Laid bare

Spotted this beech hedge when I walked to work today, where the front has been cut right back. Normally you just see thick leaves so you wouldn't think that underneath there is this old, gnarly trunk. The picture doesn't really do it justice as the height of the hedge must have been almost 6ft and that trunk must have been a good 18" in girth (if not nearer 2ft around). So how old would that make it...?

Walking home tonight it was heavy drizzle (again) but actually made the walk quite refreshing, and the smell of the blossoms on the some of the bushes was intoxicating. I did stop to take a snap of one such flowering shrub as the fragrance was simply wonderful, thinking my fellow Blippers might be able to identify it for me, but in the end I went for the naked beech!

T.G.I.F, peeps!

Although, I actually prefer P.O.E.T.S. day myself...