I closed the gates for the last time in 2008 on Sunday night. The sun was warm, a light breeze cajoled the seedheads of the grasses into mingling with the Rudbeckias in the new borders and all looked wonderful. It seemed strange to be closing. But as if on cue, autumn arrived on Monday morning, heralded by cold, squally rain and a chill wind whipping the apples off the trees. And tonight I’m expecting a frost, or close to it – the temperature was 4C and dropping an hour ago. So, yes, it does feel as if my second season is very suddenly at an end.

But my seed order from Chilterns arrived this morning, right on cue. One season ends and another begins, seamlessly. I shall sow the sweet peas early next week, but the rest will wait till spring. The greenhouse is too leaky and costly to keep frost free and spring will do fine.

I rarely stray off topic on these blogs and I confess to know precious little about matters of international finance. Tonight the US Congress approved the use of $700bn of public money to rescue Wall Street from collapse, in the interests of the US and global economies. I’ve tried this week to read what I can and make some sense of it for myself. It has proved near impossible. The most helpful, though simplistic, summary was by a congressman who said that the package was a classic case of the American people being offered bread in exchange for freedom (from higher taxation in this case). The public overwhelmingly, probably naively, said they preferred freedom. Congress has voted for bread. The bailout surely tells Wall Street that whatever it does it cannot be allowed to fail. It must deduce from this that in future may do as it pleases, though doubtless new regulation will attempt restraint. But regulation will always follow behind ‘innovative’ investment behaviour, as criminal law always follows behind the invention of new crimes.

Out there, many very clever people will tonight be trying to work out how best to keep a slice of this astonishing sum of money for themselves, on the self-justificational grounds that it is right for the market to expose weaknesses and is thus for the best. Congress’s decision so sticks in the craw given all the jobs being lost, homes being reclaimed and pensions diminishing, while many of those whose falsely earned bonuses (falsely earned because the gains on which the bonuses were paid did not exist, in reality) lie in offshore accounts, or in the long term quiet security of land or bricks and mortar. It is either the stupidest, or the bravest economic decision any government has done for decades. We should find out in a few months.

October 3, 2008  
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