Hello Goodbye

...said the Beatles. I have lots to share here, but no time as I'm off to see the Manics play their best album in Cardiff and to the Thomas Hardy 175th anniversary celebrations.

In the meantime, here's a couple of photos from Sissinghurst, which I finally visited a few weeks ago.

Enjoy the sunshine!

Roses and strawberries in her basket to the brim

In one of my favourite Thomas Hardy novels, the heroine Tess of the d’Urbervilles wears ‘roses at her breast, roses in her hat; roses and strawberries in her basket to the brim.’ Given the chance, I would adorn myself with roses as Tess does.

Failing that, working at David Austin Roses was a joyful way to surround myself with the most beautiful and heavenly scented roses. I worked the five days leading up to Valentine’s Day. The first two days were mostly spent doing preparatory work, such as cutting cellophane squares and pieces of ribbon, stripping and conditioning foliage (I think we needed about twenty buckets of ruscus), and doing the odd non-Valentine bouquet. The last three days were spent making bouquets – there were hundreds of Valentine’s orders.

I have to say, this was probably the best job I’ve ever had. The people were lovely and the work was fantastic – the day after I’d finished working there, I woke up longing to dethorn some Miranda roses! I got to make many different bouquets, and I learnt a lot from the other florists. It may have been freezing outside, and not much warmer in the room where we worked (garden roses are especially delicate and need to be kept in the cold), but I was enjoying the work too much to care.

Here are some ‘Purely Roses’ bouquets – Miranda (the first bouquet I made there), Emily, Emily once it was in the box ready for delivery, Juliet, Patience, two Darcey (each using different foliage), and Miranda and Rosalind.

These are a couple of ‘Cottage Garden’ bouquets – Juliet and Patience, and Darcey and Keira.

These are some of the newer bouquets: a ‘Portabello’ bouquet, a 20-stem ‘Vintage’ bouquet and a 25-stem ‘Vintage’ bouquet, an ‘Enigma’ bouquet, and a ‘Floral Tapestry’ bouquet.

And just so you can see how much dethorning was involved, here are the thorniest of the cut roses, the beautiful Miranda.

In the language of flowers, specifically roses, a deeper colour reflects a stronger affection. So white roses are a sign of new and pure love (hence their popularity as wedding flowers) but deep red roses are a sign of passionate love. Unsurprisingly, given the tradition of red roses for Valentine’s Day, there were many orders for bouquets with Darcey roses, which are a deep berry-red. But there were also orders for pale peachy-pink Keira, deep pink Emily and Kate, rose pink Miranda with streaked green outer petals, blush pink Rosalind with a lovely fruity scent, as well as pale creamy-yellow Patience roses. I was given some Patience roses to take back to London with me. They looked gorgeous and filled the room with their incredible scent. The roses in the photos above are all quite closed, but will open once the receiver has put them into fresh water. Here are my Patience roses – and patience is certainly rewarded when this rose starts to open.

My first train on my journey up to Albrighton was called ‘A Shropshire Lad’. As well as the name of one of my favourite collections of poems (by A. E. Housman), it is also the name of a David Austin garden rose. I hoped it was a sign that my work experience would be positive. I guess it was just coincidence, but it certainly turned out to be a wonderful experience, and well worth the journey.

My final photo is of the view of the nearby field while I was waiting for my lift early one morning. What a lovely start to the day.

The London Film Festival and the India-set Thomas Hardy

I tend to go a bit crazy at this time of year. Work and the outside world get put on hold, while I spend two weeks and far too much money on the London Film Festival. Now that I’m a student again, I’ve tried to be a bit more sensible and I’ve just allowed myself one week of LFF films, instead of the usual two.  I love to see big films that I’ve been waiting ages for, small films by actors and directors I’ve never heard of, world cinema that I probably wouldn’t choose to watch normally, and new British films. I’ve been moved and delighted as Colin Firth finally won me over with his incredible performance in A Single Man and Tom Ford didn’t fail to disappoint with his first feature, I’ve cheered as (spoiler alert) James Franco was eventually free of his arm in 127 Hours, I managed to hold back tears as I watched Brilliante Mendoza’s Foster Child, and failed to hold them back as Abbie Cornish shook my core in Bright Star. LFF 2007 was also the first time I cried at the cinema, at the beautiful film Grace is Gone, which I believe sadly never got a UK distributor. And now LFF 2011 is the first time that I’ve left a film dry-eyed, but wept when I got home.

I’ve talked about Jude the Obscure before – it’s a beautiful David Austin rose, and a depressing Thomas Hardy novel. Tess of the D’Urbervilles is also both of these – it’s a dark red rose, a little bit like William Shakespeare 2000. The book was adapted by Roman Polanski in 1979 and the BBC in 2008, and now Michael Winterbottom has used the story as inspiration for a story set in modern day India. The film screened on Saturday at the festival to two packed audiences.

I absolutely loved Gemma Arterton’s Tess in the BBC series. She was strong, feisty and outspoken (and on a superficial note, she was the reason – along with Karen Carpenter – that I took the plunge and decided to get a fringe). Freido Pinto’s Trishna is quieter, more passive, but also a little more difficult to read, which is not a bad thing. As there are some significant changes from the book, and some clever updating, I don’t want to spoil the film by talking about the plot. However, I will say that there was a point when I thought, ‘For goodness’ sake, Michael Winterbottom, don’t you know when to stop? This is why you get accused of misogyny!’ But then something happened, and I wasn’t thinking that for much longer.

If you’ve not read Tess of the D’Urbervilles or seen any filmed versions, but you were one of millions who were moved by Little Mo’s plight in EastEnders or Jackie McQueen’s in Hollyoaks, then you may enjoy Trishna. Although ‘enjoy’ isn’t really the right word.

I saw my last film of the festival today – Richard Linklater’s wonderful black comedy, Bernie, in which Jack Black plays an assistant funeral director who the whole town loves. I’m pleased to report that there were no tears today!

Jude the Obscure roses

I was so excited when I discovered Jude the Obscure roses. I bought a rose bush, developed by David Austin Roses, earlier this summer, and some new buds have developed in the last week. The roses are a delicate apricot yellow colour, neatly formed, and they have a gorgeous, heady scent. I'm hoping more will open up in the next few days and I'll be able to use some in small posies at the Chinbrook Meadow art and craft fair this weekend.

We read Tess of the D'Urbervilles at school and the Mayor of Casterbridge at college, but even those tales of woe didn't prepare me for Jude the Obscure. Thomas Hardy writes such evocative, epic tales, but man, does he like his mis-lit! Jude himself has a pretty unfortunate life, suffering from heartbreak and social discrimination. But the scene where Jude's son takes his destiny into his own hands, with devastating consequences, will haunt me forever. It’s my favourite Hardy book, but not one to read if you’re already feeling blue.

I almost wish that garden roses flowered in February so that I could do an Unrequited Love arrangement for Valentine's Day, with Jude the Obscure, Lady of Shalott and Ophelia roses!