Help I'm Alive:28 Days Later

Help I'm Alive by Metric
28 Days Later Directed by Danny Boyle

Autumn Leaves

Autumn is a time of great beauty with trees turning from a bright green to shades of brown and red, but why do these leaves lose their green color and become the yellow, orange, and red we associate with Autumn?

When the air temperature drops the chlorophyll inside the leaves starts to break down and this reveals the other pigments that also exist naturally within the plant. Some example pigments include carotenoids and xanthophylls which usually give a yellow and or orange colour to the leaves.

At the same time as the chlorophyll breaking down a layer between the leaf and the main stem called the abscission layer also starts to grow which cuts off the water supply to the leaf. This eventually causes the leaf to fall off but before that happens, the sugars within the leaf also break down into anthocyanin which can give leaves that dark red colour.

(source: Science Facts)

Fruits of the Forest

"A berry must be a fruit which contains stones, pips, things . . . there must be more than one."
(Source: Stephen Fry QI Series 3.10)

So:

Blackberry, strawberry, raspberry are all not berries.

But a banana is...

Elsterbecken

There is a great advantage to getting up early on a Sunday morning with the sun slowly rising over the horizon. Everything looks awesome. 

View out of Leipzig from the Zeppelin Bridge

View towards the city from the Zeppelin Bridge

The colours of autumn

Meerkats

Did you know:
Meerkats get up later on cold or rainy days just like humans!

and further more:

Meerkats have ears that can open and close in order for them to keep sand out when they are burrowing.

Anton-Bruckner Allee

A question for you. It is a Sunday morning, around 7.30am. Where would you rather be?

a) In Bed

b) In the park taking photographs

Answers on a postcard to...

The bridge on Anton-Bruckner-Allee

Through the railings

An avenue of autumnal trees along the riverbank

Off into the distance down Anton-Bruckner-Allee

Catsitting: Wilson

The best thing about cat sitting Wilson was the first morning I went there. I opened the door, attempting to stop him running out. I got in in, he sat down and stared with a look of "Who the FUCK are you?"

Where is she?

Who the hell are you?

Maybe if I sit here she will come back and he will leave me alone...

I can wait all day...

Looking up at the Canopy

What do you get if you stand in a forest, looking up at the canopy with a camera...a very bad panorama. This very bad panorama...but I like it...it is crass and incomplete...and I had no idea if it would even work...it sort of works...

Wildpark to Clara-Zetkin

When the sun is out and the trees are changing it is worth getting out of the house and taking the chance to see it in its full glory. Yes, I left the house...miracles do happen

Rattata and Little Lucy

Art on the streets of Südvorstadt.

Autumn Days

Those of you who endured an English education will, no doubt, fondly remember assemblies. Many times a week one would cram into a cold room, with the rest of the school to listen to stories of families of  different animals overcoming various tragedies to reveal a, not altogether unexpected moral. You will also remember singing hymns. Now Autumn was the best time for this, as there were a plethora of songs about Autumn. Autumn Days by Estelle White was the best. It is an upbeat cheery song with a huge chorus, and quite possibly the most ridiculous lyrics ever. It is one of those 'modern hymns', which never quite have the gravitas the old fashioned songs had...

It all starts quite innocuously...
Autumn days, when the grass is jewelled
And the silk inside a chestnut shell

but then gets weird...
Jet planes meeting in the air to be refuelled
All these things I love so well

My other favourite verse is this one...
Clouds that look like familiar faces
And a winter’s moon with frosted rings (have you looked at the moon recently Ms White)
Smell of bacon as I fasten up my laces
And the song the milkman sings.

The Outside World

On the odd occasion I can drag myself away from work it is a real revelation that there is a world happening outside of school. There are people all over the place, doing stuff. It is very rare that I get to see this, except on the odd day when there is a school trip or it is the Friday before a school holiday and I have no more lessons to teach...

 

A fungi to be with

The autumnal forest throws of lots of surprises especially if you know where to look...I got lucky.

I would love to give you some tantalising facts about this particualr fungi but I don't know what it is...so instead you get some crap fungi related jokes...

***edit: This is a "Hypholoma fasciculare, commonly known as the sulphur tuft, sulfur tuft or clustered woodlover" or in German "Schwefelköpfe"

A mushroom walked into a bar. The bartender says, "I'm sorry, but we don't serve vegetables."

The mushroom says, “Awww, but I’m a fungai!”

Mushroom walks into a bar. Bartender says, "We don't serve mushrooms." 

Mushroom says, "But I'm a 'fun guy.'" 

Bartender says, "I just said we don't serve fungi." 

Mushroom says, "No, no, not 'fungi,' 'fun guy.' I made a pun." 

Bartender says, "Get the fuck out of my bar."

Sarah and Stu get Married

On Saturday the 6th of October, Sarah and Stu got married at Brockwell Lido in Brixton, South London. What an amazing day the happy couple had, the weather was perfect and everything went off without a worry. Congratulations to you both. 

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