大象传媒

It's quiet here; well not exactly quiet but peaceful all the same. It's true you can hear the traffic rumble past, but the drone fades the further in you wander.听It's also true you can't avoid the screaming kids insisting on being fed a Mr Whippy ice cream from the van that sits opposite the entrance, but the further off the path you go, the fewer people you meet.听In fact the deeper, further off the path you go, the further away from the concrete jungle you escape.听Away from modernity, progress, pollution and petty politics into a realm of calm natural balance.听In here all the hunters hunt for food not for sport.

This place is my sanctuary from a mad world that seems to be running faster and faster towards the edge of a cliff.听This is a special place, magical.听I sit and survey my realm from the prostrate trunk of an ancient oak.听The floor is carpeted in vibrant colour by the humble bluebells, their hue changing as they dance innocently in the breeze that releases their heady perfume.听Interspersed听amongst them are the prehistoric ferns; the dry brown fans of the old growth rustle in the breeze whispering their secrets to the leaves that are beginning to unfurl.听The oak, the elm, the ash and the yew with their feet firmly rooted in the fertile soil stretch up towards the sun. Their old gnarled branches show signs of regeneration as the buds begin to open.听The sun's rays enter into this realm not as all conquering radiance but as individual streams of weightless daylight that move in and out of the trees, their path guided by the clouds that move across an almost invisible sky.听

Not all life here is rooted.听Squirrels chase each other across the open ground; they stop and turn an inquisitive head towards me before scampering up into the nearest tree to watch from a safer distance.听But even they are not native to this land; but introduced by man's interfering hand they have driven the shy red from his home into near extinction.听A host of birds labour ceaselessly to search for material to build their nests; all but the cuckoo who sits and ponders which of the busy throng will be the unsuspecting nanny to her offspring.听They all sing their own private song, yet the cacophony blends into a symphony that for a fleeting moment soothes away the torturous stress of urban existence.

This is a public place which the public do not visit.听They blindly wander the well trodden paths in a feeble attempt to commune with nature, or simply walk the dog.听Yet the borders of this peaceful realm are littered with rusting Special Brew cans, empty crisp packets and the burnt out shells of stolen cars.听As I sit and cast my eyes along the way I came in, I realise with horror that slowly a path is being worn that one day others will follow.听A plane roars by overhead shattering the peace. Then I remember.听听

It is here I come to ponder, to write.听The world goes on without me.听Wars still rage, children still die.听The world still runs headlong towards that cliff.听When I go back home the bills will still need paying, I will still have to go to work tomorrow and my wife will still have left.听But at least here I don't think about killing myself.