Blooming

I went for a walk in Hyde Park today. I'd forgotten how lovely it is - especially around the Serpentine. Working in a basement office with barely any natural light, it's easy to forget that everything is man-made, including the 'issues' and 'problems' which seem to be so urgent. Life - real life - goes on outside as it always has done.

My only regret was that the bluebells have almost all gone away (the Genesis song 'Ripples' from Trick of the Tail came into my head as I was strolling) and I missed them in full bloom. They won't ever be exactly the same again and I now have to wait another year for a chance to see their delicate blues and enjoy those hopeful spring fragances. How blessed are most of us to be able to sense such beauty? And how sad is it that it passes most of us by...

Rod of iron

I read Rod Liddle's piece in the Sunday Times yesterday about thuggery in the Metropolitan Police. Strangely, the night before, the boys and I had watched The Changeling on DVD. The film, stars Angelina Jolie and is set against the backdrop of police corruption and thuggery in late 1920's Los Angeles. Given the Wall Street Crash was just around the corner and the 'Crunch' affecting economies today, I found the symmetry interesting. Unfortunately - and because it affects us all closer to home - I found the alarming burglary statistics in the same paper more of a concern: the county of Cambridgeshire is witnessing one of the steepest rates of increase in the country.

However, as we are informed or entertained by the media, real life may paint a different picture. Our son got attacked in Cambridge City Centre recently but I have to say the police follow-up was fantastic and I couldn't fault it.

What matters most is each of us

I was walking down Newmarket Road towards the medical centre in Burwell this afternoon when I heard a siren behind me. Away in the distance an ambulance with flashing lights was racing towards and eventually past me, heading towards the centre of the village. My first thought was to pray for the poor person or person(s) it had been called out for and my second was 'thank goodness it wasn't for me.'

I then thought how great a thing it is that potentially one person's need can lead to the emergency services being called out to attend, potentially causing many other road journeys to be delayed. I've also had this fault when a train has been delayed or held in the station while a passenger has been attended to. Yes, it can cause timetable chaos and yes we often raise our eyes and curse inwardly that this has happened on our journeys, but in our increasingly sophisticated and networked global village, I think it's great that an individual's needs can still have such an impact.

The church at Quy

I wrote a poem a couple of days ago about the church at Quy. I pass it on my journey from Burwell to Cambridge whenever I'm commuting to London and admit that I say a cheery hello to it each evening when I'm on my way home again. In a funny way its clock face always conjures up the Rupert Brooke poem: The Old Vicarage, Grantchester.