It felt like 2024 was the year the flowers bloomed. It was a wet year but the conditions must have been just right the year before, laying the foundations for a year of floral abundance.
There were cowslips, and deep fields of chamomile flowers.
Forests of Foxgloves. But the best of all were the Ox Eye daisies.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves - let's start at the beginning of 2024.
I started the year back in Zimbabwe for my Aunt's Memorial service. Fleeing the cold Northern hemisphere winter I returned to a Southern hemisphere summer for a family reunion.
Despite the sorrow of death, it was a celebration of all that led up to that point in this beautiful country.
It was a rekindling of my love of elephants. I went to Imire Nature Reserve and fell in love with Mak, a bull elephant with a placid nature. There are 3 elephants at Imire - Mak, Nzou and Madibo. Mak is a gentleman, the original gentle giant. Everyone loves him. We were able to walk with him and watch him removing and tasting many items of head gear, returning the cap or hat crumpled and covered in elephant saliva. The photo below is of me meeting Nzou - a matriach elephant leading a gang of buffalo. She is my age exactly. We were born on the same soil in the same year. She has never had a male elephant partner but has headed up her family of buffalo very capably. We are both spinsters thriving despite our unusual circumstances!
If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe & the African new moon lying on her back ... does Africa know a song of me ... ?
Feeding Imire's Black Rhino who is now a Grandma.
On returning to England we entered Spring, this was a chance to revisit Switzerland. This year I chose to skip the skiing and go right at the end of the Winter to hike in the fresh green alpine pastures. The cows were let out to graze and I hiked for a week in the warm Spring sunshine.
Naked Gardening Day fell on May the 4th this year, May the 4th be with you, echoed around the world. I decided to pose with huge clippers infront of a tree of wild blossom for my photo this year.
In May I contempleted my Mother's death 20 years ago. When I see bluebells I am reminded that she left us in early May.
This was the year of 2 viewings of the Aurora Borealis. One in June and one later in the summer.
June was also the month of my friends wedding.
England finally made it back into the finals of the World Cup football tournament but in the end we were beaten by the better Spanish team.
By the end of the summer we had a ragwort invasion in the cow pasture at Loseley. Not good news for the cows. But a bright yellow colour to brighten the hillside.
'Loseley Live' was launched in August.
At the end of the summer in the summer sales I bought a bright red dress which I planned to wear to Spain but in the end it was never worn (except in the photo below.)
In September I revisited Barcelona with my Romanian/American friend. We do this every 5 years, on the way home to visit her mother in Romania, we meet up somewhere in Europe.
In the Autumn I had my niece over for our first girls sleep over. She is only 2! Can't wait to see how the next 16 years unfold with these times of adventure together. We visited horses and donkeys. We fed all her soft toys cubes of cheese and watched bonfire night from my bedroom with the window flung wide open. Standing on the table we both sang out into the sparkles that punctuated the dark night.
In December the stables were full for the first time in over 15 years.
Christmas came and went. It was wet and grey and full of all that makes for a cheerful festive season.
I entered the New Year hiking in Wales in the Brecon Beacons.
So in the natural 2024 was a year of floral abundance. But in the world of humanity it was a turning point.
We booted out the Conservative government and America re-elected Donald Trump.
Tensions rose over the huge numbers of legal and illegal immigrants that have entered Great Britain and rioting broke out after 4 young girls were killed at a dance party. Our Prime Minsiter - Sir Keir Starmer held the reigns of control super tight, allowing emergency courts to be run day & night to put rioters and foolish commentators into prison over anything deemed offensive.
Labour gave us their best effort to manage our economy. The farmers protested.
If I was to give 2024 a colour it would be a lime green. The year that made me feel sick. The year that was suffocating and beyond belief.
If I could describe the year in one emotion it would be 'shocking.' A year to remember and mark down in our history books as a shocker. The Paris Olympic games opened with images of revolution on the streets, blood dripping down ancient walls and a decadent feast that left me feeling violated.
If I could give the year a fragrance it would be tainted with the wiff of dirty stale dish water. The hint of decay and the exposure of governmental and institutional decadence that has cost us our courage and moral backbone.
The dignified face of the BBC turned out to be not so respectable. Huw Edwards was exposed for his inaappropriate & bullying relationship with underage boys. The Archbishop of Canterbury stepped down over an issue of child abuse in the Anglican church. The past came back to haunt us.
Decades of gang rape by grooming gangs of mainly Pakistani men, which led to court cases many years ago and a handful of people arrested. There were a couple of leaders of the institutions involved who said sorry but the whole thing that had basically been brushed aside was pulled back out into the limelight.
A Hollywood actress can demand respect over the 'ME TOO' campaign but a whole swathe of vulnerable working class girls who were violated and ignored now needed real justice.
A few men died unexpectedly and we were never really told why - Steve Wright, Dave Myers - a hairy biker & Michael Molesley got lost and fell off a cliff ? Just like Matthew Perry in 2023 - could this wave of men dying of sudden heart incidents be linked?
For me the year was summed up in this final act of British justice - 'Tommy Robinson' went to prison for contempt of court and now sits in solitary confinement.
What a crazy place Britain has become.
2025 - lets start again at the beginning. I don't think we can wipe the slate clean and we can't handle a revolution, but maybe we can reform this flagging flabby spineless nation and Britain can regain her moral integrity and courage.
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