Spring has its own unique smell doesn't it? Particularly now with the blossom flowering across the countryside, new leaves, freshly mown grass and pollen in the air. The dampness and cold mornings just adds to that sense of freshness and renewal.
We trimmed our cherry tree last year and raised its crown to give us some more light and its absolutely full of blossom - more than I've seen for years. The only thing is most of it falls into the small pond, but it's easily fished out (excuse the pun) with a small net. I have noticed that the magnolia trees everywhere this spring are magnificent.
Its a shame that the air freshener companies can't bottle 'spring.' Sure they can do fresh; they can do fragranced fresh, but they can't replicate 'spring'.
I was minding my own business at work today having a pleasant conversation with a young woman. I happened to be noshing on a banana between sentences and the banana became unexpectedly crunchy.
My crown had fallen off. Fortunately, I managed to rescue it and apart from a gap in my teeth, all is well. My dentist will try to re-cement it next Tuesday. The moral of this story is don't trust bananas despite the fact that look and behave all innocent and coy!
I'm going to a wedding tomorrow afternoon in Beverley in East Yorkshire. The groom is Barry and the bride is Shirley Ann and I wish them well and I am looking forward to the wedding and the reception. They fly to Vietnam for a trekking holiday on Monday - lucky them. It's the second time Shirley has been after going there to find her son after the terrible tsunami a few years ago (successfully thank goodness) and I'm sure they will both love it.
My other half had visitors tonight so I disappeared to the supermarket to get a couple of cards and went and sat at the Humber Bridge viewing site for half an hour writing the cards and listening to the excellent 'Friday Night is Music Night' on BBC Radio 2. The poorish picture at the top was taken with my little Lumix resting on my rear view door mirror.
I haven't heard any good jokes lately, so I'll pinch one from the comedian Jimmy Car. "The makers of Persil, have been fined £93 million, for price fixing. Price fixing? Surely that's money laundering."
Chat soon
Ta-ra.
You may remember in my blog earlier in the week, I told you I had to do an end of course presentation? Well that happened first thing this morning.
Four groups of five or six people had to present a high level strategic plan of an imaginary major change within a community. This used all the learning from the course and the previous weeks course earlier in the year and it took us all week to prepare it in our own time. It taught me a lot about teamwork, research, creating presentations, presenting, with a tight time scale to a high powered individual who asked some very pertinent questions, and us responding without using bullshit.I have to say, the feedback was sensational for all the groups who presented. There was no prizes - that wasn't the point, but all the presentations were different, exciting, imaginative and hit the button. What a great end to the week. I have a lot of people to thank for cajoling me and encouraging me, including some fellow bloggers.
The third and final week of this course will be next year in late winter when all the elements of what we've learned so far will come together in what they call a 'Hydra' style scenario. This appears to be a real time playing of an exercise over a few days where we will have to be part of a management team using leadership skills to manage a difficult and challenging developing situation. Excited and terrified are the two words that come to mind.
The journey home was mainly at 50 or 60 miles per hour on the motorways due to the patchy and often thick fog. Boy am I glad to be home. Unpacked, had tea and watched a film with the family (Dead Poet's Society with Robin Williams - never seen it before) and just getting paperwork up to date so I can enjoy my weekend off.
I'm still waiting for the EuroMillions ticket to come my way! I haven't seen anything of Children in Need this year on the TV, I'm trying not to watch too much TV, but the radio in the car on the way home today was brilliantly entertaining. Rolf Harris was a guest on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2 and he was superb followed by the smooth and funny Richard Allinson supported by Amanda Holden They raised a huge amount - well done you as well as Radio 2.
The picture above is the last of the flowers, a rudbeckia amongst a sedum, fairly well protected from the frost by the pergola.Have a GREAT weekend
Ta-ra.
