Archive for April, 2008

Bluebell woods

Sunday, April 27th, 2008

Today I visited a bluebell wood for the first time (Mottisfont, Hampshire). I have always regarded bluebells as flowers of deep fascination and being in the middle of their magic carpet today made me feel like the eternal child of a great old tree. Incredible also to be in the wood within less than an hour from leaving home. A short train ride to the rural station of Mottisfont & Dunbridge and then a 15 minute walk up to the woods, many of which are protected and cared for by the National Trust.

Being in a bluebell wood for the first time transported me to a time which I only remember within the memories of my cells. There is no cognitive memory of it, but humans here, in this part of the world, have surely marvelled at this spring-time show in the same way I did today. There was a sense of that, anyway.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in beauty, flowers | No Comments »

Take the pledge

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

There now seems to be more than a glimmer of hope that from December 2008 we may get something close to an appropriate TransWilts service between Salisbury and Swindon (via Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham). It has been very difficult to gauge exactly how much car traffic cross-Wilts travel causes, especially by commuters, parents and shoppers (and therefore a difficult thing to prove that there is a need for an improved service to ’stakeholders’ – funnily enough passengers are not stakeholders in the same way as politicians, rail chiefs and government) but you only have to give the A350 one go to ‘feel’ the strain it is under and the delays it causes to more essential road travel by those providing goods and services to the county.

The Save the Train has begun a ‘pledge’ campaign in order to gather as much support for this as possible so they are able to present the figures and the views of the Wiltshire public (and those travelling through the county) to FGW and our politicians.

So, what are you waiting for? Take the TransWilts Train Service Pledge.

Posted in enlightened, trains | No Comments »