My last day in London....

Summer 2007

When my GP, way back in summer of 2007, suggested I take up a hobby I picked up the Nikon Coolpix camera that I had bought in early 2007. Never used it before but thought it may help in a therapeutic way by getting me out of the flat, overcoming mental distress. The first picture I took, was funny enough, a heron perched on one of the famous Victorian dinosaur sculptures at Crystal Palace Park. From then on my passion for photography took off and thanks as well to a canny enlightened GP too.

So now… nearly five years on, three jobs, two nervous breakdowns on, I will be moving to Bristol and today is my last proper day in London. Last year, the park was a place of solace for me during times of great emotional distress. Seeing the 3 heron chicks was an experience, watching their unique behaviour and feeling rather sad when they all went their separate ways. Unfortunately, no heron nest this year possibly due to the water being turned off in one of the lakes, lack of fish etc. may have put the herons off from nesting. Thankfully, the lake is back in working order and there’s fish back in the lake. Maybe next year there will be heron chicks again.

Seven years has gone in no time. Remember moving here during August 2005, warm and sunny day moving. The young bloke who sold us the flat left in an almighty mess (found lots of junk… such as speed dating information!) and the icing on the cake was discovering a dusty socket in the wall behind the radiator which blew… all I remember was being thrown against the wall and a very big white light! I was OK but kinda shocked (apt word).

Caught a fish…

My other ‘alf always maintained that we would not move again (as moving is up there regarding the top stressful life events) but here we go again. The reason being the economic crisis, getting employment where you can and sometimes that means moving some distance. I have been living in London while other ‘alf has been in Bristol. It has been a strange arrangement but countless others are in the same predicament. This weekend we will be back moving our belongings (amazed how much crap you accumlate over the years) to some storage place and renting somewhere while we search for another flat. There are some parks in Bristol, am hoping to visit the Snuff Mills.

Today I visited Crystal Palace Park for the last time. I saw the cheeky parakeets flying low with their familiar screeching, heron standing silently staring into the lake, grebe bobbing around, mallard male ducks duffing each other up, Canadian geese with their goslings, coots the best architects and builders of nests finding twigs, and a terrapin hiding out on one of the dinosaur sculptures. The busy and developing wildlife will carry on, people visiting with their kids to feed the ducks and geese.

Finally, I hope the grebes have another clutch of eggs but this time more successful in hatching, maybe in the second week of July there will be a couple of grebe chicks riding on the backs of their parents on the lake.

Tree where the herons had their nest last year….

Au revoir SE20, Kelsey Park, South Norwood Country Park and of course….Crystal Palace Park

 

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