Water Hawthorn

I did a day's supply teaching today. It was good to be working with childen again and by lunchtime, I was thinking that I missed being able to develop children - to give them the work they needed to understand ideas and concepts and to help them develop as people.

Then reality set in and I remembered that I wouldn't be able to teach them what I felt they needed to bring them along, as I would have the pressure of pushing them through two 'sub-levels' whether they were capable of it or not; that I would have the further problem of having to 'deliver' Michael Gove's new curriculum rather than teach children. Not to mention the spectre of OFSTED. These thoughts reminded me of why I retired in the first place and I shall happily sink back into retirement until I'm needed again.

Of course, teaching meant I didn't get out to take pictures, so my shot for today is of the first water hawthorn flower of the year. These flowers are really beautiful when looked at closely - the petals have a soft, luminous look, especially if the light is behind them, and the reflections can be as beautiful as the flower.