Okay, now that I am on this ‘descriptive writing about Monty Don’ trip, I am finding all sorts of waxing lyricals about him. He really captures the imagination, doesn’t he – that’s because there is something of the Earth about him. After I posted last night’s whimsy, Carol announced that Monty is having a break – hope he is okay, bless him. I will look forward to seeing him back on our screens soon!
Here’s an extract from an interview he did with Jane Wheatley in the Times, who has also cottoned on to that Hardy connection – we English love our Wessexness:
The tall, burly man kneeling in a potato patch rubbing friable soil through his fingers as if he were making pastry is terribly good-looking in a Lawrentian sort of way — or Thomas Hardyish, possibly; anyway you wouldn’t shoo him out of your kitchen garden if you came across him there. “You want to earth up your spuds,” he says to the camera hovering over his head on the end of a long jib. “Keep them protected till frosts are over.” He has curly hair, sleepy eyes and dirt under his fingernails; his dandyish costume corduroy trousers, button braces, leather jerkin — has just a sufficient patina of use about it to escape parody. This, we think, is evolved nurturing man, anchored to the land, taking the long view while the rest of us are tossed around like jetsam.
I love the bit about being anchored in the land – that is such a good, good thought, and reminds me how important groundedness is – we need groundedness when we all at sea with the world. Thank goodness for Monty…
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