CHANGING WEATHER

I think the heatwave is over. Last evening, a sea mist rolled in, a fog of fine rain that blustered and swept across the hills.

It's just as well - it's been ever so hot. Yesterday, in an attempt to do something a bit different, the Intrepids and I went to some lovely gardens. It's funny how we change with time isn't it? Years ago, this would have been the last thing I'd have wanted to do on holiday. Flowers? Plants? Gardens? I would have been struck by instant boredom.

As it was, I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would, and I think far more than the Intrepids expected I would. In fact, the difference between how much they thought I would enjoy it and how much I actually did, was far more than the difference between how much I thought I would, and how much I did.

"So you enjoyed it then?" asked my Mum, sitting on a quiet bench in the courtyard.

"Yes I think so," I replied.

They had these great big plants with massive leaves - I mean you could shelter underneath them, they were at least three-feet wide! There were flowers of so many vibrant colours, arranged in neat borders, and rows of elegant trees gently wobbling in the wind. It was remarkably peaceful.

"Look at this grass, Dad," I said. "What type is it that it grows so neatly?"

He laughed and then told me that that's just how it's cut. I could have the same thing in my garden if I cut back the jungle, apparently. Then we talked about ride-on mowers.

There was a pond with water lilies, gently floating like flat green plates and bright white sailors. An ornamental fish guzzled water and the reeds swayed at the bank.

They had a biodome too. Well, they called it a solar dome, but it's the same thing - a gigantic greenhouse packed with tall palms and tropical plants. I found a bunch of tiny bananas, as well as some of those bird-of-paradise plants that glow orange. I don't think I could ever grow those in my garden.

So what is it that's changed? Have I just grown to appreciate this kind of thing? Or have I completely grown out of all the things I thought were cooler? Perhaps it's a combination - suddenly realising the beauty of slowing down for long enough to see the colours, perhaps treasuring the days more as you realise that they're not as infinite as once you thought.

I thought about this later, standing and watching the sea mist. Time is to be appreciated - and the more you cherish the days, I think the more you start to see beauty in the incredible pace of life. Flowers encapsulate this, almost perfectly. They just gently grow in their own time, full of life, full of joy and colour and full of innocent hope. And that's their message.

Teenage Me would have looked at me curiously as I said all that. Perhaps even Twenties Me would have raised an eyebrow and changed the subject.

I breathed in the spray and watched the white bank of fog hide the sea. Tiny droplets of rain dampened my face.

"Yep, the weather's definitely changed," I said as I headed indoors.