No, we are not in Afghanistan! This is a field of poppies behind my house in the springtime in England, just 10km from the town of Reading, where I work.

I was a little worried about using pictures of Reading taken from the web. The copyright issues made me think twice about uploading photos - but this one can be attributed to my husband, who is quite handy with a camera as you can see. Thank you J-F!

So... why the odd title to my Blog?

Well if you take a quick look at Reading's history, we can see that its development from a market town to the mini-silicon valley it is today, is due to its excellent transport links through the ages. Roads, canals, the Great Western Railway, and more recently the M4 motorway, have all been instrumental in the town's growth, encouraging factories such as Huntley and Palmers (makers of fine English biscuits) to establish themselves here in Victorian times. The last century has seen a gradual change from industrial landscape to a bustling modern city, home to the headquarters of high-tech industries.

Reading is a great place to work .. but give me a field of poppies any day!