July 12 - Day 92 - Look what thy soul holds dear, imagine it. To lie that way thou goest, not whence thou com'st. Suppose the singing birds musicians' Shakespeare
The second picture today gives the view over Sheffield as I came down from Owlerbar. It seemed to fit everyone’s mood this morning, following last night. But - I’m not going to talk about that so, instead, decided to use a picture from my garden yesterday - when a greenfinch came to visit.
Although there are apparently over one and a half million breeding pairs in Britain, I don’t see greenfinches very often so was pleased it stayed quite a while. They do seem very picky, throwing out lots of bird seed to get to the bits they want - probably the black sunflower seeds. At least our resident pigeons get the benefit as they stand beneath the feeders checking out what is dropped.
At the same time as I was watching the greenfinch, Jeff was trying to sneeze. I told him to look into the light and by the look he gave me, not only had he never heard this before but thought I had gone completely mad - too much rain on the brain.
Triggering a reflex, in case you also think I’ve lost the plot, that makes you sneeze is based more in science than urban myth.
Between 17% and 35% of the population is estimated to be prone to the photic sneeze reflex (PSR), also known as ACHOO syndrome (with all the letters standing for something - and no I haven’t made that up either!). PSR is sneezing set off by light. Why this happens puzzled scientist for thousands of years, including Aristotle and Bacon.
The trigeminal nerve that senses irritants is near to the optic nerve and the effect on your pupils as you look at a bright light is supposed to get misinterpreted leading to a sneeze.
Who would have thought as I began Sponsor a spin that by week 19 I’d be combining gloomy mornings, greenfinches and Achoo syndrome in the same blog? I guess I just bit off more than I could achoo.
For gnarling sorrow hath less power to bite. The man that mocks at it and sets it light. Shakespeare
