Sneak Peek at a Leek Tweak

I thought it would be funny to "tweet" only about leeks today - it wasn't - the conceit being that I am inordinately proud of my ability to thoroughly wash a leek (I am). Example: one of the "trending topics" on "twitter" was #AskNickHoult (pictured) so I "tweeted" "Do you have a particular method for washing leeks? #AskNickHoult" Uproarious! So then I went to class and handed out a midterm exam and while the students were thus engaged I took out my copy of the LIFE OF JOHNSON, with which I have been able to spend very little time, and discovered that one of the first things in it concerns Samuel Johnson's father: "A young woman of Leek, in Staffordshire, while he served his apprenticeship there, conceived a violent passion for him... and she actually exhibited one of the very rare instances of dying for love." So that was sad. A happier coincidence: while searching for items to "retweet" about leeks (for example, a news report about some chimpanzees being fed leeks to cure their colds!) I learned that tomorrow is St. David's Day, celebrated in Wales with leeks and daffodils! I remember Jon Langford telling me about St. David's Day last time he was in Oxford. I believe, based on the evidence of this very "blog," he may have even arrived here on St. David's Day! There were daffodils blooming all around and it reminded him of his native land.