminds me very vividly of The Jumper argument. Many years ago, when we were fairly newly moved in together, my other half put a wash on. Being ignorant of the concept of 'delicate fabrics' (not owning any himself), my jumper came out as small piece of felt. I sobbingly muttered about it being ruined and cashmere and sulked off. He, very contrite, went to Shops and asked for their finest cashmere sweater and brought it back as a peace offering, costing hundreds. At which point I was forced to confess that my original jumper was 1) a hand-me-down from his mum, that I hadn't paid for in the first place and b) mainly wool and merino and at best 5% cashmere. 20 years on, I'm wearing that actual jumper today! Buying quality is never a bad idea, even when it's by accident (and especially if someone else is paying!!)

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

How wonderful! Is it darned in multiple places?

Expand full comment
Louise Marston's avatar

No, it’s perfectly intact, mainly because i kept it in the ‘too good to wear’ category for ages, and also it’s very warm so only really good for this season 😄

Expand full comment
Therese Lang's avatar

I too refuse the phone diary!

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

AWFUL

Expand full comment
Callyconwayprints's avatar

I read this on my Monday morning commute (which is miserable), and it cheers me up. The lemon pot is like a lovely Kate Malone piece.

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

So glad it lifted your commute! I'll look up Kate Malone xx

Expand full comment
Jo Thompson's avatar

Always always always a paper diary 💚

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

You can sit with us 👍😍

Expand full comment
Rachel Peppiatt's avatar

Love the diary chat - JUST the same as me and my husband!

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

It’s just… universal I think. Opposites attract?

Expand full comment
Elizabeth's avatar

I love your writing Laetitia, you always make me smile, and the PDA at the garden centre sounds like a scene from a Richard Curtis movie 😃

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

It was a very quick peck. He was v sweaty

Expand full comment
Trish Deseine's avatar

Thank you! Anything to break the view over the mole kingdom that is my “garden”.

Expand full comment
Anne Leo's avatar

We are retired. It's an A5 week to view. Kept on our shared desk. We write our own things to do & appointments in ( if he remembers ). No colour coding, just very basic, so we don't double book. It USUALLY works like clockwork!

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

This is the kind of harmony I aspire to x

Expand full comment
Helen Park-Weir's avatar

Love your posts as ever! Well done to your Rotter for apologising and while you maybe aren't going to see your friends that particular weekend the lemon pot is gorgeous!

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

Im still going!

Expand full comment
Helen Park-Weir's avatar

Hurray! Well that’s a defo win-win!

Expand full comment
Ambermoggie's avatar

Pansies are beautiful and edible some varieties. The wild viola relation i have always known as heartsease

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

Like the song. Yes I should have called these their proper name ‘viola’

Expand full comment
Susan Wright's avatar

I love your lemon pot 🍋

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

😍

Expand full comment
Tessa Broad's avatar

LOVE the lemon pot. I have a small gifted box of bulbs that make me feel guilty every time I walk past them... I will now buy some pansies and plant them beneath. Thank you

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

Better in than out, and if they don’t appear you’ve lost nothing x

Expand full comment
An ordinary life's avatar

Yay for paper diaries. Writing things down with an actual pen helps me remember… pansies are like showgirls aren’t they with their bold colours and short skirts. Now, serious question, after a year of terrible slug issues and trying everything from beer to copper (I won’t do pellets because Hedgehogs…) I’m planning on putting my new (because they ate them ALL last year) dahlias in pots this year. How do I keep the nasty critters away?

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

I am SO the wrong person to ask! Mine were in pots last year and also obliterated. Nobody was a match for the slimey things last year...I think I read somewhere that even Charlie McCormick had an awful dahlia year. What I do know from extensive research, is that people with "Good dahlias" almost always go out at dawn and dusk in their dressing gowns and pick the bastards off one by one. SORRY xxx

Expand full comment
An ordinary life's avatar

Well it heartens me that I was not the only one sans Dahlias last year. And I’m definitely more of a sit and sip my coffee gal than a morning slug murderer. My step mother used to go out of an evening and snip them in half with scissors. I do not have the stomach for that level of gardening !

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

I must admit I’ve done it before but it makes me retch. 🤢 I think there is a massive argument here for encouraging more birds and hedgehogs 🦔

Expand full comment
An ordinary life's avatar

Our local hedgehog expert told me they’re actually not that fond of slugs and ‘you can’t blame them for that’ 😂 but yes to more wildlife. Our hogs have disappeared over the last six months so I’m desperately hoping I can lure them back!

Expand full comment
Fotene T. Katsanos's avatar

Hand-picking them at dawn and dusk is exactly what I also do to avoid the pellets! Last summer was a record breaking picking session: 104 slugs at dawn :-0

Expand full comment
Fotene T. Katsanos's avatar

We encourage birds and hedge hogs to our garden, frogs and toads too.

Expand full comment
Treeza Sodah's avatar

Urgh to phone diaries I put it down to my Luddite brain your description is far kinder. Adore the lemon pot and the pandies and facts and all things fleuriferous. Thank you

Expand full comment
Laetitia Maklouf's avatar

We need to have a paper people party x

Expand full comment