online: 18 july 2010 modified: 16, 18 july 2010 15 july 2010 multum in parvo*
Sandy Heath
...first strong wind for weeks and it comes from the west... upper branches are in motion but the air at ground level is still...
...this forest on what once were sand diggings attracts cyclists who freewheel down steep slopes... nearly all of these daring riders are young but this evening a man with grey hair is riding downhill also... (i wouldn't)
...on the way here i passed a one year old infant who was running almost out of reach of a man who told me of its liking for such dangers as road traffic, screw drivers, hair dryers and others... was he complaining... or boasting... of it's liveliness?...
...and before that i passed by a young couple very nearly in sexual climax... i could not avoid walking close by and they half uncoupled as i passed...
...and here i am now on a seat by a pond that is entirely covered with a green algae on which two ducks are swimming... regardless of it's deadly appearance and reputation...
...wondering what next will appear in this record of an evening in London?...
...i hear voices in the distance... and now shouts of several people behind me and an aircraft above... but i do not see any of them... now a tiny dog runs very fast towards the pond and encircles it before disappearing into the forest... no dog owner in sight as the dog reappears... still running fast... as if lost or seeking someone...
...now the wind drops and in the stillness and slight cold i feel early signs of autumn... and the bare tree trunks around the pond remind me of 'the petrified forest' a film of long ago that i think starred Bette Davis and someone**... there was a time when such films were a main part of our lives... and now i watch as a 1.5 centimetre caterpillar waves its head and front section as it moves rapidly over the surface of my jacket until i transport it to the ground before moving on...
*much in a small place
**Leslie Howard and Bette Davis in The Petrified Forest, directed by Archie Mayo, distributed by Warner Brothers, 1936. In the town of 10,000 people where i lived there were 3 cinemas each showing 2 films a week... so it was possible to see a different one every weekday... i think some young people did ... but my sister and i were only allowed to see films that our parents approved of... i remember being frightened by zooming close-ups in Alice in Wonderland... and laughing helplessly at the films of Will Hay
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