There was a light smattering of Rain as I cycled into work today. Sometimes this would ruin my mood, but today I quite liked it. Perhaps it was because the sheen of water on the road wasn’t quite enough to leap up from my tyres into my shoes. Few everyday physical discomforts are more misery-inducing than wet feet. So today the rain simply made me feel hyper-aware of the natural world. I was, in both a literal and metaphorical way, cycling through nature in the big city. The rain was here to feed the grass and the trees, and the trees provided a moment’s respite from the rain as I cycled beneath their canopies. There was a sense of harmony to it all that meant I didn’t mind the dampness in the least.

The day at work itself has been very humdrum. Someone rang up to ask us to fell a street tree because another (private) tree in the street fell down. I had to explain there was no relationship between the two that would increase the risk to the street tree. But there was something very relaxing and reassuring about the morning’s ride that has stayed with me.