Me and the Romper Room Dooby are 'like that' now.

'You take the high road and I'll take the low road', was our agreement this morning.

I have a massive lavender bush out front of my unit. Every now and then my neighbours start waving their arms about and making loud noises until observant me looks outside and says, 'oh yeah, I suppose it IS blocking the driveway!'

So this morning at dawn, before coffee (this is true sacrifice) and armed with hedge clippers I found that three billion bees had beaten me out of bed.

Then, as always happens when I start gardening, my brain starts wanting to write. Fantastic, maybe it's the pungent aroma of lavender - or maybe it's all just a ploy by my brain to get me back in the kitchen near the coffee.

I summoned Mip to grab me some paper and a pen. I'd get my tape recorder but the fact is by this time my neighbours are starting to leave for work and have already been looking at me sideways over the bee whisperer thing.

I used to watch Romper Room with my sister when I was little. Yeah, that's right:

"I always do everything right.
I never do anything wrong.
I'm a Romper Room Do Bee;
A Do Bee all day long!"

I'd be so cross at the end because my name is so non vanilla that Miss Whoever She Was (well, all right, so I can't remember hers either) would look through her magic mirror and see Sally and Judy and Mary. She'd finish with "... and I can see you!' My mother would say, 'See, she did see you.'

Shrinkful Folk might pinpoint the seeds of an identity crisis right there. I see it as good grounding for future discussions with these early rising bees over Lavender Real Estate.