Hearty Welcomes & Salutations! Originally an action-packed travel blog from a globe-trotting Scotsman, An Ache for the Distance has, over the years, slowed down (I post less often), mellowed out (domestic life has found it's way way on here) and become more of an expat/photo blog. Take a look around, leave a comment and share the love if you like something.
Stuart Mathieson, Lübeck, Germany

Friday 15 June 2012

Sunflower Seed Mystery - Le Marche, Italy

Growing up in one of those mammoth 1960 high-rise block of flats in a country with a climate perfect for potato production meant that as a child, examples of the exotic world beyond the east of Scotland were few and far between.  In fact, the most colourful thing in my early childhood was a yellow and grey cockatiel called smokey which could effortlessly cause endless frustration with his ringing telephone imitation.

Smokey, bless his telephonic tendancies, is sadly long gone.  I'd like to say he received a dignified burial as all pets should but alas, living in a 21-storey concrete box means opportunities for funeral procedures are limited.  As such, smokey went off to the local incinerator inside a coco pops box via the communal rubbish chute.


Despite this seemingly insensitive send off, he was much loved and his presence left me with two, deeply ingrained & puzzling questions.  Firstly, what the f*ck are cuttlefish?  And secondly, where do the seeds come from in sunflowers?

Three months ago my girlfriend bought some seeds in Lidl and planted them in our barren, snow ravaged front garden.  Now, with 12 weeks of sun, water and an increase of 30C, the sunflowers are blooming and one question is about to be answered.  Another however still remains, what the f*ck are cuttlefish...

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