I love the way tree branches slowly wave in the moments before rain. They are almost like very bendy people moving in slow motion. Suddenly the rain arrives and mists my view of the golf links, enshrouding the green distance that only moments before was somehow detailed by the impending shower, made sharper- clearer and brought miraculously nearer. We have a massive fir-tree outside, too near to the house's alas, so at some point soon it will have to be dispatched and I shall be so sad. After a rainfall he droops with a thousand diamonds, his branches softly wave in the breeze, gently holding their reflective cargo, hypnotic and soothing when you lie a-bed unwell.
We have so much rain, always. So that everywhere, green abounds, even here in the suburbs of the town. I remember once arriving back here for a visit when we lived in Abu Dhabi, sitting on an airport transit-bus being driven from one Terminal to another and being dazzled by such overwhelming greenness. Abu Dhabi... must be nearly 35 years since I lived there. My thoughts move swiftly to other places and return always..always to my favourite, New York, and Bryant Park. The NY Times predicted years ago it could become one of the city's most attractive breathing spots. Fulfilling that prediction it has become a haven, nestling amongst the skyscrapers of 42nd Street and 6th Avenue. Bryant Park is an oasis of trees, green and pause, a place to breathe, rest and 'kick-back'. There is charm and whimsy. A children's carousel and an eatery named Witchery, a fountain to cool the dusty air and your fevered brow and all the whilst the tall surrounding buildings seem to enfold and enclose rather than encroach, as you sit beneath a bright sunny yellow umbrella sipping a large frothy cappucino, reading a book borrowed from the shelves loaned by the adjacent NY Public Library or simply people-watching.
