The weather today is cloudy, but it is still warm. Summer has not left us.

Yesterday was a perfect day. A blue sky with white, fluffy, lamb clouds. I played tennis with some pheasants at Hurlingham in the morning and then took Domino for a long walk.

At this time of year the daffodils and blue bells have perished, giving way to summer blooms. The gardens at the Hurlingham Club look glorious. The lilac is out – full throttle. The cherry blossom, with its pink candyfloss flowers, is starting to shed like confetti.

In the afternoon I had to go and collect a blind from Battersea and deliver it to a friend in Chelsea; I did a small interior design job for her 10 years ago. The quickest way was over Chelsea Bridge and past the Royal Hospital. Because this is the week of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Flower Show at the Royal Hospital, there was heavy traffic. I didn’t mind. It was lovely to see all the punters leaving the grounds after a day filled with gardens and blooms, dressed in linen suits and summer dresses.

The Royal Hospital is a 66-acre retirement and nursing home for approximately 300 retired British soldiers, non-officer class, who are without spouses or family. It is nestled between the Thames and the Royal Hospital Road. It is no ordinary nursing home; it is architecturally stunning. Sir Christopher Wren designed the Chapel and Great Hall, where the pensioners eat. When they wander around Chelsea, they are decked out in splendid scarlet coats. The Royal Hospital is to Chelsea what the Sydney Opera House is to Sydney. A great landmark. When I finally hit the shops at Sloane Square, many of them had spectacular floral window displays – showing off the British spirit.

Geoff and I were regularly asked to the first night of the show when he was CEO of Centaur Media. The ‘great and the good’ rubbed shoulders at this event – drinking champagne and nibbling canapés – but mainly networking. On one occasion we walked past Margaret Thatcher, long after she had resigned as Prime Minister in November 1990. It was well known that she was suffering from dementia by this stage. Nevertheless, the crowds stopped in their tracks to watch her pass. She was regal and dignified, and commanded the same sort of respect as the Queen.

RHS Chelsea Flower Show is considered to be part of The Season. Historically the Season, from the 17^th to 19^th century, was several months of the year (around when parliament was sitting) when landowning aristocrats came to London to socialise and engage in politics. Young women, debutantes, were presented to the Queen at Court and ‘came out’. Until then, they could not formally attend adult events! The Queen abolished the practice in 1958.  Now the Season is summer festivities dominated by Sloanes, but not exclusively. Off the top of my head, the Season includes: the Oxford/Cambridge Boat race; the Chelsea Flower Show; Polo in the Park (which is in the park of our London house); Royal Ascot; the Tennis Classic at the Hurlingham Club, Cartier polo at Windsor; Wimbledon; Henley Royal Regatta and the Goodwood Festival.

Today I am taking Domino on a new walk on Putney Heath with Mrs Wonderful.