The Lyons Share

Any opportunity to shoe horn in some quantum physics. I went a walk in the rain today to look for Catmint in Preston Park. I found a labiate that I did not recognise but it was not in flower so I decided to take a leaf. I didn't really know what Catmint smells of but this plant was decidedly lemony, I suspected it was something different. How could I test it? Well, I needed a cat to see whether the leaf would have an effect. As I walked back up the hill, I thought that, until identified, the leaf in my pocket was both Catmint and not Catmint. In a childish parody of the thought experiment Schrodinger's Cat, the true state of the leaf would not be revealed until I opened the pot next to the cat. Until that point it existed in a bizarre state of vegetative uncertainty. My neighbour provided a cat and the cat's reaction was complete disinterest. Not Catmint then. A bit of research showed that the most likely plant was Balm or Lemon Balm which makes sense and is actually a tick for me so all was not lost.

Being wet and warm outside the walls of Brigthon were covered in the pill woodlouse Armadillidium depressum. I now realise that this is perhaps the commonest woodlouse in Brighton and that I have been seeing this for decades without realising what it was.