Worst Weed Wednesday

What a good idea to hold a Worst weed Wednesday. Thank-you' The Home Garden. 'Click on their name to see more about their bright idea.

Here it is then . At the moment in my garden this little weed is a nuisance. It is Euphorbia Peplus, the Petty Spurge H/A up to 20cm on a good day.

1. Firstly , it only has to look at the clouds and before the day is out it has grown 2 cm , flowered and set seed, or so it seems.
2. It hides amongst the lettuces and spinach. This would normally be ok, but I am a poor cook , unable to wash and sort through my greens. I can usually do soil to plate in 10mins . Because I do not pick out strangers in an efficient way it is not uncommon for me to cook this little spurge as well. In a dish of Spinach it is just a green mush so the dear little Euphorbia hides bitterly. It is poisonous, as are all spurges. Perhaps they should be called Purges.
3. It doesn't mind where it grows, when it grows and how tall it grows. I have seen a fresh green haze of them sprouting in February in the snow.
   
4. It exudes a milky sap which is a magnet for small children playing in the what one hoped was an exciting environment of a safe kind. Is there one?

On the positive side it is a most attractive little annual, as are all its cousin cultivars. Just not at the moment Thank-you.Bet you cant spot it -but its there!

Thanking you Headmaster cyberfashion

In a while I will be doing the drive again:

• past the Orchids
  
• Reighton Hill,
  
• the 2 trees
  
• the turning to Grindale,
• the hedge with a dead fox behind it
• Bridlington Hospital,
  
• the place where Hockney did his latest Magnum Opus oka Morrissons Car park
• the MMR award to Great Planting Roundabout
• B nd Q
• SCHOOL

I am going to join your colleagues past and present as we all say THANK -YOU and wish you well as you leave the school which has been overseen by you for 20 years.
You don't know how grateful I was in the Summer term of 1993 when you gave me Supply Work. I so needed to supplement our income that I was getting free carrots from the greengrocer ,for the rabbit we didn't have, and making soup .

For the next 13 years I came and went on the Staff Team, term here ,short contract there, full time here and part time there. I was not the easiest employee I know that. The 'bit of a gob on me' part disrupted a few Staff Meetings. You will remember that you had to ask the Maths Co-Ordinator to request that I stopped calling you 'Boss' and use the correct form of address. So here I am thanking you sincerely S.... for the ways you supported, encouraged ,informed and disciplined me for my own good.

1. I am retired now, and am grateful for all the advice and information you gave as you steered me through the last Official government paperwork I will ever have to do.
2. Thank you for all the enthusiasm with which you embraced the world of ICT ,the Cyberworld, and turned me into a Techie. My family have watched me grow in confidence as I now Blog and Twitter do Spread Sheets and Websites. I am never bored. I have even written more with a real pen now that I have rediscovered language. LOL. You were the first person to show me a new Search engine ,GOOGLE ,You made sure all your staff including me had a laptop for work at home. You were ahead of the game with the introduction of Electronic Whiteboards in School, and the Computer Suite was school heaven for this older person. Now the first thing my 2 yr old Grandson says when he arrives in my home is ' Puter Grandma' . I hold my head up high.
3. Your Monday morning Assemblies were a strength. Even before I had a vested interest in what you said I appreciated the many things you said about ordinary Family things .To hundreds of children many of whom lived in extra-ordinary if not strained Family situations you talked about your childhood in Leeds, your weekly chats with your old Father, the looking forward to Wedding assemblies . Who will ever forget your pictures of the Grand Canyon ? You gave children a rounded view of contentment.
   
4. I loved your Shirts. The duck egg blue one was my favourite. The Red one however was your statement shirt, and I watched you on Red Shirt days to see where the day would go.
5. I really appreciated working in a well ordered , clean and well decorated school. You see I had spent years in a school that was so dirty and untidy that I realised that surroundings do matter. Children do appreciate care ,and learn to be careful . The working enviroment was always under review, and I am sure that aspiring Heads trained for years with you learned much good Housekeeping Practice from you.
6. You always demanded much from your teachers. We had to know what we were doing, the planning had to be done, the children had to be secure and stimulated, happy and well disciplined in our care. Working walls come and go, targets change, Govermment directives blow with the wind, Teachers climb ladders knocking off others as they go. It means nothing when viewed after a few years. BUT Thank you for liking and encouraging and affirming children. My own children would have been content in a class of yours. This to me is the bottom line.
   

LATER I have put 29 photos on Facebook. You will have to become my friend now!
Well I am home now from your DO. It was such a happy time. People were so genuinely pleased to come and wish you well for the future. May you and Pam thrive in the climate of change. GOD BLESS YOU BOTH.

