Thoughts on Park Cleaning

An event that particularly struck me in Holland Park today came about when I was cleaning in the Dutch Gardens. As I stepped around the corner of one of the bushes to snap up an elusive bottle cap, I was greeted with a bizarre tableau of a peacock and a family of four. The latter, who were clearly entranced by this creature, were taking pictures and talking excitedly amongst themselves. The bird, on the other hand, gave no sign that he had noticed the humans. Instead, he pruned his feathers, sniffed, and then gave three loud piercing cries, before wandering off somewhere - presumably in search of a meal, or a place to rest and bask in the sun. This small scene brought back memories of what I had felt when I had first come to Holland Park, three years ago, and discovered the amazing wildlife that it has on offer. Indeed, this fundraising activity that I'm doing has given me happiness from so many new things.  For example, yesterday I started sending out emails to the friends of the ...

There is a sculpture in Holland Park that is called 'Walking Man'. Created in 1998 by Sean Henry, it shows a rather ubiquitous, unexceptional male figure walking forwards, slowly but with purpose. His facial expressions are ambiguous: on one hand, you can view him as being worried about something, but on the other hand he can also seem mildly pleased about one of his own thoughts. In yet another light, he seems bored; in another, he seems exceptionally melancholy. The fact that his right foot seems tantalisingly about to touch the ground, but is not fully in contact, adds a greater sense of motion and life to his form.   Left: 'Walking Man' by Sean Henry What does he represent? I have looked at the sculpture many times on my morning cleaning sessions, and puzzled over that question in my mind. Who is this man? Where is he going? What is he thinking? An interpretation that has recently come to me, and which I find myself adhering to more and more, is that this man could ...

It's already been eleven days since I started my fundraiser, and I've raised £1,200 in that short time. That in itself still astounds me. When I started on this project, I never dreamed that I would get this far. I had only set myself a £700 target, thinking that it would take weeks to reach even that figure. Yet my expectations have been greatly surpassed. Having looked back on everything that has happened since last Monday, I remember and have kept to heart the words of all the passersby and people who took the time to stop and have a chat, or to give me words of encouragement, although I was a stranger to them. Even today, in Marcus Garvey Park, I met an amiable lady who had dropped by to water the plants, since the warm weather could inconvenience them. She introduced herself as one of the members of the Park friends, and, besides congratulating me for my work and urging me to carry on, suggested that perhaps I could join them one day to help them keep the area clean. And e...

While cleaning in Holland Park today, I was struck by the presence of a very fine tree along one of the pathways. Although it was not the tallest, nor the widest or the bulkiest, the way in which the morning sunlight shone past its leaves made it look exceptionally majestic and beautiful.  I have had similar experiences to this before; once, while I was walking in St James' Park with my family, there was a young oak tree that produced a similar effect. Although it stood apart from the other trees, it was given a special aura by the light that I found very impressive.   Left: the tree in Holland Park that I saw while volunteering A tree is a lot like a human being. It requires much effort to raise and nurture, and, should the conditions around it not be right, it will not grow well and succeed. It is vulnerable to consumers, diseases and the power of the environment. But if it reaches maturity successfully, then it has the potential to live for a very long age, to have many off...

May 27 is an important day in the story of WW2 Britain. It was on this date in 1940 that the Allied high command began Operation Dynamo, the successful evacuation of hundreds of thousands of soldiers from the beaches of Dunkirk after it became clear that the Battle of France could not be won. A year later, on May 27 1941, the Royal Navy hunted down and sank the German battleship Bismarck , just three days after she had broken out into the North Atlantic and devastated British morale by destroying HMS Hood , the pride of the fleet. Both of these events etched themselves into popular memory, and are commemorated widely today in writing and in film, to the point that they have become near-legendary. But apart from these famous events, the Second World War has left its scars on Holland Park as well. One of its central buildings, Holland House, was critically damaged by bombs during the Blitz, almost to the point of total destruction ( This picture  gives a sense of the damage). Despite...

Before heading out this morning, I was struck by the sight of a man playing with his toddler son in the playground in front of the apartment block where I live. Despite the fact that there was a sign stuck next to the playground entrance, which clearly said that the equipment could not be used due to lockdown restrictions, and the fact that some council workers had actually locked the gate and chained the swings to prevent them from being used, the man and his child had jumped over the fence, and were merrily playing on one of the trampolines that is present there. They seemed so carefree, unaware of what our present terrible situation is. Left: swings in the playground that have been chained up by the council At first, I was inclined to criticise them. Was the man really setting a good example to his son? It was lucky that the child was too young to read, since, if he had been literate, he might have seen the sign before going in, and wondered whether his father or the government was ...

Mornings in Marcus Garvey Park are quiet. There are only occasional passersby and a few dogs, as well as a car going past on the road every now and then, to break the calm. Later in the day, however, it is a different story. The park has a football pitch that also doubles as a basketball court, and in the afternoon, in stark contrast to a month ago, it teems with earnest players shouting at and calling to one another. At this time, there also emerge families bringing their children on a walk or to play, friends cycling or running past, and lone pedestrians carrying their bags or shopping home. Sometimes there is music as well on the pitch, since the players are liable to bring along a jukebox with a huge amplifier. But what they play mainly consists of rap and punk rock, and some of the lyrics are inappropriate things that I wouldn't want anybody under the age of thirteen to hear. When I'm working at my desk at home, the sounds drifting through the windows can be deeply annoyi...