TWO LETTERS, TWO TREES AND SOME WEEDS

(The picture of the forsythia isn't here for any reason other than that I like it.)

Remember the council and its flailing of the hedgerows?

Well, I wrote and said I thought it had all been rather harsh (especially with the mature trees) and that the timing was unfortunate and isn't there supposed to be a close season between March and August (for the sake of birds).

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Here are some quotes from the reply:-

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'I understand your concerns and comments and we will try to reduce the amount of trimming and adjust the timings as much as we can.'

'We will try to manage this as carefully as possible but trimming will have to occur during the summer at some point, we will try to amend when we do the harder trim back.'

'As far as blackberries are concerned I am afraid that if there is a need to trim we will, but again I will try to manage this better in the future to avoid when they are ripe but as this time tends to vary each year I cannot guarantee I will always get it right!'

Well! What do you think of that!

It's been a surprising couple of weeks for correspondence. Here is some more:- I wanted to replace my camera / phone with one the same as I dropped down the loo so, having been unable to find one in the phone shops, I emailed the manufacturers.

The beginnings of Queen Anne's Lace.

Quotes from the reply . . .

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'In response to your email regarding your D900i, as far as we are aware this phone has not been stopped.'

. 'However, unfortunately we don't have specific details of retailers for any of our phones.' How can they not know precisely what they are, or are not, making? How sad they don't know who might be selling their products. (It turns out no-one's selling this one. Probably because they've stopped making them.) All is not lost - the one from eBay has arrived and I photoed the dandelion clock to celebrate. I'm glad I held out. But - there is a downside. Spring has been doing its thing even if I haven't. I've missed much of the fun. Ah, well. None the less, here is a sequence for the little hawthorn trees.

13th January 2009

5th March 2009

29th March 2009

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And the blackthorn is in flower.

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This morning, I was wandering along feeling despondent because nettle beds are growing at a tremendous rate in front of branches I want to look at . . . and because I missed the moment when buds broke . . .

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"Why," I asked myself, "am I doing this?" No answer. There is no reason. I just am. And it's a delight, even if a pointless one. In particular, I have become rather fond of blackthorn. I've also become a peculiar kind of neighbour.

. Yesterday, I was just about to take a photograph of the ground when a neighbour stopped to chat. It was really pleasant, standing there in the afternoon sunshine - except all the time we talked I kept glancing round her shoulder. How could I complain that the sun was moving away from weeds while we talked? As well as growing more fond of blackthorn, I have learnt how fast The Sun moves (or rather The Earth). So . . . by looking at undergrowth, twigs and leaves, I've learnt more about the universe. Extraordinary.

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For the Post After This - In Praise of Ground Elder

For the Post Before This - Seeing the World in Colour (and the Blackthorn is Flowering).