Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Monday

On Monday, I left Cassie Cat busy in the garden

and ignored that tempting chair in the sunshine

and the lilac, filling the air with the sweetest perfume in the world


and the clematis scrambling over the sitooterie



and the dicentra, nodding in the shade




and got on a train to Glasgow for a markers' meeting.


It was a pleasant journey.


The meeting was in a hotel beside the River Clyde, with its rather futuristic buildings.

BBC Scotland - how exciting to work there. (Or so one fancies.)


But then I had to go in. Crowne Plaza - why CrownE, I wonder? Is it a Ye Olde Shoppe sort of spoof archaism? And why Plaza? Not exactly a British word.


Some hours later, back on the train.

Cows grazed bucolically near fields of startlingly bright yellow rape.


A rural nook near a little town.

And home. A vase of lilac; and another of lily-of-the-valley, the most fragrant thug in our garden.

200 scripts, two and a half weeks to do them. And now it's raining and I have a cold.















20 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures, as always - I adore your garden! Hope you will feel better very soon.

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  2. Anonymous9:18 am

    I was on a train last week and wondered what all these fields of yellow flowers were - are they really called rape? OK -just checked on Wikipedia!

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  3. Good luck with the marking, at least with a cold you'll feel like sitting quietly indoors!

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  4. My poor sister has to stay home in Glasgow for another week after the end of term and the BEGINNING OF HER RETIREMENT! to do the same sort of stuff (SQA?) for you poor markers. She does that in Edinburgh. Meantime, her husband has gone ahead to Greece.

    That heap of envelopes looks serious.....

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  5. Well, better to be raining when you have to be marking. Sorry about the cold though.

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  6. Bad luck about the cold. I hope it goes quickly.
    Loved your journey and the garden. You may keep the marking.

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  7. Oh my goodness, what a gorgeous garden, and so cared for. Mine is a neglected mess, but at least the wildlife likes it.
    200 scripts in, say, 17 days at around 8 hours of work a day.That's a bit less than 41 minutes per script. Is that possible?
    I think you're in for some 12 hour days. Good luck with that.

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  8. I am so jealous of you I love the Lilac and the lilly of the valley their smell is lovely we cant grow them here it is too hot.little things like that make me miss Scotland.Have A good week Hope your cold gets better soon.
    Hugs Mary.

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  9. Anonymous11:45 am

    I hope that beautiful sunshine warms you up!

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  10. I wish I had that particular thug in the garden. I don't envy you the scripts though. We have someone here about to produce some...one hardly gives a thought to the poor souls that have to read and mark them. And with a cold. The weather has gone off a bit down here which makes the garden less tempting.

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  11. Such a lovely garden you have. The dicentra is do delicate and lovely, as is the lily of the valley. Have fun with all the marking.

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  12. sorry for the cold, and the pile of marking and the Crowne Plaza - otherwise all looks rather wonderful...

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  13. The photos were beautiful! I hope your cold is gone soon, and you sail the through the marking!

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  14. You should come over to my house to do your marking. My garden is distinctly un-tempting at present! (And we all have the cold too, so you'd fit right in)

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  15. Oh my! Cats and lilacs and bucolic scenes--I'm beside myself with joy. Sorry about the cold and the papers to mark. Get well!

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  16. Anonymous12:20 am

    Good luck with the marking. I enjoyed the photographic journey into Glasgow and back with you. It's a city I've never been to, choosing instead years ago, to hit the trail into those big Highlands of yours. You have a wonderful country.Hope you are over your cold soon.

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  17. Lovely scenery. A train trip would be nice.

    Ugh... marking. Mine is piling up too. Essays, assignments, tests. It's almost the end of the school year and we're getting into what we like to call the June Rush. Roll on June 30!

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  18. What wonderful photos of your travels, and your garden which makes me so green.
    I wonder at the thugs, Lily of the Valley. My Grandmother had to struggle to keep hers alive in New Zealand. Cassie looks lovely in the garden. I am too afraid to let our Morty venture out.

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  19. I like this, I do, all except for the part where you have to do marking. The train and all are so different from the routine I have here, rarely going more than five miles from the house.

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  20. I love the look of your garden, beautiful.

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