Dear Diary...

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Do you know that funny feeling you get?  It's the one that comes out of the blue for no reason that you can put your finger on and it settles in the centre of your chest and feels quite warm and full as it spreads up to your throat and forehead - that one.  If I had to give it a name I'd call it 'contentment' or 'love' and if I were a cat I'd be purring blissfully.

P added a terrific 'P Special' trellis today and planting is almost up-to-date so I now have six hanging baskets and eight troughs hanging off the stone walls and fencing.  Due to it being so late in the season I bought last-minute plugs or grafted plants but next year I'll be growing from seed and cuttings as usual - I'm looking forward to January 2014 when my kitchen and dining room will be filled to overflowing with seed trays and compost.

The baskets and troughs contain a mix of veg, fruit and flowers but at the moment it's mainly flowers: cascading geraniums, trailing fuchsias, tumbling tomatoes and English strawberries.  I've also planted a couple of large pots with a fig tree - donated by P - and a small bay tree.  The lilac tree has been staked to support it against the wind and it looks as though it will survive after the ivy and fungus attack.  For all that the plants aren't yet grown or in bloom the garden still looks more alive and welcoming and the birds are beginning to visit.

The Star Jasmine and the Clematis Elizabeth are doing very well in their new home, despite the fact that Suki has been caught, on numerous occasions, peeing in the Clematis - maybe it's a plant that appreciates nitrogen! Wild lilacs also grow everywhere here and they smell wonderful in the warm air. I can hardly wait for my corner of Scented Heaven Central to come into full bloom :)

I've been trying to lay out part of the raised beds but it's tricky because of the 'debris' - there won't be enough room until I've cleared it all away.  I've solved the problem of the Giulietta tomato by planting it in a large wicker hamper that once contained Christmas goodies (I knew it would come in useful one day and I've only had to hang on to it for twelve years).  I lined the hamper with weed-suppressing membrane and coco fibre before filling it with an Irish peat/organic compost/vermiculite mix.  Giulietta is a grafted Italian plum tomato so I'll stake it and love it and, once the sun begins to shine, it will repay me with a bounty of delicious tomatoes for salads and sauces.

I went to NatWest in St Marychurch today and it was what I've become accustomed to of late: 'fraud', 'fraudulent'; 'dna'; 'blood test'; 'family antecedents'...  One question I particularly liked: 'When did you first open your bank account?'  When I gave them the year, give or take a couple, I was told, 'No, what date?'  Well, I laughed my socks off and the staff - it took three of them to sort it out, including the Manager - were what I've experienced of people down here: lovely.  I just hope they recognise me next time!

The drive back was interesting - I think it was the scenic route.  Flags - Union and St George - adorned almost every building and Babbacombe Beach was very inviting. I had two useful recommendations: one for a seafront pub/restaurant called 'Angels', which I'm told does terrific food, and another for a fishmonger who gets his daily catch from the local fleets at Brixham Harbour.

It's strange here. I get the impression that, for example, our national flags would have caused more of an uproar had they been taken down for 'causing offence' rather than for having been erected in the first place.  I know I keep banging on about the difference between London and Torquay/Devon but the disconnect really is quite striking.  London is a city under siege and the fallout has yet to reach the Shires but come it will: