Tulipmania

The seemingly constant upward trajectory of the cost of living seems to be moving in tandem with the amount of home repairs we're having to do to at the moment. Just when we think we've got one bit sorted, something else crops up, and in an attempt to feel some kind of control I've started making a plan to be more proactive about how I save, and in particular invest, which I've not really done before in a strategic way. So far my plan has involved a lot of reading, and then a lot of time spamming people on WhatsApp about my reading.

When some beautiful flowers arrived in the post, I decided to step away from the screen and pick up my copy of 'Garden Flowers of the Year' - a book that belonged to my grandmother's mother, from the 1850s. I just love the way they describe the arrival of the different flowers each month, stuff like:

"The magnificent tribe of tulips, so often the pride of the cottage garden, will now be coming forth, one after another, as the spring advances, but not until May can the florist exhibit them in all their varieties, and congratulate himself on their perfect forms and clear colours."

Reading on, it expanded upon the history of the flower as a prized commodity, and the impact it had on the markets:

"Growers of tulips, during the Tulipomania, purchased the bulbs at enormous prices, and most remarkable speculations were carried on by merchants with the tulip-roots". Which taught me that sometimes, even if you think you're done with a subject, it's not quite done with you - and I was right back where I started, reading about crypto, this time engrossing myself in arguments debating whether or not this is just a case of history repeating itself. A subject on which I don't have a strong opinion either way, but it just reminded me of how the creative process works - finding part of a thread, or hearing a familiar note, deciding whether or not you want to tune into that frequency or let it just float on by.