Urban growth

a trip to the bank this morning took me past this road in the thick of the urban centre of my mediterranean town, where i took this unsightly photo of urban growth

i wasn't surprised to find the mint bush and fig tree, not just sprouting but also blooming unaided, in the crevices between the walls and the roadside - that's pretty much how everything is left to grow in the med: unattended, it tends to overtake; attended, it is contained

it also reminded me that there should be no hunger in a food-rich society; if there is, it usually has to do with the distribution of the food, not the adequacy of the supplies

food growing on the road is probably polluted by car fumes and/or contaminated by other sources, so it won't be the best food in the world to eat - but i won't scorn those who regard it as food (i have seen people harvesting the roadside's offerings)

food is food, and in difficult times, even roadside food will seem good enough to eat - poverty will always exist, but hunger does not need to