on 10th March

we decided to turn our back on the traffic and face the other way

taking our deck chairs to the other side of the desire line

this is her view
and this is mine

As we sat

relaxing in our adopted garden

she told me of an article she’d read in the paper –

a review of Edgelands: Journeys into England's True Wilderness (Farley & Symmons 2011)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/06/edgelands-england-farley-roberts-review

(the review was written by Marion Shoard

who, coincidentally, coined the term ‘edgelands’ in 2002

at the end of the review

a reader’s comment caught her eye…

Funny how those who sing hymns to such places don't tend to be in the socio-economic bracket that necessitates living next to them. How exciting a scrapyard must be when seen through binoculars from a mansion, slightly less so when you're stuck next to it because you can't afford to move somewhere nicer.

We mulled over this comment as we sat in our anyone’s garden

What about she and me?

Neither of us live in mansions

Nor do we view these landscapes from afar through binoculars

We sit in them

For pleasure

For relaxation

not because they are a novelty

As for me, right now – I live less than 200 yards away from a ‘wasteland’, an edgeland littered with traces of wild play

And

as a child I used to play on the slag heaps by our house

as well as the abandoned foundations of a building behind Aunty Dilys’ house

my earliest memories of out door play are framed in wasteland spaces

And

as I’ve grown

so has my appreciation

for these

undervalued landscapes

She, on the other hand, whilst clearly having lived near to so called wastelands

has no memory of wastelands

for her, every bit of wild land was an exciting place

special places to experience nature

they’re perverse nature reserves aren’t they…

always have been

always will be

nature appreciation is a free commodity

and beauty is in the eye of the beholder

regardless of socio-economic circumstances

if we value these landscapes, do they not become valuable to us?

Are they not useful?

Anyone’s garden is useful

at different times

for different things

for a couple of hours a week - it’s useful for us

Last year it was useful for butterflies

This year less likely so

Because all the budlea butterfly bushes have been cut down

That’s what’s perverse

Urban brownfield sites offer

A mosaic of reserves for nature

A mosaic of reserves wildlife

But only for a limited time…