The other day I saw a woman rubbing stinging nettles on her shins. This being the part of London it is, I assumed she was mad and moved away quickly. Later, I thought maybe it was a remedy for arthritis or some natural medicine. Still later I wondered if the stinging pain took her mind of other more serious issues she may have. Much later I considered the fact that dock leaves grow next to stinging nettles, the poison and the remedy sharing the same small space. Much much later I thought about how nice my neighbour is, and what in terms of stinging nettles that says about me. And just yesterday I remembered eating the stinging nettle soup my mum made when I was a kid, although I maybe confusing this with an episode of ‘the good life”. In short, stinging nettles… they’re interesting aren’t they?
I guess its the story of life, how good and evil are side by side everywhere. though I think nettles and dock leaves are more evenly balanced.
ReplyDeleteI had a we laugh to myself though as I tripped back memory lane to my job as playground supervisor and the many "ouch! ouches!" from the kids I dealt with as I frantically searched for the dock leaves to relieve their stinging:-)
did you know that there's a "National Be Nice to Nettles Week"? We missed it. It was in May. But, according to the website nettles.org.uk , it's not too late - there are suggestions for ways to be nice to them all year round. Whew.
ReplyDeleteNo. Hope that helps.
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