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…)

I was horribly depressed all today, and for reasons outside my control ended up being subjected to the vast majority of the Sound of Music. This was a film which I hadn’t seen since I was about nine, at which point it reduced me to floods of tears. It reduced me to tears today also, although I would like to point out that I don’t normally cry in films and it was my personal situation which caused me to feel somewhat weepy. That said, despite all the cheesey singing and dancing it *is* a rather depressing story. I feel especially sorry for the oldest girl, whose boyfriend turns out to be a Nazi and stops speaking to her I enjoyed seeing the footage of Salzburg actually, which I think is the most beautiful city I have ever seen, although I am a little confused as to how one can climb a mountain from there and end up in Switzerland. (more…)