My first planting of onions are now 10cm above ground. My Rhododendron are starting to flower, and all of my chili varieties have germinated. That includes a Mexican desert chili (probably an illegally smuggled chili from Cesar – but he is Mexican).
It does seem that I have green thumbs. Even weeds grow when I touch them. It made me think about both of my grandfathers. I never knew them, but I heard stories of them and their growing exploits.
I was told about one grandfather trying to develop a new fruit by grafting different plants together. The other one was apparently trying to develop a blue rose. I don’t know if the tale is true, but I was once told a story about this – the roses opened while he was at work, but came out white – so my grandmother apparently got some blue dye and dipped them in it (maybe another trait I have from her).
I remember my mother was always fascinated by China, and now I have looked at her family history I have discovered her ancestors had a lot to do with the shaping of modern China. She never knew that. I don’t think I believe in the concept of memories being passed from generation to generation through genetics, but I do think there are factors we are not clear about that influence us to be similar to our ancestors, that provide hidden links.
Before the 2nd world war there was the Spanish civil war where the fascists actually won and stayed in power for decades. Brits were not allowed to fight in that war, I guess as much because of appeasement of Herr Hitler. My mother had a cousin who went there as a medic.
I was helped by Alan Warren to track his journey in Spain. We know he was captured and then appeared back on his own side of the lines recuperating. We found the building he was based in during the Ebro assault. He was then wounded and ended up in a hospital in Tarragona just before the International Brigade left. He died there. Where his body ended up is something I have not found out. There are a number of unmarked mass graves in the area, although he could have been thrown in a rubbish tip.
There is no grave, and no memorial to him in the UK. If you know where to look in Spain there is a rough dirt track that you can just about drive up to the top of a remote hill where he gets a mention. There is something about not having a memorial that just doesn’t sit right with me.
There are a lot of people at the moment that have family that are ill, or family that have died, and they are unable to travel to visit them or their funeral. We are still allowing funerals because experts recognise the need for people to say goodbye. At times like this the family links become more important to us.
I do wonder about the effect of this. We have been a nation of people that for a long time have “got on their bike” (to quote Leon), but there does seem to have been migration as a family until recently – where we have been happy to live relatively long distances away from family because of the ease of travel.
Will we see a trend in families moving closer together after this?