Random Thoughts

 One thing we have noticed, at least in Richmond/Kingston, is the dearth of advertising in public places. There are no billboards. There are very few large poster-type ads in public spaces such as beside roads and motorways. There is no advertising on buses. There is no advertising in buses -- except ads for TFL (Transport for London) services or NHS (National Health Service) PSAs. Bus stops have no adverts. Even small posters advertising local bands playing at the local pub are few and far between.

I have seen very few people smoking. So few that when I do see someone smoking it surprises me. Vaping however, is everywhere. So much vaping. You are allowed to smoke in the outdoor seating areas of restaurants here. Very weird. 

I have yet to figure out how to walk down the sidewalk here. In Canada, we roughly walk down the sidewalk the same way we drive. Not here. There seems to be no consistent way to give way to a person walking toward you. Some people will veer to the right, some to the left and some will just play chicken with you until you step out of their way. 

Dogs. Dogs are everywhere. Everyone has a dog. I have never seen so many dogs in my life. I have seen very few cats. They have a "right to roam" law here, in that cats are allowed to roam freely. In fact, some shelters won't let you adopt if you don't have an outside area for your cat to be in. They don't want house cats. 

Here is a photo of the Royal Oak in Richmond Park. I don't know why it is called the Royal Oak. It is one of many ancient trees in the park. This one is estimated to be approximately 750 years old. The first photo is one I took the other day. And the second is an older photo. I have no idea its date.  In my photo, you can see the bracken (ferns) surrounding the tree in a dense thicket. The bracken is so thick and so tall, I had to hold my phone over my head to see over it to get the photo of the tree. You can't even see the fence anymore except in a couple of places where it peeks out. In the older photo, no bracken is present. The bracken is everywhere in the park and it is rapidly taking over. It is an invasive species that is difficult to control. Richmond Park is a National Nature Reserve so they won't use chemical control measures that might damage or kill other species. What they do is regularly flatten it with rollers to break off all the stems and hopefully weaken the plants. I have no idea how effective it is. 


The Royal Oak in Richmond. Photo taken by me on
July 19.


Photo taken by Hannah Solloway, date unknown

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