Stonecrop

The NHS is much in my mind. It's providing a lot to people I care about at the moment. I, myself, take life-enhancing and life-extending drugs every day, with no charge. Two of our close family work for it. I feel gut-churning anger about the way it has been starved of money and led by politicians who have no empathy with its ethos over the past 14 years. I believe it is a deliberate attempt to reduce its role in our society, and replace its function by commercial, profit-driven services. I don't think that is due to unavoidable economic factors; I believe it is deliberate social engineering, driven by a political ideology that is now thoroughly discredited. I'm not writing this to convince anyone or invite you to agree with me, I just feel better for writing it down

We did not plant these Sedums; I assume our predecessor did. Most of the time we barely notice them, but every so often they have these moments where colour or complex structures appear and make them look remarkable. Today was an eye-catching moment for just those reasons, and also because the two different species doing their thing together, along with the mossy stones create an intricately-textured and warmly-coloured little tableau. Good for my mental-health, I think