Sitting here by the artificial pond with its earth dam and brick viaduct above, i said hello to a man dressed in a Chinese jacket buttoned up to the neck and with two boys and a dog. He came over to talk. He is settled in London and works for a finance company. His parents live in a small town in southwest China where a two bedroom flat costs only 50 pounds a month (here it would cost 10 times as much). These are the facts of life, natural and artificial, and there is not much we can do about either.

While i was writing that i was aware of a mature rabbit eating grass about 20m away from where i am sitting and a number of birds singing or signalling to each other in the surrounding trees. And then a noisy streamlined helicopter flew over at about 300 kph at about 500 feet (or say 200m). And to think that when i was about 20 i intended to design and manufacture helicopters by the seaside in Wales. Also typewriters. And here i am now by a pond writing these words on an electronic screen and very content to be doing so.

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atlas

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