13 July 2009
TREES IN CARDIFF
My step-daughter graduated today with a high 2:1 reading English at Cardiff. We were all there to share her moment.
The journey from Diana Street to The Hayes took place during a break in the showers in a vehicle with the sun roof open. I faced backwards and, rather than watching the world passing by out of the windows, looked up instead. Traffic was heavy so progress slow.
Not knowing Cardiff at all, I was impressed by the dense canopies of trees. Numerous limes were in flower and highly attractive to abundant attendant bees. A copper beech en route stood out with one or two vivid scarlet leaves at the tips of branches. A pair of massive (sessile, I think) oaks were amongst a wealth of large trees in what I imagine to be the city centre.
Returning by taxi, on an urban street were planes with elephantine trunks. On another a row of limes had been cut off at a man’s chest height. Still well inside the city, in a pocket of unkempt green space, parallel lines of full grown sycamores.
Apart from the trees and our original purpose, I’ll savour two things in particular. One was when