Wooded glade

A few years ago, an acquaintance, whose children are now going to the Gaelic School (the playground wall of which was behind me when I took this photograph), commented that the park was rather "run down". This incensed us so much, we've regularly repeated the phrase in mock horror. It's not "run down", and for the most part, hasn't been for a while. It's well used, for sure, and sometimes needs a good clean up, but on the whole it's a lovely park for different people to use in different ways, with a lot less dog shit on the grass and the paths than there used to be.

However, there is a germ of truth in the "run down" accusation, when it comes to the wooded section between the park proper and the Gaelic School. This section had long been frequented by drug users and when it was eventually cleared out properly by council workers (at around the same time as the School was re-opening) a very large number of used needles and other drug paraphernalia were taken away. Now this bit of wooded land is regularly used by the children of the school for little nature walks, and another wooded section seems to be regularly used by the children from the private nursery on Pilrig Street, just across the way.

Nowadays, when I go through the park, I often step off the path and up the little hill into the wooded section, to make a pleasant detour. I did so this morning on the way to see the PT.

Back home, after another detour to see some wooden flooring, I've been crouched over a hot document ever since. The end is nigh, but there's still a hell of a lot to do. We're going up to the wire.