Oil Seed Rape.

Being Wednesday, I started on the weekly cycle run full of the best intentions but, however strong the spirit, the body was a little reluctant. Various portions of it seem to be a bit weak and wobbly, a state brought on by lack of exercise and the fairly recently acquired inability to consume and digest food in the quantities required by a cyclist. So, after an hour of cycling with the group, I bailed out and found my way to the nearest cafe which was in the Climbing Centre. While I was savouring my coffee and scone, I watched a young lady at the top of the wall; I couldn’t see what she was doing but it required a great degree of concentration and time. I started to worry that she was in some sort of difficulty and wondered whether I ought to alert the authorities but then I realised that she was wielding an engineering tool to replace some of the foot and hand holds. It must be an interesting way to make a living.
 
At long last, spring seems to be on its way; on the way home I noticed that the rape is coming into blossom, as is the sycamore (see extra). Although most sources claim that oil seed rape wasn’t grown in the U.K. before 1987 when it became popular because of E.U. subsidies, more enlightened sources claim that it was first grown here in the fourteenth century; however, I have a bee keeping book which reports that the Romans brought it over for us along with the sycamore and rabbits. Why it should have been grown at all before the industrial revolution created the need for cheap lubricants escapes me since it wasn’t until 1973 that anyone managed to breed a variety with a low enough toxicity to be acceptable as either human food or animal fodder.