Graft

Maybe ten years ago this tree had a metal bracket bolted into the trunk with a life belt attached so anyone who fell into the reservoir could be thrown a lifeline. As far as I'm aware it was never needed, and then the lifebelt got stolen. But the red metal remains, absorbed into the trunk of the tree leaving a great scar, like a wound. Now the living and the inanimate are grafted together looking strangely beautiful.

I skived today (there have to be some advantages of being self-employed, the money not being one of them) and spent the whole afternoon in the garden and can't remember when I was last so happy. The air was still, like a expectant hush, and the silence was only broken by the rapid wingbeat of a robin as he swooped down to pick up the grubs I unearthed with digging.