This is supposed to be the longest pergola in London. But who can say whether that’s true or not? Has someone measured all the pergolas? Does someone know how long this one is? It IS long, and winds round corners. Probably a good few hundred metres. If this is the longest, which is the second longest? Or is this all apocryphal speculation? Why not leave the burden of proof to someone else and make the claim anyway? Not really my nature to do that…
Gardening tools at the start of a day in Golders Hill Park
I was out for a walk in the fog this morning, photographing the usual suspects: trees against a background of mist. Yet, with all the obvious beauty of the familiar cloaked in unusual robes, I was drawn to this half-hidden collection of gardening tools, laid out for park gardeners at the start of the day. Would each person have a separate task – raking leaves, digging, hoeing? Or would everyone get a go on everything?
For a few moments I felt a pang of envy. I wanted to do one of those jobs. It reminded me of meditation retreats I’d been on, where some of the most enjoyable hours were those spent doing manual work outdoors, like raking leaves, or digging damp soil, listening to the birds and finding meaning in small things.
Peter Coles 