I’ve got a new (old) toy that I’d like to tell you about this week…

A couple of weeks ago, I headed for the woods. I had to wait until today to write this, because the pictures have only just returned from being processed and printed. Weirdly enough, that wait has been one of the most fun parts of it all.

My first photo wasn’t great. 😃

I have become so accustomed to blasting photos with my phone until I get a good one, and then photoshopping the heck of them to make them even better.

That was my temptation with this photo of the morning sunshine slipping between two trees.

There were tens of thousands of people within just a few miles of where I was. But why was I the only one lucky enough to be wandering in the woods?

[One obvious answer: most people have got a proper job to be at on a Monday morning, you professional wastrel!]

I left the woods and followed the power lines into town to investigate.

The first was just how far removed from nature I felt. A plastic bird flew above a trellis of plastic flowers. It was literally just a short bike ride from those magnificent trees, but here life was lived indoors – NO BALL GAMES – and nature was wilfully excluded from so many gardens – or should I write ‘gardens’?

I was very struck by the thought that if I did not know about the woods and trails so close to where we were, then nothing here in this town would help me find them. I wanted to put up some giant signs saying ‘there’s some brilliant nature this way, and it’s free to visit!’ or to knock on everyone’s door and ask who wanted to come on a bike ride with me.

We can fix this nature-depleted land of ours, if only enough of us are taught (or reminded) to notice there’s nature nearby that is vitally important both for the planet and for our own well-being.