Summer in the city

I waited until the evening to take my old dog to the park as I thought it would be too hot for her earlier.

It is a lovely, peaceful wee park, and it was nice to  see a few groups of teenage girls just enjoying hanging out and chatting in the patches of sunlight.

It's noticeable, however, that the council has fewer resources to maintain the park and some of the flowerbeds and plants look neglected. In one way there are benefits as cutting the grass less frequently means that the area is covered with buttercups and clover. However the flower beds and plants are suffering. Fortunately there is a very active 'Friends' group of  volunteers who are spending time and effort on making improvements, including a weekly gardening group who are working their way round the neglected areas. This rose bed is one of the areas still to be tackled, and it is still recovering from the damage from the sledges running into it over the winter.  It was great to see the children enjoying the snow though, and the roses will recover...