Three Beautiful Things

A new blog is about to join the family -- 12 Old Masters is quite well described as 'sticking your head into 12 pictures and having a good listen to any conversations that might being going on'. I will publish one piece a week on Wednesdays, starting on 2 May. The address will be announced shortly. 1. Having ivy leaves printed up and down my arms to celebrate Beltane. 2. Sitting in the sun on the edge of the cricket pitch playing along on my whistle with the drumming circle. 3. When I want to present my work to the public, all I have to do is click 'publish' (or if I'm feeling particularly daring, pack a submission into a brown envelope and send it off to a magazine). Oli the musician has to stand up in front of a crowded pub and sing.

1. It seemed still, but it couldn't have been because tiny dots of willow fluff were floating about. It catches the sun and looks like something from a fairy tale book. 2. As I walked round Monson Road in the fading light, I heard a shout from one of the flats above the shops. I look up, and see a man leaning out of a lighted window. 'Hallo gorgeous!' he says again. Do I know him? I can't actually see, so I overcome my maidenly qualms and ask -- it's Beltane after all. 'No,' he says, 'But I'd like you to.' I give him a cheery wave and hurry on to the pub. When I look back, he whistles. 3. Laughing at a theatrical drunkard until tears come.

1. Went to Bessels Green Unitarian Church to support some of the pagans who were leading the service there to mark Beltane. The church is very rather plain and very homely, and obviously very much loved. The paint is fresh and the whole place is immaculate - it's cleaned by someone who loves their job, I think. But best of all, the graveyard has been allowed to do its own thing - apart from the grass being cut. It is an ancient meadow, and there are herbs and flowers of all kinds growing among the grass - I counted at least six different kinds of grass. 2. A big fat Sunday paper and a pot of coffee. 3. Walking out of the house for the first time with no coat or jumper. It's my favourite thing about May.