A variety of things

Concept that the English language needs a word for: when one has eaten shellfish and is waiting to learn whether it was in fact a bad idea.

Occam's Razor re. flowering trees, or how to impress people who know even less about flowering trees that you do: If it's yellow, it's laburnum. If it's not, it's a variety of prunus.

Annoyance of the week: on Monday I spent the morning sitting between two people with bad colds. Guess what happened today?

Charming discovery of the week: the council have staked the five snakeshead fritillaries on the end of my terrace so they won't be accidentally mown.