Contrast, two sides to every story

20 to 23 May 2015

After such a busy weekend it was almost a relief to go to work for a bit of a rest. Almost… Let’s face it I’d have rather spent a little more time getting acquainted with my new mattress maybe followed up by a gentle stroll somewhere interesting. In the end I had to content myself with a rather less leisurely walk to work on Wednesday morning. At least it wasn’t raining. In fact the sun was out although it still felt as if frost was just around the corner and I hurried along to keep warm.

A man was down in the mud digging bait on the river as I passed. The swans kept their distance but seemed to be watching with interest. I didn’t fancy the poor man’s chances if they decided they wanted to snack on his hard earned worms. The boardwalk was striped by the shadow of the railings. It looked so peaceful but a passing passing train soon shattered the illusion. The buds on the Queen Anne’s lace looked like beautiful geometric sculptures, perfect in their symmetry. At least I think they were Queen Anne’s lace, there are so many tall plants with heads of tiny white flowers it’s hard to tell. Further on the ring of petals on the guelder rose have whitened, now they look as if they’re punched out of thick paper.

Any vestige of serenity I might have picked up on the walk was soon banished when I got to work. Yet again I had system issues. When I tried to get into my emails I was told someone was already in them and I couldn’t get access. An hour or so later and several calls to IT and the problem was eventually fixed. In the process I lost all my shortcuts and bookmarks. It was a frustrating morning to say the least.

As we are so up to date on the email hillock, I spent my day working on some of the outstanding issues for various depots, tying to help them get their own email mountains under control. I was so involved in my work and helping Terri track buses I ended up working well past my finishing time.
“You must be the only person I know who works accidental overtime,” Lewis said.
“Never mind, I’ll make up for it later in the week if I remember,” I laughed. What am I like?

The blue sky had disappeared by Thursday morning and it was chilly enough for me to find a hat and scarf before I left the house. Even so my first clump of clover of the year had me stooping to take pictures as I crossed the desolate park. These pretty little pink flowers may be a pain when they pop up all over my lawn and are easy to overlook but close up they’re like a ball of tiny orchids.

The pyracantha that cheered me through the winter with its bright orange berries was putting on a different kind of show. A mass of buds on the arched branches reminded me of seed pearls in a bridal bouquet. You’d never think such tiny buds could produce such large, vibrant berries. On the river the swans were gathered, last year’s cygnets by the flashes of greyish brown amongst the white feathers. There will be new cygnets soon, all fluffy and cute, not at all ugly ducklings in my eyes and I won’t be able to tell these adolescents from the adults.

When I knelt to take a photo they took it as a signal that I was there to feed them and they waddled across the pebbles towards me. It never ceases to amaze me how these graceful creatures transform into dumpy, ungainly things staggering and stumbling on the land, like elderly people in desperate need of hip replacement surgery. Much as I’d like to have stayed and watched them I had work to get to so, reluctantly, I left.

Again, I spent most of my day following up on old cases and chasing up the results of investigations. Sometimes the results are not quite as you would expect. A complaint I took last week seemed a fairly cut and dried affair. A woman wanted to report a bus driver for going through a red light, almost hitting her car and then shouting obscenities at her. Despite being very upset and shaken by the ordeal, especially as she was heavily pregnant and had a car full of small children, she had a great description of the driver and the fleet number so I sent it off to the depot and requested CCTV footage from the bus.

This morning the CCTV officer came into the office with his report. It left me with a very difficult letter to write. The CCTV footage clearly showed the car driver speeding through a red light, narrowly missing the bus and then leaning out of her window screaming at the driver while he sat looking rather bemused. All this in front of her children. Just like the swans, there are two sides to every story.

More by luck than judgement, I did remember to leave early at the end of the day. This was mostly because Mia kindly reminded me. The clouds had gone and the sun was shining, it hardly seemed like the same day. There were ribwort plantain all along the path as I headed for the bridge. This is another of those weeds that insist on appearing in my lawn despite all my efforts to stop it.

On the face of it, it’s a menace but the halo of tiny cream flowers have a subtle beauty and it hides a secret. The leaves are edible, containing high levels of calcium and vitamins A, C and K. It can also be used to heal cuts, burns, eczema, hemorroids, skin inflamations and insect bites or draw out splinters. Not only that but a tea made from the leaves relieves sore throats, mouth ulcers and gastric inflamations while a syrup reduces phlem and relieves coughs. Humble it may look but it is a prince amongst herbs.

The weatherman promised sun but it was drizzly on Friday morning. I’m beginning to suspect the weatherman just makes it up to try to keep everyone happy. Personally I’d be happier if he predicted rain and we got sun. Walking past the rubble strewn wasteland of the demolished TV studio I kept my head down in a vain attempt to keep said drizzle off my glasses. This turned out to be a good thing because I spotted a lovely pink snapdragon hidden at the bottom of the rather grim wire fence. The two made odd bedfellows and I wondered where the snapdragon had wandered from. It isn’t a wildflower after all.

The swans were all hiding somewhere to keep out of the rain, where is anyone’s guess. Beside the railway line the fuzzy blackberry buds I’ve been watching for days finally look like they’re beginning to burst. There are no flowers yet but the unmistakable sight of furled, silky pink petals against the furry sepals made me smile. There will be blackberries again this year, weather and bees willing.

Being the Bank Holiday weekend we were  busy fielding calls about Bank Holiday services all morning. By the afternoon it was late buses. The world and his wife were trying to get somewhere or other in their cars, either home from work early or off for a long weekend break. This meant traffic jams which, in turn, meant late buses. We didn’t get much else done.

When it came to the walk home it was a walk of contrasts. Half of the river was under dark cloud with spits and spots of rain, the other half under blue sky and sunshine. The swans were all making their way to the sunny half, which also happened to be the direction I was walking. It felt as if they were following me.

As I climbed the steps onto the Big Bridge a mass of vetch flowers caught my eye. The vibrant pink petals are just beginning to open and two Daliesque ants were having a wander when I took a photo. On the embankment the first hawkweed of the season stood out bright against the rough old brick of the wall. Yet another contrast to add to the list.

The Saturday walk to work took me past the fragrant wisteria. It’s a scent and sight I will never tire of and I’m making the most of it while I can. It will be over soon enough. Then it was onwards, across Cobden Bridge with grey clouds to one side and a fan of altocumulus like a ruffled voile curtain over the blue sky on the other. Which would win the day was anyone’s guess.

Campanula brightened a garden wall close to the slipway, reminding me that spring is coming to an end. It may not have been very spring like so far this month but I will be sad to see the end of the season. At least there was no sign of the oil as I carried on past the Millennium Flats. The water looked crystal clear but there were no swans.

The fraught, Bank Holiday traffic jam fuelled evening gave way to a quiet day. Maybe everyone was off for a long weekend. The atmosphere in the office was subdued and tinged with hangover, at least for Mia and Sabrina who had been out on the town the night before. With few calls and not enough emails to go round, the day dragged.

It felt like it had been a week of contrasts, sunshine and showers, clouds and blue sky, busyness and boredom. There had been flowers and weeds, truth and lies, laughter and silence. Maybe I was in need of a reminder of the principles of Yin and Yang, the opposites that intertwine to make up the whole, each containing something of the other.