Apple blossom...

I've just tweeted this picture, along with some others, to my favourite watering hole in Chorlton, ODDEST, on Wilbraham Road. Last summer I was lost for about ten days when it had a makeover. When it reopened it I was pleased to find that it had been refreshed rather than going for the complete refurb. Lots of the things I liked about it before had been retained. I must be getting old. I'm not keen on change in places I like to go anymore.

A big new feature was the new terrace outside which works well and is a popular venue for the cool hipsters that like to live here. BTW, I don't consider myself as one of the cool hipsters. A little apple tree was built into the seating. The idea was the apples would be used in cooking in the kitchens. It was in a pot inside the seating and, unless I'm wrong, it has no access to the soil beneath. Apples can be grown in pots but they need a lot of attention. Sitting on the terrace of a busy bar wouldn't help. The leaves started to go yellow far too early last summer for an apple. I got one of the barmen to water it through the tiny hole in the seating. It seemed to recover and then, as autumn progressed, it lost the rest of its leaves as is normal.

The picture above is of an apple in our garden, covered with delicate pink blossom with the leaves just coming out in their fresh spring green. The one at ODDEST is just bare twigs. They were very hopeful for the tree in ODDEST when I spoke to them on Friday. But I think they have a late tree on their hands.