A bush by the back west corner of the house has erupted into bloom for the first time since I've lived here. I had no idea that it would produce long trusses of pink and white flowers, so it was a candidate for extirpation. I think it's a cultivar of Weigela florida .

About two weeks ago, I spent a frantic half hour in that corner, right beside the air conditioner, slashing about with my trusty secateurs. A great mass of dormant or winter-killed English ivy was thoroughly tangled in the very dead-looking lower branches of this quite undistinguished bush, which I pruned ferociously in the hope of revealing the gas meter. If I had had a spade to hand at the time, or been less in need of a beer, I would probably have dug out the bush there and then. So, two cheers for procrastination.

Another piece of furniture is slated to leave the building and, with any luck, it will depart tomorrow. It's a tall chest of drawers, of the type known here as a "lingerie chest", that Edmund and I bought from a naval officer in Ottawa when Edmund's collection of fitness gear was overflowing into plastic bins. (Edmund had the largest chest of drawers in the family, but he always bought copiously and rarely parted with anything that wasn't actually reduced to a rag.) In style, this item is most things I dislike about modern furniture: a sterile, formal design executed in fake materials, mostly plywood from the weight. I'm glad it's going.

It's stinking hot today, so I plan to stay in the house, at the computer, and grind through the production and distribution of reference materials for the Annual General Meeting of the Stratford Concert Choir. The AGM will be my last task as President, an office I have no desire to hold one hour longer than necessary.

In future, I will be the choir's librarian, responsible for issuing sheet music to the choir members at the beginning of rehearsals for each concert, and recovering the music (and putting it away properly) after each concert. This is work I can do in my sleep, and it will put less strain on my limited diplomacy skills than the presidency does. I will also be Secretary of the Board of Directors, so I don't have to read inept minutes. To my credit, I have managed to wheedle a highly capable individual to accept the presidency, and I hope she reigns for years and years.