We need one of these on every beach.
The bird feeder has been busy. Look carefully at the second photo to see the departing Goldfinch.
The following poem, “I am very bothered” by Simon Armitage was one much enjoyed by the teenagers I used to teach. It touched something in them. I was pleased to hear that he is our new Poet Laureate.
I am very bothered when I think
of the bad things I have done in my life.
Not least that time in the chemistry lab
when I held a pair of scissors by the blades
and played the handles
in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner;
then called your name, and handed them over.O the unrivalled stench of branded skin
as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in,
then couldn’t shake off the two burning rings. Marked,
the doctor said, for eternity.Don’t believe me, please, if I say
that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen,
of asking you if you would marry me.