online: 12 may 2012 modified: 12, 13, 15, 17 may 2012 12 may 2012 spring/summer
pond 1 and Parliament Hill
...a sunny yet cool fresh evening with little or no wind... the water is only slightly ruffled... and the swans are out of sight... a large seabird with dark grey wings (is it a tern?) soars and glides above the water until it flies off with another... to the west ...
...a sudden breeze turns the water surface from mirror-like to rippled whiteness... the dried mud at my feet is cracked into irregular shapes resembling countries divided by rivers...
...and now the wind has almost ceased and the water reflects a slowly rippling picture of the houses opposite and of the clouds above them... and i realise that this is the first diary entry on the heath for several weeks...
...two or three gliding seabirds return and circle the water and then fly away silently to the west to the sounds of talk... and occasional shouts... and nearby traffic...
...walking to Parliament Hill i stop to watch a heron that is standing in frozen posture as it watches for something moving under water... it stands only 3 or 4 metres from a path where people pass though none seem to see the heron... then i walk uphill beneath overarching trees and beside bushes in a quiet world of peace and growth and no sign of the city... but for the presence of ourselves... and the tarmac on which we walk...
...the grass is already quite tall, say 20 centimetres... the air is still... the sun on my back is warm... and people sit on benches... or on grass... most of them are looking at the view of the city in the distance... where new high-rise buildings seem to appear a few each year and mostly grotesque and purposeless for surely such height and density of people is no longer necessary... particularly if stretched upward for 50 floors or more to communicate via computer screens that could be anywhere... or is there reason as well as madness in the close proximity of other bank workers or traders who otherwise might not be able to sustain their financial work or game...
...some men nearby are speaking loudly while sitting or lying on damp grass with bottles of beer and deep-throated laughter not looking at the view but at each other...
...on way back past the ponds i saw this year's cygnets (four) with i think the same two swans who have nested here for the last ten years or so... they look to me a few days old...
...and now at the refurbished station where the new electric train continues to surprise me with the newness and efficiency and integration that appear when industrial design is well done... the collective effect (i imagine) of many small improvements... realised with sensitive restraint and well-directed purpose...
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