Roots

Of all our roses, this is my favourite and today it's at its best. I'd meant to take one of them for my buttonhole at Saturday's wedding and then forgot. I didn't take any pictures at the ceremony but I think the image of the proud father walking his daughter up the aisle will stay with me for a long time. It's a walk that doesn't take very long but it's one of those few occasions in life when all the important things come together. It's a passing and, unlike the passing of birth and death, it's a public intimacy that, in the sharing, is all the more powerful. The words of the ceremony are equally powerful and we feel them echoing over the the years. Marriage appears to be under more pressure now than it has ever been, but I, for one, have no regrets.

Why roots? Well I'm a Yorkshireman and this, like those vows, is just a little reminder.