Friday, April 04, 2008

kindness, drifts, mezzes

The kindness of people in buses who, in the absence of bus conductors, help one another identify the stop at which they want to get off.

At Groombridge Place, the daffodils, which we had come to see are almost finished, But on the bank of a stream there are drifts of wood anemone, like white shadows on the grass. And not yet in flower, ramsons or wild garlic, with their broad tulip like leaves. You find little bundles of these leaves for sale nowadays in smart food shops in towns.

"Two messes," calls the cook bringing two plates of mezze to customers outside the pub.

2 comments:

Lucy said...

'Of herbs and other savoury messes,
Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses'

I love the word and all the diverse paths it has taken...

Unknown said...

Milton used it well here. Thanks. I don't think it came to mean untidiness until the 19th century.