Pollen blitz

Regular readers will recall my annual battle with hayfever as every plant in England simultaneously erupts in a cloud of pollen. However, with Spring well underway, I've yet to start sneezing my way through town this year. It still amazes me that almost everything here seems to burst into flower, trees included. Flowers were never such a dramatic feature of Spring in Australia, certainly not on trees.


Tree pollen seems to the main enemy. I read this week that the worst offending tree is the birch. April is its peak pollen period. Three years ago an enormous yellow dust cloud swept across the country at this time. Satellite images confirmed it as a vast expanse of birch pollen from Denmark. Favourable winds had blown across the North Sea as Nordics trees to shed their pollen during perfect, warm weather conditions.


Spring is currently making itself known in our back yard. The lawn has burst into patches of lively purple flowers while the trees above are smothered in blossoms. I've also been active in our front yard reconstructing the gateway flower garden. Last year I built a simple wooden border around one of our gateway garden. It's weathered well.


A recent sale at the local hardware store inspired me to upgrade the opposing garden. I spent an afternoon digging up a crude border of old broken concrete lumps and carting it off to the local refuse centre, before planting a few drought resistant plants. Once again our entrance looks smart and welcoming.

We've also been enjoying the return of warmer weather. A couple of weekends back we enjoyed a lesiurely, sunny lunch at St Catherine's Wharf, a stone's throw from Tower Bridge. It was a joy to be outdoors, walking along the bank of the Thames and across the famous bridge itself. London's not so bad in the sunshine.