Marathon

Italian hyssop

It's the 1st Friday after daylight saving started. That means Marathon Day. The City is closed down. No public or private transport from 6am to 2pm. Offices inside the City are closed as people cannot get to work. Food and beverage places will open as they'll have big business with hungry and thirsty runners and spectators.

The Marathon is divided into 3 sections: family marathon where kids are included in the casual jog/stroll of 3km I think; then the half marathon and the full marathon. So far winners of the full marathon have been ethiopic runners. They're legendary.

And the weather is very nice ... a cool 11 degrees right now. Runners had already started at 6.30am. Security helicopters have been flying overhead since 5.30am. New Gate is closed except to pedestrians because it opens directly into the Marathon circuit.

Red nasturtiums

This cool weather is making all the plants flower profusely ... including my little garden. It's a splash of colours on our little terrace. Red nasturtiums, white alyssums, yellow freesias, golden daisies, purple anemones and yellow ranunculus. Wild snapdragons are also growing among them. I don't pull them out because they're endangered in our country. They grow mainly in the walls of the Old City and are considered weeds that destroy masonry. Because of this weed eradication, the snapdragon indigenous to our country has become endangered. The snapdragon provides lots of nectar for bees and butterflies, and so plays an important role in our city ecosystem. Otherwise our insects in the City would all die off.