Gorse

...across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.
— H. G. Wells (1898), The War of the Worlds


I had a voucher for Hobbycraft about to expire, so headed to the store at Woking to buy some bits and pieces. On the way back I stopped at Horsell Common for a walk.  There is a small "crater" in the centre of the common near where Wells moved with his second wife, spending his mornings walking or cycling in the surrounding countryside, and his afternoons writing. The original idea for The War of the Worlds came from his brother during one of these walks, pondering on what it might be like if alien beings were suddenly to descend on the scene and start attacking its inhabitants.

Fortunately there were no signs of aliens today, but coming across a normally spring-flowering gorse bush in flower in the UK winter  does make one think!  Still, it gave me some blooms for BikerBear's Flower Friday challenge.