Underground Map of the World This is an interesting map, showing all the cities in the world which have, or are planning an underground train system. Different cities have their own names for their underground rail networks, such as metro, subway and Londoners call theirs the Tube. I love this map - in the style of the iconic London Underground map . As a graphic designer, such things excite me (!) - the beauty and simplicity of design making it an incredibly easy map to use - but I also think this is such a lovely concept - an underground system connecting the whole world. I could travel from my home, on the Brown Line, via Rotterdam, Sofia and Tehran to Melbourne, without having to change lines. :-) If you can't see the map easily, here is a link to a bigger version http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/interactive/2012/sep/07/weird-maps-to-rival-apple-in-pictures

Puffins..... I always watch for the swallows arriving in April. They are the harbinger of our summer and generally appear in the second week of April. There is something wonderful about spotting the first swallow of the year, and then watching as others also arrive, gathering in small chattering groups in the barn and on the telephone wire. They are such graceful birds with their elegant forked tails and scimitar wings, swooping low over the land, chasing the early evening insects. Another equally lovely bird is the puffin, but for quite different reasons. The puffin and swallow do share some features - both are black and white, with some red and blue - but there the similarity ends. Where the swallow is lean, the puffin is stout, where the swallow is elegant, the puffin is ungainly and where the swallow keeps to the land in the summer, the puffin is at sea. But who can resist the charms of the puffin, a delightful, slightly comical, endearing bird, which lays its eggs in rabbit burrows...

Summer Solstice Today is the summer solstice - midsummer - the longest day of the year, and my inner Celt does a little celebratory dance and salutes the sun. Here in Scotland, it's still daylight well into the late evening, and not truly dark till after eleven o'clock. I love the light evenings. But it's also a kind of bittersweet day today because from now on the days get shorter again - it's a turning point in the year... And ironically, today of all days, it's not sunny - infact it's raining.