PS
The one and only time I did the minutes of the staff meeting I did a spoof copy of them for a select few . I think they could still be hidden in one of my files on the Server.

The train drew up there unwontedly.

Great Railway Journeys I have done (2)

I would have loved some unscheduled stops because of the heat but these days we have Air conditioned carriages even on the (now bankrupt )National Express trains.
I have done the journey from York to Kings Cross hundreds of times, and feel I know every copse and clump of buildings. I don't of course. In my mind I have an impression of the landmarks I have come to appreciate over forty years of frequent travel.
There are catagories in which to pigeon hole my rail rambles to London and all stops beyond.
Travelling For

• Funerals-expensive journeys, tickets bought on the day, usually a day when you cant afford a bus down the road.Have to set out before 9.30 so cheap day return null.
  
• Quick day trip to visit relation in hospital. Cheap ticket-bought just in advance.
• Quick day trip to visit London Gallery. Same tariff as above
• Well organized visit ,planned in advance for stay of few days with progeny(Sussex) , taking in Galleries and the Kings Road whilst crossing London with bus pass. Using Senior railcard online ,cheaper than a meal in the Saachi Mess.
• Very well organized Progress with spouse. Abroad via Eurostar, or to Heathrow, taking full advantage of days to visit progeny,Galleries, Brighton and Aged Relations. Senior RC online again, maybe night or 2 in YHA St Pauls .

For the Ist 25 yrs of my North /South and back travels they were in fact South/North and back. The journeys are the same however , as these days even very clever forward planning soes not guarantee the direction of your seat . This may be confusing , I might have travelled on the LHS facing Edinburgh more times when travelling South than I have travelled facing Edinburgh travelling North. This might have informed my acute observation of all the sandstone outcrops at Doncaster.
Many more details of my journey may be found in another blog where I am an occasional blogger. The post is called 'Down but not out'
This journey was on an Adlesdrop day. It was indeed late June. The sides of the tracks were never so covered with wild flowers. The fields from York to the Home Counties were at their most interesting for this errant botanist. The great sight of the three Power Stations after York, before Doncaster always amazes me .
This day the dash of red gave a surreal look to the fields.
And so to that threatened Pastime. I just cannot think why bureaucracy threatens that most innocent of anorak pastimes 'trainspotting'. I always like to spot trainspotters on my rail journeys, and Doncaster is one of the best places to spot these most solitary and educated of (mostly) men. A noble hobby, a chance for members of families to have breathing space as Son or Dad takes the 04.00 to Doncaster via Leeds, returning on the 23.41.
I tried to remember location of the grove of Silver Birches on the east side of the line and south of a city Doncaster or is it Peterborough , the former I'm sure. Picture next time. And then that church sitting all on its own , no village or houses to be seen. A remnant from a medieval deserted settlement possibly. This June the Barley is nearly ready and gold and ripe looking, my pictures do not show the shimmer and the promise of each field.
Serious plant hunters like myself spot the many delights from train windows by the track . This month is the turn of Dog Roses, Toadflax, Orchids, Oxe-eye daisies .Queen Annes Lace has given way to Hogweed, Red Campion nearly over has given way to Red Valerian clinging on in the embankment walls. Buddleias are beginning to identify themselves, deep purple or pale mauve what will they be? Horsetails annoy and then the Giant Mullein promises to grow 5 'high and astound the bees. I spotted your welcome whorls.
London does not disappoint. It is so hot the city gents are not discernable,in shorts and open neck shirts. City gentesses are still in their pin striped suits in case they are not taken seriously enough, and everyone is carrying bottles of Evian.
A cooling break on the Ist Capital Connect platform- Oh! the ease here, lifts and walkways and electronic displays-there'll be no getting lost here. The next part of the journey is like being in an episode of Psychoville. Weird Mobile phone conversations need a translator, women are applying nail varnish to their toes on a moving train, young men roam in search of a discarded newspaper they have not yet read and I try to take pictures from the window. They all stare (covertly) at me now. I have become the odd one. I am actually the only over 60 female without dyed hair in London too. London Bridge and the railsides are fascinating from here to East Croydon where they become mundane again and I have to rely on the flora until Worth Abbey and the railbridge near the Cowdray Arms.
Next time I am going to concentrate on the Supermarkets seen from the train between York and Sussex. Counting Waitroses makes me realise that there are more in the South. This is not fair. This is the North /South secret Divide.
If you are wondering about the Header picture , please send all guesses to the Kings Cross Travel Centre. I think it is a Tumble drier, but not absolutely sure.