Macabeanum

Today I played golf in the morning with Patricia then visited lovely Mount Stewart in the afternoon. The McCabe rhododendron (Rhododendron macabeanum) is my favourite and it is in full flower.

Each truss of flowers looks like a wedding bouquet to me. This variety is native to northeastern India and was discovered and brought to Mount Stewart by Lady Londonderry's plant collector, a hardy Scot named McCabe.

I walked around the lake, letting Paddy off only when no one was about. You can barely see a pagoda in the distance.

Since Lola's visit, I've played a fair amount of golf – the course has been open more often but only nine holes playable. I've started work in my garden – and I bought plants at Mount Stewart to inspire me. I've been out for coffees with Ann and Eddis. Life pootling along.

I attempted to do my US taxes, however I have to have a US phone number for account verification. Sigh. Luckily you get a two-month extension from the 15 April deadline if you live abroad.

This evening I attended two documentaries at Queen's Film Theatre with Patricia's grandson. They were about the threat rising sea levels pose to two communities. One on an island off the coast of England, the other an African American community in Miami. When all the high rises were built on Miami's coast, segregated public housing was built further inland. That land happens to be higher than the coast – the highest in Miami – so generations of families that have lived there are being pushed out by developers.

At the event I spoke to a Queen's professor who is the senior advisor on a PhD I've been thinking about applying for. The PhD is to examine the failures in Northern Ireland's planning system and how that has enabled a mounting list of environmental catastrophes. I'm struggling with this decision. Nearing retirement, do I really want to spend three years becoming intimately involved with planning regulation (or lack thereof) in NI and how that compares to other jurisdictions? Would my 300-page thesis make any difference in the governance of our once-fair land?

Answers on a postcard please.

19 April