Hullo trees! Hullo sky!

I've discovered a notable blog about nature in London, Tales of the City, and it makes me think... I come from the countryside, a fact of which I've always been very proud. When I read books as a child the ones I liked best were set in endless explorable wildernesses, Gardens of Eden waiting to be named. Swallows and Amazons, for instance, where the endpages are always maps drawn by Captain Nancy of places found on foot and by boat, the naming done by Titty or Roger.

When poor Dick and Dorothea, the city kids, arrive on the scene they are found guilty of all kinds of urban faux pas such as lighting fires with newspaper (instead of dry tinder) and not owning servicable Sou'westers. I find it difficult to find, let alone appreciate nature in the city, and perhaps this is partly due to the snobbishness I absorbed early on in life, through books - the idea that cities are relentless, brutalist and lacking in escape. At heart I still believe this, but I'm trying to adapt.

Yesterday I saw a rat by the canal in Brent Park!