Bugs and roses

I'd intended to go for an outdoor swim today. But there was a chill wind, and even the prospect of the heated outdoor pool at Hathersage didn't appeal in the end.
Instead, I spent a contented hour or so up at Loxley Cemetery, taking some summery photos for the Friends' group. Bugs and roses :-) 
See the extras...
Eben's school has been closed today, for the teachers' strike. Ruth had fixed up a joint outing with another family for the morning, and then I picked him up as usual, for his Wednesday afternoon swimming lesson.
It was unusually hot and steamy in the Baths, all the watching parents and grandparents were fanning themselves and getting gradually more sleepy...
Our much-loved and much-battered National Health Service has its 75th anniversary today. For me, it is the embodiment of democracy: when you wait in a GP's waiting-room or in Accident and Emergency, you share that space and that care with anyone else in need, whatever their status.   In the Labour years between 1997 and 2010, it got substantial investment and all the indicators were good: waiting-times down, life expectancy up, etc etc. And now? It's all gone back the other way.  The service is more or less on life support, until the next election brings us a moment of choice.