(this and subsequent pages up to 16 august delayed by broken links - now mended)
An era gone by... who succeeds her... what succeeds it?
A hazy evening. Smog over the city and even here on the heath there is a mist - making the nearer trees look greener than the ones further away. After hot day. Thin grey and pink clouds beneath hazy blue sky. There is no one within speaking distance. Cool breeze from the east - I button up my jacket.
The light is getting less. The millions of leaves within a mile or so cannot be distinguished individually - they amalgamate to form bushy trees and boughs in large clusters of greenness...
It's time to walk back to where I came from about half an hour ago.
The wind begins blowing strongly, it makes a sound in the trees and I see a camera flash 'in the distance' - a phrase I much like - and now I imagine it is the name of a house somewhere - by the sea - is that where I'd like to be? ...perhaps - but no, I like being here, in the city forest, by the tumulus (or barrow) - which appears in photographs at the Hampstead Heath website - the Ethel Copeland Campbell seat is near the centre of the first photogrph.]Yes I will go now... and walk back to the station.
The city is now so smoggy that I can only just see the tall buildings - nothing beyond them is visible.
Exceptionally hot weather is expected tomorrow (38C or 100F) but I doubt it - I imagine that this strong east wind will blow away the smog and provoke a change in the static weather pattern.
5 august: It didn't! - heatwave began
14 august: heatwave continues, but cooler today.
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