The guys are back in town II

Urban rural or rural urban? So much of the local choices that have a touch of nature about them - trees, leaves, wildlife, that kind of thing - are also criss-crossed with tarmac, spotted with litter bins (often ignored) and garnished with benches, lamp posts and lots and lots of "do not" signs.

So it is with Goldsworth Park in Woking where natural diversity extends to three swans, four Canada geese, two great crested grebes, a cormorant and assorted coots, moor hens, mallards, oh yes, and the guys - the immature black-headed gulls that winter here, of which, this is one (yes, I'm getting repetitive).

Pippa isn't sheep trained because we have no sheep around here and few cows. Agricultural it ain't. For rolling pastures we have the fairways. This is golf course country where the patches of green are laid out somewhere in the municipal plan. People fish in ponds that double as drains for the urban sprawl. That's what Goldsworth Park lake is - a big drain in the middle of a housing estate. And yet the locals, well some of them, the ones who care, do try to look after it and they try too to encourage wildlife. Somewhat optimistically a nesting bank was created recently for Kingfishers. Haven't seen one yet, but give it time.

The worst feature of urban rural at this time of year are the leaf blowing men who pass themselves off as gardeners. All they do is blow leaves from one place to another with their noisy machines. And guess what? As soon as they've gone, the wind puts the leaves right back where they were, or some more fall down. When he isn't using his pressure washer - which is rare - my neighbour is never happier than when he's going up and down the drive with his leaf blower. It drives me nuts.

My old mate, Denis, wrote a lovely blog ahead of Remembrance Day. Let me share it with you here. I haven't caught much of educating Yorkshire but this clip, and have your hanky ready if you watch it, makes me proud of my old town, Dewsbury, which has had so much bad press over the years. Glad to find I still score about right for my roots on the Northometer.

Do you like art? If so, you might possibly like this. Well, it amused me.