Firstly a big thank you to everyone who has offered me gardening advice. Most people seem to think that it is likely that my honeysuckle is being eaten by slugs or snails or caterpillars. I have looked all over it again today and can't find anything.
I am going to spray it with a home made spray, made up of soda, cola and water. I was a bit concerned when Connie first told me this, fearing that I was going to have to find myself a dodgy geezer, peddling illegal drugs. Turns out she meant Pepsi!! Anyway, that is the plan to give it a good soak and see if it helps.
The best advice I have had on the dying Clematis comes from Larry (Dutch) who advises that I put mulch on the pots as the roots don't like the sun. Also another friend said he though that they looked quite wet and that I might be over watering them. He is quite possibly right as I have been giving them a thorough watering every single day! Thanks everyone.
My evening yesterday all got altered as I had forgotten that Saskia had asked me to go and watch a dance performance at school. So I didn't get time to do the Picture Perfect and I also missed Eastenders!! The performance was a show case of the childrens work. It was quite enjoyable. Both Simon and I went. Some of the students were very good and some were excruciatingly bad! Saskia herself performed at the end which was nice as I didn't know she was going to and she was very good.
Some of you may think I am a bit mean saying that some children were not good, but having had 4 of my children heavily involved in the performing arts for years, I have sat through many, many terrible performances!!
You know how it is.... the ballet school have their end of term watching day or their annual show. Your little darlings are "performing" along with everyone elses. You can't just watch your own kids and then leave, that would be very rude, so instead you sit through several hours of really bad stuff!
The strange thing is we pretend that it is fantastic. Obviously you are going to tell your little ones that they were brilliant but why do we feel the need to keep up the pretence amongst our adult selves? As most of you know, my youngest daughter Saskia is a professional dancer and has danced in all the big London theatres as well as for Disney and abroad. To this day I still tell her when I think something is not good.
She went to a hard school where the dance principal would really shout at them and work them really hard. She didn't believe in giving them false hope. After all what is the point in telling them they are great if they aren't. As soon as they get out there and begin the audition process, they will realise they are not as good as they think.
Over the years I have seen very pushy Mums and very spoilt little "darlings" who have been led to believe they have something. They are hit very hard when they face the constant rejection of not being chosen. I even once saw a Mum trying to bribe a role for her child in the local pantomime by offering to pay them!!
Is it really fair to build our children up in this way? The world of performing is very hard and you need to have a very tough skin. Rejection comes as often as success and you have to be able to deal with it. You also have to be able to deal with the pressure. I'm not saying that we tell little children that they are rubbish, that would be terrible and really wrong. I just wonder if it is right to keep encouraging (pushing) a child who clearly hasn't got much talent and is never going to make it however much they try?
I have watched a few episodes of that X Factor programme, you know the one? The early audition stages are painful to watch. Some of the people on there are just terrible and yet presumably someone has been telling them they are good. I recall seeing one teenage girl who was just awful, she could not sing. It was embarrassing to watch. She was inevitably rejected with some harsh, but honest words from Simon Cowell.
The girls parents and sister were there and they pushed their way into to see the panel. It was just awful and I just felt so very sorry for the girl in particular but actually for the whole family. They begged and begged. The really sad thing was that for some reason they thought she had talent. That poor girl had been pushed for years and was still being led to believe by her parents that she had a future as a singer. It just seemed cruel.
Take a look at these videos. Listen to what the judges say.
Well, what happened there? I didn't mean todays blog to turn into a rant! I do believe that we should all give our children every encouragement and positive feed back, BUT, there comes a point when continuing to tell someone they are great is just cruel.
Right, this has taken forever and I still have a few jobs to get done. Simon has already thrown me by arriving home from work early! I need to go and finish my ironing and get some vegetables peeled for my casserole. Simon is out tonight so I may be back later.
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