Losing an hour and a hat

After being blanketed for two days in the cold duvet that is the Edinburgh haar - while the rest of the country basks in sunshine - it's nice to see the sunshine today.

... So I got out the mountain bike, dusted it off, poured into the lycra, and set off on a 52 mile bike ride up the Pentlands, round by North Berwick and back through Queen's Park, taking amazing photos to rival earthdreamer, because you don't get them if your confines are a city.

... er, then I woke up.

Jammies, dressing gown, breakfast - watch AM at 9am. But what is this? The Big Question? At 9am? Then it dawned on me (excuse the pun) that the clocks had gone forward as I slept, blissfully unaware that I should be fretting that I was losing an hour.

Which begs the question: How can someone who reads papers, listens to the radio, and watches TV daily, be completely unaware of such a happening? I had thought it was to be April 1st, which seems a much more sensible date.

So, I set off in the sun, and even had to take off my ever-present bunnet. In the last year or so, I have found that my head gets very cold, due to my hair, while covering the whole thing, not affording any actual warmth. And so I have to wear headgear even in a blistering Edinburgh summer's day (er, 18 degrees, anyone?).

I have often mulled over the idea of getting a nice thick thatch to keep me warmer. I'd stick with the grey/white theme, of course - my nut brown locks disappeared in my early 30s. I know wigs can be problematic (read Albert Morris) but could prove to be more versatile than a hat. I could still have a warm head in places where the air conditioning inevitably blasts down on only MY head - cinemas, theatres, restaurants, aeroplanes.

Not having a garden for stand-by blips, I suddenly realised that yes, I do have a garden! But I do have lots of gardens, courtesy of my not insignificant contributions of Council Tax.

"Aha! BUT..." I hear all you Gardening Blippers say in unison...
"YOU can't go out in your dressing gown and slippers for a quick blip!" True.
"Nor can you get stuck on your knees in private!" True.

So I set off, fully clothed, to get a flower blip today from one of my gardens. The trouble with getting down to that level to take a photo, of course, is that it's almost impossible to get up again. The grass was still wet, so I didn't want to fall on hands and knees, my usual method of getting up. Fortunately, everybody was too busy to notice the old codger flopping about near the flower beds.

I like that bloke striding out purposefully. I don't think I could have attracted his attention - he's going somewhere in a hurry. Probably to get the baguettes!

And I have no idea what the flowers are! Some kind of flappy tulips?

PS I also took this photo, but went with the flowers as they'd been more effort. Much more...