Glorious Weeds

Dandelions on a sunny day

There is always a week every spring in Britain when it's unseasonably warm.  As the barometer unexpectedly heads towards 20 degrees celsius layers are stripped off with gay abandon, pasty limbs are revealed for the first time for their annual Spring burn, which, although painful is always necessary for who needs sunscreen in April?!  Monday morning in such weather would not be complete without a comparison of sauteed body parts.  Personally I will be spending the summer attempting to blend in a regrettable v-shape on my chest.

Unfortunately, like all good things, it never lasts and we are fully back to coat weather despite it being mid-May.  Having been spoilt for a few days gardening in a very small pair of shorts (I have to take every opportunity to get a bit of colour on the legs, not that I endorse tanning but we are talking alabaster here), wrapping up in full coat against the gale force winds we had this weekend is not exactly enticing.  On Sunday I laid on the sofa for a full hour working up to going outside before I gave up and went and made a grilled cheese sandwich instead.

Luckily during those few brief moments of sunshine I did manage to get out and about with my camera.  A field just outside work caught my eye as it was full of weeds, dandelions to be precise.  Dandelions don't generally set my world alight, but these specimens had all gone to seed, which may not be deemed complimentary when applied to a man but definitely in my opinion improves a Dandelion, but then a whispy ball of seeds was always going to appeal to me.  Hundreds of fluffy globes were standing tall above the grass and I felt compelled to stop and capture this scene.  Its a very narrow road and I had to trot down it for a hundred metres or so with camera in hand.  I didn't half feel stupid, I could feel the eyes of passing drivers on me, wondering where on earth I was going.  In my commitment to the cause I also ducked under the fence so I could get down and dirty with the dandelions.  I can't say Iv ever noticed them on mass like this before and I must have got to them just before they completely ripened as the air was thick with them parachuting off to their destinations a few days later.

It got me thinking about Dandelions, an obvious subject for contemplation... not.  Such a commonplace weed doesn't half have a standout name.  After a little research I discovered the name literally means 'lions tooth' meaning the shape of the leaves, and not, as I had always hoped referring to the way the flower does resemble a lions mane.  Luckily in Alice in Wonderland they did make the dandelion a little lion, although what the tiger was meant to be I still don't know.  I was so into this train of thought I called the film 'Alice in Wonderlion' briefly.  Clearly that film had a massive impact on my childhood what with first the daffodils and now this!  Apparently they are completely edible but I think I will leave them to be stuffed into the local bunny rabbit, personally I like my salad to be a little less... garden weed shall we say.  I wonder does it make rabbits wee as well?­