Roots and Shoots
Anyone seen spring yet? Nope me neither. We did notice a rather debilitated attempt from a couple of daffodils to try and raise above ground during a weekend walk around Wivenhoe Park. But in terms of wandering lonely as a cloud, our host of golden daffs was a bit of a downer.
Patience, patience, is all that I hear from those around me. But I am very much a sunshine sort of boy (hellooooo!!) and can’t wait to shake off what has been something of a wretched estuary winter.
That’s a little harsh – much in the same way that the winter weather managed to fell a prize palm cabbage tree in the back garden over recent weeks. I am starting to get my fingers green, as well as my envy levels, as I look at photos of the garden prior to our arrival.
Four months into our North Essex Great Escape and I am starting to learn that it’s all about appreciating the here and now. Winter around the estuary can produce what seems like a lifeless landscape. Poke around however, and there is wildlife out there that is seasonal.
It’s the same in the garden. I think I have travelled with the baggage of my South London urban mentality of judging everything on appearances, and not for what they have to offer. Looking around the garden over the last few weeks and I can start to visualise what might start to shoot up over the coming weeks ahead.
It’s the same for the daily commute along the Wivenhoe Trail and out towards the badlands (but brilliant Bannatynes) on the Whitehall Industrial Estate.
My first cycling excursions along the trail were in early October. The ground was firm and the grass was green. Summer seemed to last forever etc, and we all had lashing of ginger beer to see us through these golden days, blah blah blah…
It is only through persevering along the soddened winter trail that I think I will truly appreciate the terrain come spring and summer. Even my early reservations about the Environment Agency’s recent work are starting to be disproved, with a fresh landscape towards Rowhedge now appearing through the cutting and clearing.
So yeah – spring may have been delayed around these parts due to the severity of our winter estuary. It may just mean that those golden days of the summer stretch out a little longer.
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