IT AIN'T ME, BABE!

A long-tailed macaque, Penang Malaysia. (Not the Garden Monkey!)

I'd like to make an official denial:

An hour or so ago, I received this rather startling email from my good friend Chris Young:

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Caught?! Can this be true?!
http://www.limelightmanagement.com/homes_and_gardens/nigel_colborn/index.htm

“When not busy with all of the above, Nigel spends his time contributing to his hugely popular blog, The Garden Monkey.”

Thinking about it, I think it makes sense as Silver Tree Daze started up when Garden Monkey was slowing down.....

Best wishes
Chris

A vervet monkey in the Transvaal - close to some flowers but not the Garden Monkey.

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My instant reply went thus:

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My God, I don't believe it!

First they spell my name wrong, and then they accuse me of being the Garden Monkey! I fervently deny being the GM. It absolutely is not me, I promise! I wish I was that clever!

Plus, the Limelight picture was shot by Tim Sandall decades ago. Even so, that's a really, really bad jersey.

I really should pay more attention to what my agent's are doing, shouldn't I?

Thanks for the tip [off]. I'll have to do a special blog post!
All best
Nigel
NOT, repeat, NOT the Garden Monkey.

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And then my other good friend at the RHS Garden, Phil Clayton chimed in with:

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Maybe. But that’s what you would say....!

Philip Clayton

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To which Chris added. . .

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Well, I wouldn’t be so rude to comment on the jersey (but yes, it was pretty bad!)....but I’m still not 100 percent convinced Mr Monkey. You, out of all the people, have the wit, charm and eloquence that could make you the Monkey.

Maybe, to help you support your notion that you are not he/she, your blog should out the real GM.....in an effort to convince your dear, dear, sincere friends at the Royal Horticultural Society’s esteemed journal office!!!----------------------------

And finally, the latest, from Phil:

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It was a bit unfair, I’ll grant you, but you are not entirely in the clear yet.

Perhaps you hide a split-personality, the mild, placid half of the Nigel we know and love working on Silver Tree Days, and the other half tearing hapless people to shreds on Garden Monkey... I’m nervous just thinking about it....!
Px

Just in case you didn't get the message, let me reiterate: I AM NOT THE GARDEN MONKEY. OK?

I'm in a bit of a predicament, here, because I can deny this until I'm blue in the face, but I don't know how I can prove it.

What would be lovely would be for the real Garden Monkey to post a comment, here, confirming that, as this post's title states, It Ain't me, Babe!

And while we're on the topic of primates, can I just say that I find it perplexing - and sometimes annoying - that people call apes monkeys.

A male orang utan, just coming into puberty, photographed in Borneo (Sabah.)

Not the Garden Monkey - indeed, not even a monkey at all, but an ape.

That's it. Back to the usual insanity next week.

Bye bye and thanks for your kind attention!