Project 365 day 119: birch and willow

This is the bottom of the orchard. The silver birch is old and gnarled, with some large burrs. The willow  thicket was formed by three beautiful willow trees which, sadly, were uprooted in a wild winter storm just before our first Christmas here, in 2013. We were desperately sad, especially as a huge elm at the other side of the orchard was also brought down that night. However, we did not rush to remove the fallen trunks, and although almost all the roots were out of the ground and bare, when spring came the horizontal trunks started to send up vigorous vertical growth. Over several years, they have formed a dense thicket full of all kinds of plants and a refuge for wildlife. This week, the willows are changing from their winter golden orange to spring green.

I walked fairly briskly round the orchard just before six, to rest my eyes and clear my head after three back to back online meetings and workshops, with a fourth to follow, totalling six hours. I realise many people working from home have to do this daily, while J and I choose our activities and only rarely have this many in quick succession, but the combination of screen time and a lot of rather fast BSL interpreting left me very tired. Today's included J's workshop developing ideas around Utopias from a disability perspective, which was interesting; my poetry reading group; and a Folkestone public webinar to learn and ask questions about the developing place plan. We joined this with our own agenda, to find out how far accessibility is being considered and more specifically to raise the issue of Changing Place toilets, which have a hoist and adult size changing bench for people requiring hoist transfers and needing assistance with clothes from carers. As J and I both get older, it has become increasingly difficult to go anywhere if such a toilet is not available, and although their numbers have increased a lot and will be boosted further by government funding announced in the last budget, there are still far too many places, including Folkestone, where none are available in the places where they are needed. The meeting was very well attended, and with 140+ of the submitted questions still unanswered at the end, we were very pleased that she was called to ask hers. She spoke with her communication aid, and although cameras  were not on, this seemed to have an impact. Her appeal also appeared to be well received; we shall have to keep up with developments to see whether anything happens as a result.