More paths

Back to more traditional subjects today - the plethora of wild flowers on the Water of Leith paths. There really is an amazing variety. Here are some pink bluebells which seem to the more traditional sort, rather than the Spanish ones which I apparently blipped the other day (or so said Munroist). I know they aren't amazingly in focus, but it was quite dark so it was a very short exposure, and what really attracted my attention when I looked at the photographs on my computer was that little seed head that's caught amongst the flowers.

Today got off to a very bad start. The fire alarm went off in our development at about 4.50am, so we all trooped out in our dressing gowns. In our case, only as far as the balcony, to check there was nothing untoward. It took the fire brigade about 10 minutes to get here and switch off the alarm, by which time Mr A felt like eating his breakfast rather than going back to bed. I suspect a lot of people did go back to bed, because it went off again at about 9.30am, and a lot of people were *still* in their dressing gowns. In fairness, quite a few people are probably furloughed plus it was a bank holiday today.

By the time the second alarm went off, we'd breakfasted, showered, dressed and walked up to the weir and back, allowing me to take a few photographs of the huge variety of wild flowers you see along the paths. Back here, I sogged in my chair for a bit, before trying to get down to some work. That meant encountering today's second difficulty, which was lack of broadband. We had zero or close to zero connectivity at least until lunchtime, by which time I had more or less given up on the idea of sitting at my desk listening to a conference whilst I got on with some other bits and pieces (although in fairness I managed reasonable well with my devices tethered to my phone, as I also have a superfluity of data on my phone contract that I might as well use). Instead, I decided that the better option today was to get on with some much needed reading in a more comfortable place, either in my chair or out on the balcony. Both positions were tried out today and found to be just what the doctor ordered, and - bonus - I got to hear the boats in Leith Docks sounding their fog horns at 3pm for VE Day. Plus, after lunch I headed up to Real Foods on the bike to purchase some spelt flour, porridge oats and oatmeal for Mr A (hazelh asked me to check for yeast, but they have no supplies) and then down to East Coast Cured, who were out of nduja, but had other nice things, including some Hebridean Blue.

That Hebridean Blue, or part of it at least, made its way into our dinner, which was a cauliflower cheese (made partly to try and persuade Mr A of the desirability of this dish) plus some chicken and leek pies that came in one of our deliveries. Delicious comfort dinner, and by that time I was feeling much much more human, plus the sun had come out.

So now it's the weekend, which is distinguishable from the week by virtue of the fact that we have some social zooming arranged.

I'll be having an early night though, in preparation for all that excitement.