I have noticed in the last few years a proliferation of wooden louvre shutters in Fulham, replacing the good-old net curtain.
They are popular because they stop passers-by seeing in, make a house more difficult to burgle and protect furniture and pictures from sunlight. They look hideous – a forbidding barrier more suited to a holiday villa in Spain expecting to be raided by Interpol than a 19th century terraced house in London. The Dutch do not draw their curtains, even after dark, so that their neighbours can see if they are at home if a dyke bursts and they need to be warned – so the story goes. That is a little extreme but a hedge or even window boxes make an adequate daytime screen and curtains after dark. I have also installed some roller blinds to provide shade from the sunlight in some south-facing rooms.
I have noticed recently that when the National Anthem is sung it is not just the first verse but also the third verse. (The second verse is deemed not to be P.C.) This is tricky as I like to stand to attention and don’t want to be seen looking at the words so I have to mouth them. The first two lines of verse three are pretty cryptic:
“Thy choicest gifts in store On her be pleased to pour …”
It sounds as if Her Majesty will receive the same treatment as Joan Collins in the Cinzano ads with Leonard Rossiter – I was reminded of them by a reader in Beverly Hills; thank you GC.
We sang, or mumbled in my case, Psalm 84 on Sunday (Quam dilecta!) “Oh how amiable are thy dwellings … Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young”. Bodes well for my nesting boxes I hope. Meanwhile over at the feeders the mixed seeds are being enjoyed by a pair of tits and a robin. The Buggy Nibbles were being ignored until this enterprising mouse climbed up the honeysuckle and, after falling off a few times, got his teeth in.
