Saturday, September 15, 2007

alarm clock, autumn, 20 years on

On the stonework under one of the green,copper domes of the opera house in Tunbridge Wells (a strange Edwardian building never used for the performance of opera, once a bingo hall now a pub) is an unusual graphito - a drawing of an alarm clock.

"Les sanglots long
Des violons
De l'automn
Blessent mon coeur
D'une langueur
Monotone".

Walking through the Grove today, I realise that it is 20 years since the great storm, which brought down 80 per cent of the old trees. Today the new trees, planted soon after the storm have begun to restore to the little park, some of its original character and charm, more the charm of a copse than a conventional park.

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