Idea for June 2022: dietrologia

My idea of the month is dietrologia

An Italian word, discovered in the latest of Donna Leon’s brilliant detective stories about Venice, Give Unto Others. She defines it as ‘the study of what really lay behind any event’ : never mind the news report or the official explanation, what really happened, and what are they not telling us? We really need an equivalent word in English.

My image of the month is a May garden

Does anyone remember a fantastic radio drama by James Saunders called Random Moments in a May Garden? I can’t find a recording or even a script, so maybe it’s not as good as I remember. Anyway, we visited three Norfolk gardens in May, and had random moments in each: the beautifully austere rooms of Silverstone Farm (shown here), the rambling and numinous Elmham House with its deep ice house, and the wonderful blue palette and grass maze at Warborough House.