Tiger Lily

And not the one from Peter Pan or Bob Geldof's step daughter...but the beautiful one from nature. I spent ages taking photos of conkers on the tree but came to the conclusion that they are actually such ugly things it was not worth the effort! They are dropping at a rapid rate and we have four - actually one died three huge horse chestnut trees in our garden so it is a really messy time of the year. Instead we have these pollen packed anthers from a tiger lily. They do make a horrible mess if they come into contact with your clothing, but they are very pretty.

I am looking forward to watching the TV show Cilla (which I have recorded). I was going to watch it last night but then Luke phoned from Strasbourg to discuss which universities to put on his UCAS form which has to be in pretty soon (as one of the options (not really an option, more a fervent wish) is Oxford and that has a much earlier deadline). Sadly for me most of his choices are very far away - like St Andrews in Scotland, which currently ranks 4th (or 3rd, depending on which table you are looking at) in the UK. I guess I could be visiting Scotland more frequently in the future - and I wonder if the fees will go up if Scotland gets it's independence?