A long silence; we have been busy. We joined a local community wood and volunteered to do some work there. It was meant to be a community day, with everyone allocated a (socially distanced) spot and given a task to do, but when the second lockdown was announced, the organisers realised that this party would break the regulations and cancelled it. ‘But feel free to go down at a time that suits you and do some clearance work!’
So we did. The wood is a ten acre site donated to the village by a local man, in memory of his wife. It was signed over as an open space for walks and parties and just sitting. Looking over the site before we began cutting brambles, we couldn’t believe that someone would just gift this space to others, people he might not even know, as a space to enjoy nature.
The wood was spooky yesterday, with mist drifting across the site and covering the tops of the tallest trees. We cut back the brambles and blackthorn bushes that had encroached on the little cabin. Neighbours passed by, walking their dogs, and we got the chance to say hello from a distance. Today I guess they’ll remember us as we’re thinking of them, probably walking their dogs again in better weather.
As if by magic… on our return, we had a call from someone who lived next door to us up to 2016, just checking how we were doing. He and his wife were early members of the wood, and he did a substantial amount of work building the cabin that we had just rescued from its sea of thorns. He asked whether the cabin was still there, and I could reassure him that yes, it was, and looking very inviting. Can’t wait for the virus to be defeated, when we can gather in the wood and raise a toast to the man whose generosity lets us all wander among the trees there.
Julia Chalkley 