onionbagblog

This is rather decent – a Google map from the good folk of Transition Town Wivenhoe, detailing the known places around the town where it is possible to scrimmage an apple, plum, or pear – plus many other free foraging opportunities.

Mother Nature’s egalitarian approach to ignoring private and public boundaries contains a message for us all about free love and understanding. Well, that’s my chat up line sorted to see me through the run of Christmas parties anyway.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to Wivenhoe locals to find that blackberries and blackthorns are in abundance. Even with the recent vandalism by the Environment Agency, the walk out to Alresford Creek can still return a tuppaware full of freebies.

What I like about the TTW cartography though is the appearance of quince trees, sweet chestnuts and “possible plums.” I could possibly be up for that.

The penny-pinching produce isn’t just isolated to the green and good down by the estuary wilds. The old Cedrics site apparently delivers rather well when it comes to getting your grubby hands around a juicy pair.

The work of Transition Town Wivenhoe continues as the calendar comes round to the depressing time when images of sun kissed beaches in, um, Clacton are replaced with rather barren wintry landscapes of Wivenhoe.

The Station Master’s Community Garden is in need of a little pre-winter love. A Sunday afternoon working party has been called for the 4th December, with the pruning and winter planting starting at 3pm.

Meanwhile, back on the map front and I here of ambitious (and brilliant) plans to capture Wivenhoe as a mosaic style map as part of the town’s Jubilee celebrations of next summer.

The Jubilee Jigsaw will be to Wivenhoe what the Bayeux Tapestry is to… Bayeux. Forget about King Harold taking one in the eye – what about piecing together the planned zebra crossing that is soon to grace the Co-op?

As the good Marika helpfully explains:

“A map of Wivenhoe will be projected onto a plywood sheet of that size and the sheet divided up into jigsaw pieces. The individual pieces will then be distributed around the town to groups of interested residents. Each group will organise the finishing of their piece with representations, drawn and painted in, of the area of Wivenhoe covered by that piece: streets, houses, cars, boats, dogs, people, play grounds, gardens, lakes, any special features, whatever.

On Monday 4 June, as part of the planned activities on the KGV, there will be a ceremonial fitting together of all the finished pieces. Some time later it will go on display and become a permanent feature of our town.”

What a wonderful way to create something collectively, that will hopefully have some worth, long after the last fireworks have been let off from the KGV as part of Brenda’s Big Day.

Fruit of your labours, ‘n all that