Looking for Dunsinane

We bought this Xmas tree in 2019, decorated it in the hall and put presents around it. I noticed from the various labels on it that it has been imported from France (things were different then, children). When the presents were distributed, we discovered them coated with clear, viscous fluid that was one of the stickiest substances I have ever encountered, surpassing even propolis.

Consternation followed by revelation, I got down on hands and knees and discovered some of the biggest aphids I have ever encountered - house-fly sized and larger. I suppose they took our winter heating as the sign of a French spring, and were pumping out absinthe-grade honeydew with Gallic abandon. We protected the floor with discarded wrapping paper and let them have their season of misrule until twelfth night. They did not survive an Oxfordshire winter, of course, so we have never seen them again

The tree has never come inside again either - but don't blame the aphids. We put it outside the French windows for Xmas, with coloured lights, but it stays there until about now to get some sunlight, because the rest of the year it is in this dark, north-facing corner, with very little direct sun which, for some reason, it absolutely loves. We have never kept a Xmas tree this long and it still seems to be thriving

By chance, this picture also shows the three ages of our house in the same shot. The 19th century stone "rubble" wall on the left, the rendered concrete blocks of a 1960s renovation in the centre and our lime rendered straw walls on the extreme right

The plastic tower is a water butt we installed last year - soft water for the garden in our increasingly common summer droughts

The extra was under the tree when I moved it - maybe it was a decoration, I can't remember. Now it is a reminder of summer warmth to come