Rain, Rain and More Rain and Posh Boys

It continues to rain which in some ways is annoying and in others is very good.. Annoying in as much as it prevented us doing a coastal walk but good in as much as we desperately need the water. We know that because we have been told so and in Norfolk we have a hosepipe ban which is rather ironic because now there is no need to use hosepipes anyway as gardens are saturated.

There is horrible irony as well in the tragic death of a 30 year old runner in the London Marathon. Running 26 miles is a considerable strain but I don’t think there’s any more danger in doing that than in playing any sport. There is a camp of thought that says too much exercise isn’t good for you but then not enough certainly does you no good at all.

The irony in the tragedy comes in the massive amount of money that has been raised in donations for Claire Squires’ chosen charity The Samaritans. I have spoken before about my support of this charity and it is wonderful to see it benefiting with public donations but so sad that it had to happen this way. One tragedy achieves more than all the publicity and marketing in the world – although of course there’s an irony here as well, as publicity around the death has greatly helped swell this amount. My thoughts are certainly with Claire’s family. Not only have they lost Claire but she was running in memory of her brother who died in 2001 of an overdose. At the time of writing this there had been 23,704 donations in Claire’s name raising an amazing £262,524 and I should imagine plenty more to come. I know the Samaritans will use the money wisely.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne were yesterday described as two arrogant posh boys totally out of touch with reality. This came from one of the Conservatives own MPs Nadine Dorries just showing that all is not good in Toryland (or should that be Toyland?). Dorries was only saying what most of us have thought for a long time. Now of course the PM is having another think and in his words “upping his game.” Funny how these comments are always made when there has been justified criticism and not out of a genuine feeling that things aren’t going quite as right as they should be. It’s always a knee jerk reaction rather than a genuine change for good.

As I keep saying there seems to be little alternative. Let’s not kid ourselves that things would be any different or any better under Labour. Our politics are in a parlous state but when was the last time that comments were made about how well a Government was doing?

So where do weeds come from and why do they grow so much faster than plants? Today I read a definition that weeds are just unwanted plants that grow aggressively. Of course one man’s weed is another man’s flower! Weed seed can blow in, be brought in by feet, dropped by birds or be spread by rakes and garden tools which in no way explains how there are so many of the little perishers. It’s a bit like dust – we know that comes from skin cells etc but why is there always so much of it – can we really lose that much skin etc? Answers on a postcard please.