Face to Face

My first in person lecture date for two years.   It hardly seems possible that  it's been so long.   I've done a few Zoom talks over the last year but it's much more fun this way.   The move to the West opens up new opportunities among AGS groups, where travel costs from Norfolk were too high.  So tonight, Wilmslow, the East Cheshire group, forty or so very friendly folk.   Among the audience an old friend, a fellow crocus enthusiast, who I haven't seen for many years.   A truly impressively sprightly 95 years old, he gave up travelling to see the plants in the wild just five years ago but retains his enthusiasm and knowledge.   An inspiration in more ways than one.   

The talk was well received but I almost didn't make it.  An accident on the motorway caused a massive tailback of stationary traffic but pre-warned of an hours delay by the overhead gantries, I left the M56 one junction early, passing the fast growing tail of the queue as I did so.   A seat-of-the-pants detour through Altrincham along with a lot of other traffic used up all the time I had allowed for delays and when I did arrive it was to discover that I'd left my sandwich tea at home ..... but it was a lucky escape, I'd have been hopelessly late if I'd stayed on the motorway.

Nerine filifolia, a grassy leaved, dwarf relative of the big, garden nerines, was an eyecatcher among the plants on show, the group chairman in the background, about to introduce me.   A good night out :-)