Balsam Beck

I slept badly last night and, although it was my turn to do breakfast, I switched off the alarm and promptly went back to sleep, not waking till I heard Tony in the kitchen.  So the day got off to a slow start with the usual jobs and a bit of recorder practice of the new piece, another dance this time the Volta.  Apparently, it was one of Elizabeth 1's favourite as it was naughty for its time, with the gentleman lifting the lady upwards by her corset and by putting a foot beneath her bottom to lift and turn her!  

I just had to get out for some exercise mid afternoon.  I've been watching an Australian soap drama over lunchtime, 'The Heights' and it is really quite good with this week's issue being particularly well acted.  They don't shy away from tough subjects and there is an injection of Aussie humour too.  It was overcast for much of the day but I needed some air so decided on a circuit of the moor.  You can't really see it very well on my blip, but the Himalayan Balsam now follows the line of the beck all the way down through the valley and woodland.  A woman walked by as I was taking this and commented on how beautiful it looked.  She wasn't impressed when I said it needed to come out.  It's an introduction by those pesky Victorian gardeners and one plant can throw out 800 seeds.  It likes waterways and shade so it shades out other native species and it spreads like wildfire.  This one will shed its seeds in to the beck and be carried downstream to populate elsewhere.