AT THE PARK
Prompt - At the Park : Take some time to sit on a park bench and write about the sights, scenes and senses and emotions you experience
Take some time to sit in the park they tell me. And today is both a good and a bad day to choose. The bad is the lack of time to really immerse myself in the experience, as it's a very busy day in other ways. But the good outweigh this. After several days of thick cloud and cooler temperatures we are back to twenty degree and a blue sky. The feathertrail clouds do little to block out the sun and it feels like the beginning of the end of summer. People want to be out in this weather, more so as it could be the last such weekend day this year. And, for Scotland, this is hot in September.
Yet the park isn't as busy as I expected. I reject the notion of a bench, and head for 'our' log, a think length of tree trunk that has served a seat many a time over the lockdowns, when a turn around the park might be our only exercise for the day. It is by one of the eastern entrances, and offers a decent view of many of the activities, and inactivities, taking place.
I take my place shortly after midday, the heat still rising. It will be cloudy in a few hours, bringing a return of the cool, so this i one of the best times I could have picked. There plenty of people to observe, but not so many that the space feels in any way crowded. Everyone has plenty of room in which to do their thing.
Dog walkers walk their dogs and throw balls for chasing. Walking walkers may stride purposefully, or amble casually, as suits their mood and needs. Bikes go by, teens too fast for this little universe of dogs and children, a man with child behind proceeding with caution through the trees. A man plays badminton with his small daughter (who invariably misses the shuttlecock, but shows determination to get it right eventually.) A woman spreads out a blanker, brings out edibles, chats to her friend who is doing her best to give her terrier a workout. They will sit and eat soon. A few lads kick a ball about lackadaisically, laughing too much to have any commitment to accuracy or style. A woman sits on the grass, engrossed in her paperback. While another sits on a bench, tying the long dog lead to the arm, to allow her pooch some latitude while she sits and chats to a friend.
In the distance there are goalposts, complete with netting, and beyond that some boys practicing. By the time I move from my spot the match has begun, the reds against the black and whites, the kids around thirteen or fourteen. A few parents hug the touchline, with occasional bursts of applause. Perhaps out of gratitude for it being arm and dry, knowing there will be far worse to come.
With the end of summer now approaching, the trees and vegetation are still full, but leaves have begun to fall from some. The wild meadow area continues to provide some additional colour and textures to the sheets of green. Fertility is still the theme, decay still tucked away. We are half a mile from the city centre, but this is a different place, one of peace and fun and laughter. I am lucky to have it so near by. City life, with nature on tap. Civilised.
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