The Queen's Green Canopy

What comes to mind today reading the BBC news was this image from St Anne's Square in Manchester following the Arena bombing, and all I can think about is the mountain of rotting flowers (that have been mostly flown across the planet) and the countless tons of plastic waste that somehow seems necessary for the people of this country to express grief, and how massive the scale is going to become over the coming days.

We spent an interesting breakfast time discussing the history of the monarchy, and who married their second cousin (almost all of them, unsurprisingly). Elizabeth lived a long life and had a peaceful death, what more can a human being ask for. I am a republican (as mentioned earlier this year) and as such have little interest in joining in with the nation's mourning, but Tish and I walked home from the gym this morning and this tree had been dumped by someone next to the communal bins at the end of the street:

and so, in lieu of flowers, and as a token contribution to The Queen's Green Canopy I rescued it, dragging it the full length of the Cowesby Street and round the corner into our back lane and down to our yard. It may at some point make its way inside the yard but I will prune it and water it and hopefully next summer it might be a little less straggly.

Other delights in the yard yesterday; corn salad seedlings:

self-seeded borage in the crack in the concrete:

self-seeded sunflower in the pot with the acer:

Stay safe. Be kind. Express your grief as you will, but don't forget that queenie did care about the fucked up planet (her preferred method of transport was apparently by train), so, as with everything, maybe consider the environmental footprint.