This heron is a resident of the Water of Leith that I often see when I walk along the river between St Marks park and Canonmills.  Usually it's standing stockstill in the water waiting to pounce on some unsuspecting fish that gets too close.  

I was on my way to have a stroll round the Botanics where I popped into Inverleith House to see the exhibition that was on there.  Called Shipping Roots it's about the spread of plants through the British Empire whether intentionally in the case of the introduction of the prickly pear to Australia or accidentally in the case of many plants whose seeds came to Britain trapped in the wool of Australian sheep.  Not simply a factual exhibition it's a display of art and a musing on colonial history.   

The spreaders of the eucalyptus tree from its native lands of the Australian aborigine get a bad rap from the exhibition.  It sucks too much water out of too much of the planet it seems.  It's lovely though.

Here are a couple of reviews giving more detail and a more thorough consideration of the exhibition -  one and two.  

Much of the pioneering work in the development and application of computers took place in the UK, notably as far as the business world is concerned, by the Lyons company.  It was founded in 1885 and grew to be one of the largest food companies in Europe.  They ran a chain of cafes mostly in London where the Lyons Cornerhouse and its "nippy" waitresses became an institution.  In the 50s they built the LEO computer for their company's use but then branched out into the computer business by taking in work from other companies and then building and selling LEOs.  In the 60s things got tough and LEO Computers as a standalone company vanished amidst the mergers and takeovers of the time.  In three years in the late 60s I worked for four companies without moving from my desk.  One of those was English Electric LEO Marconi which goes some way to explaining my interest in a U3A online talk about LEO Computers.  It was excellent.  Somebody should write a book.  They probably have.

One of Lyons' enterprises in its heyday was running a tea estate in Malawi (then called Nyasaland).  Despite living next door in Zambia for ten years and despite Scotland's many ties to the country; its second city, until 1975 its capital, is called Blantyre for goodness sake, I never managed to visit.  Edinburgh U3A held a talk about those ties the other week that I really wanted to go to but rain stopped play.  No way did I fancy going out in that downpour.  Fortunately they filmed it and for a limited time it's available online.

For my final simulation of the season at Napier I was an old guy recovering from a hip replacement being administered to by physiotherapists trying to get me to move my legs about and get up and push a zimmer.  I cooperated as much as I thought a woozy pensioner in those circumstances would which wasn't as much as they would have liked I'm sure.  The idea is for them not learn not to have an easy ride.  The only downside for me was that my reward, a coffee voucher, couldn't be used because the coffee bar was closed by the time we finished.