Wind

The tall poplar at the end of our neighbour's garden seemed, for a moment this morning, to be turning like a carousel, merrily throwing it's last leaves into the sky. I watched the scribble of bare branches through our bathroom window and returned to the warmth of our bed, enjoying the wind's sporadic invective, which even in Birmingham mutes the normal roar of the city. Once up, I tried to mow the lawn, netting leaves over the pond, collecting them from the ground before driving rain took away their crispness. This gusty blow in the centre of the country is a hint of the tempest's force along the coast and in Scotland, cracking cheeks, drenching steeples, drowning cocks - gales from the north surging a spring tide late this evening into the North Sea narrows between East Anglia and the Netherlands. The security of the East Anglian coast and the German and Dutch low countries depends on warning systems and sea defences built since the floods of 1953.

Our street

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From Aldridge:

Dear Simon. Thank you so much for coming to speak to us at the Aldridge Probus club. The members really enjoyed your talk and felt you created a genuine sense of time and place for us. We will certainly be paying the park a visit in the near future. Regards, John

Dear John. Thank you for those kind words...If your members  would like a tour, I do these, with varying duration, any time of the year - in snow and sun.

In the summer there’s a chance of rowing a boat on the park pond, and we can all go for tea and cakes at the Sons of Rest Building or at the Park Café. Numbers? Anything from 1 to 50 and we meet at the main gate off Hamstead Road in front of the Park Lodge - but I can give those details if and when a tour is in the offing. It would be lovely to meet some of your members again - perhaps with other members of their families. Again thanks for inviting me to talk about my favourite place in Birmingham. Best wishes, Simon

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