AN EXPERIMENT

I am not, as many of you know, a nature-lover: I'm scared of insects, am underwhelmed by the countryside and plants give up and keel over when they see me coming. Whilst I sometimes envy my Sicilian friends who have second homes in the country, especially in summer when a change of air must be pleasant, I could not, as they do, abandon the town for three to five months. I can admire the beauty of their rural surroundings for a few hours but then withdrawal symptoms set in and I yearn for the comforting sound of traffic, the illusory world of a perfumery and an internet connection. Like that heroine of mine, Germaine de Staël, I am "totally urban".

Be that as it may, I could not resist, on Friday, this pretty bougainvillea. So now it is on my bedroom balcony and I rather think it needs a little help. Please wish it good luck!