Wednesday 6 October 2010

Nostalgia: fond memories

Playing in the woods, or just being in the woods on my own. Children can't do this anymore, it would seem (dodgy men lurking behind every other tree paranoia), but in the 70s we were allowed to go off on our own as long as we were back in time for tea/dinner. They were steep woods, and a favourite thing was hurtingly down on my bicycle, especially down one path which had a hollow in it so one effectively flew over it. There was a clearing with a weeping willow in it, whose branches were so low that one could creep under them and hide there, sitting on the horizontal tree trunk that was near the ground. Climbing trees and watching people going by, knowing that they didn't know you were there, watching them, was also a favourite.
The wood is still there, but it seems like it's been thinned out. A game of hide and seek wouldn't work now. There's liitle undergrowth and the trees have no foliage low down. Ironically the adjoining piece of land which was once home to just brambles and gorse bushes, which would burn down most summers (probably arson) now seems to have grown into a wood. A good thing, but it's not my wood.