Coats

It just just dawned on me that the Russian indeclinable (and hence of foreign origin) noun пальто is of course the French paletot, taken straight out of the nineteenth century -- just as the French redingote is, reputedly, the English 'riding-coat'...!

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Another of my tomato plants -- from the first batch this time -- has damped off while actually flowering; they are supposed to be way beyond it at this stage of maturity :-(( Read more... )

The first flower opened on the sweetbriar this morning, and there was a bumble-bee on it. (Sadly these wild roses aren't scented -- it's the leaves that carry the scent, but only when they are fresh and moist, and the leaves on mine are usually pretty leathery.)

At least one of the seedlings potted up as Gypsophila elegans has come into flower and turned out to be alyssum :-p

Local elections

Election results from the local paper: leader of the Conservative group loses his seat, Reform get no councillors at all, Labour have a slightly increased overall majority. Pre-election leafletting from the Liberal Democrats with the usual faked/misleading graphs: "A Labour vote is a wasted vote! Don't let the right wing in! Only the Liberal Democrats can win here!" This is why I don't vote Liberal Democrat... if I still had a vote, which thanks to the Conservatives I don't.

The two Independent councillors were returned with a sizeable majority (60% of all votes), as was the single Independent member of the neighbouring council, who received the highest number of votes of any candidate. In my view, *all* councillors should be independent councillors representing their own local wards, and not the victims/beneficiaries of whatever national politics happens to be going on.