Last night I was watching an old episode of Sherlock Holmes on the TV starring Jeremy Brett, who happens to do my absolute favourite portrayal of the great fictional detective; continually snarling and sniping whilst accentuating some of the less obvious traits in the personality of Holmes.

His vanity, mood swings, hypochondria, drug addiction, latent homosexuality, and mysogyny are exploited to the full by Brett. And the relationships with Doctor Watson and Mrs. Hudson, the housekeeper...Holmes' unrelenting sarcasm and bullying existing within these two close friendships.

And, of course, the subdued wry comedy in the series; expressed especially well in Holmes' being shown to be terrified of the female sex...overall, the show is great fun to watch and I could study every facial expression and vocal inflection several times over and still find something new to make me smile.

ORTHODOXY

Naked;
Only a penknife,
She cuts a slit
In the milk carton,
Holds it to her lips
And drinks...
Until sated.

Yesterday I spent an hour or so just sitting in the garden. Not doing anything; not reading, not listening to the radio - and certainly not weeding.

I was just sitting there in my deckchair admiring the sun streaming through the hollyhocks. Very spectacular specimens; ten foot tall with up to a dozen large rosette-like flowers simultaneously in bloom on each spike.

They are now probably a couple of weeks beyond their best display and look a bit untidy due to wind damage. However, my dahlias and fuchsias are putting on their best shows at the moment and might well both be in flower come the end of October.

FIXTURE

Game on;
Hard luck
Hard on
Cherry on
The top.

DEAL

Loose change
From a kiss:
Sometimes
Emotion
Negotiates
Its own price.