Yesterday I went out onto Blackstock Road with the specific task of buying a replacement blade for my hacksaw. A nice, simple, job - there are three hardware shops within half a mile or so so it shouldn't have been too difficult. Yet when I returned to the house all I had managed to buy were some really pretty little plants with delicate purple flowers. Somehow I got waylaid. Somewhere along the way my face - set in a hard frown that said "hacksaw blades" - changed to a smile of wonderment at the pretty flowers I saw and I forgot all about my important DIY task.

I need to cut a metal curtain rail. But the flowers really are very lovely.