The day after my appraisal was never going to be a good day. I actually felt okay yesterday, probably because I still had the adrenaline and was elated to have survived the ordeal relatively unscathed. But today I woke up feeling miserable and proceeded to feel increasingly miserable as the hours ticked by. I thought anti-depressants were supposed to stop me feeling like this. Perhaps I absentmindedly took two hayfever tablets this morning instead (more…)

This afternoon I had the pleasure of seeing what is one of my favourite sights in the whole world after… well, the obvious… that is to say, a Handkerchief Tree in full bloom I am not terribly knowledgeable with respect to horticultural matters and I don’t, as a rule, get excited about trees, but this is one for which I can make an exception. The Handkerchief tree, more scientifically known as Davidia something or other, is native to China and was brought to Europe at the turn of the twentieth century by a botanist surprisingly enough called David. They are notoriously hard to grow, and so they are rather few and far between in the UK; the chances are you will only find them in the odd botanic garden or arboretum. If you can track one down, however, they are well worth a visit in late May and early June to get a glimpse of the spectacular foilage which earns them their name. It’s difficult to describe, and I didn’t have the presence of mind to take a photo earlier, but in the early summer the trees break out with the flowers that earned them their name; enormous pure white petals which flutter along the branches in orderly rows (more…)