Tea & Topiary

Kim, mantra weaving, flabby armed recycled woman; Her husband had sex with the Aerobics Instructor on the table. Worse, it was the table she bought at John Lewis, even worse than that Kim walked in on them; she loved that table. Fearing she had become a cliché, she takes refuge in Browns Close with her two sons who are aged ten and six respectively. Here a different world awaits her, Mavis, old but not bowed brings broomsticks and a topiary competition, Natalya, Russian internet bride brings vodka and a steely spirit. Sylvia and Joyce the heavy eye browed women who run the corner shop bring lucidity and malice aforethought. Together they face warring ex-husbands, vindictive and wiry old neighbours, bullied sons, an obsessive aerobics instructor, amorous teacher and find out that they definitely aren’t in Kansas. They are in Peterborough and there is no sign of a rainbow. But there may be a crock of gold or if not that then there may be a rose tint to the future. With a little help from her friends Kim is about to find out what topiary is all about.