Alder catkins

I headed out from the flat before sunrise (still not very early around here!) to get the train down to Newcastle. It came in on time and large numbers of folk got aboard. I'd actually got my work out and had started to do some sums when there was an announcement apologising for a short delay to our departure, due to signalling problems further South. Five minutes later, and they announced that the train was cancelled. Noticing from the boards that a couple of subsequent trains had been cancelled too and all the EastCoast train personnel had vanished like snow off a dyke, I cut and ran home to the computer, sent off various apologies for my absence and worked from home for the day instead. Must have been big signalling problems - probably the cable thieves have been at it again.

If I hadn't popped out to go to the letter box you'd have been stuck with a fuzzy blip of the departure boards in Waverley saying "Cancelled", "Cancelled", "Delayed", etc - but as it turned out I spotted these encouraging spring-like fellers. The straggly little alders at the end of the street have put out a flush of male catkins and although they're quite small there was enough feeble sunlight to pick them out. I had a look at alders on t'internet and apparently their roots have nitrogen-fixing nodules, like legumes do. I never knew that.