Over the years, I have heard that lilies are funereal, that when people see lilies, they assume there’s been a tragedy, that they are the go-to flowers for the appalling.

I’ve never thought of them that way. Frankly, I find that they call to mind a Georgia O’Keeffe painting.

Anyway, I love them and it’s why Fiona uses lilies for the centrepiece of her dining table in Sex, Death & Canapés. They’re very pretty, they smell divine and they’re rather happy flowers. I have two of them tattooed on my arm, just peeking through between the tail feathers of the phoenix.

lilies

And today, I have been to – what is probably – the largest library in the county. To collect my post.

fanmail1

As you do…