Floating about.

This morning I went for a walk along the side of an old quarry and then climbed to the top of an old refuse dump – it was a Bank Holiday Monday, the sun was shining bright and clear and when I was well I always tried, usually unsuccessfully, to get a holiday at this time of year.

I went for a walk, went far too far, my ankle hurt, knee ached, I felt tired out – it was great.

I’d love to put all the pictures up but Blogger is a bit mean with JPEG bytes, so I’ll fit a few in over the next couple of days. It’s late spring now but it looks like April still.

 

 This is a view of one of the old gravel pits that dot this part of the world – the gravel built office blocks in the city, houses and roads; Heathrow Airport, the M25. Now they have moved on to rape somewhere else and nature is struggling back.

The hill (or ‘Alp’), is a filled in pit – filled in with household rubbish. In the 1980’s it had been due to become Western Europe’s largest shopping centre, then the capitalists fell out and started arguing amongst themselves and it didn’t happen. So they piled up more rubbish until they made a big stinky hill, which you can’t really see from here, I’m standing on it. There was so much methane, for 20 years they had to flare it off, they still do, but less now.

The horses were brought in to change the ecology of the area – until they came about three years ago it was rough woods and tall weeds. Now, very quickly it has turned into grassland and flowers.

This is a very special place, not many people know about it. You can see the fluffy seeds that fly about for the next couple of weeks – floating about on the water, if you look carefully.

 

 

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)