We go around the anti-clockwise path, hang left at the abandoned park keeper's house (noticed at reference 1), up the avenue and cut across to Herald Copse where we found the snowdrops just peeping through, maybe an inch or so high, but with the flower buds showing white already. Must remember to go back in a few weeks time.
Work our way around to the café, now sporting a large awning outside. It was just as well that it was in a sheltered spot as I would not have bet on it surviving a serious blow in the open. We wondered who paid; landlord or tenant? Inside, no less than five Poles working the café (four women to one man), so they must do a good business on a Sunday. Tea and almond slice for me, coffee for BH. None of the sort of serious Polish goo that they offer at Maciek - and we thought that perhaps it was not cold enough in this country for that sort of cake to appeal. On which, see reference 2.
On into conifer corner where there are plenty of large trees to admire. Plus, on this occasion, the out of season mushroom snapped left. Plus an arty tree root, the sort of thing they had made quite a feature of in the Earl's Garden at Arundel Castle. Noticed but not very well illustrated at reference 3. Not really my sort of thing, but given that most of the gardening at Nonsuch is done by volunteers, it is only fair that they should be allowed to indulge themselves.
Quite a lot of chain saw action, but not as irritating here as it is, for example, on Epsom Common.
Headed back across the central grass towards the car park, to be greeted by two low flying parakeets. The first time I recall seeing them here.
Then we came across a congress of whippet fanciers, with maybe twenty of them, and their whippets, being lined up for a photograph.
At this point, for some reason, I started to muse on the proper stance to take on migrants, taking into account the facts that we are a rich but crowded island. Over the coming years, for one reason or another, it seems likely that many millions of people are going to try to escape from their countries of birth and make it to the rich countries of the west. Some of them will be escaping from bad things, perhaps harsh laws about gays or lefties, but most of them will be economic migrants, just seeking a better life. It seems to me that the rich countries, including this one, should take some pain, quite a lot of pain even. We should take in some of these people, and the UK should be taking in hundreds of thousands. We should also be pouring resources into solutions nearer, if not in, their homes. For lack of better expression, it is our Christian or Muslim duty - with both creeds putting an admirable emphasis on charity. Maybe the Russians, with all their living room, could be persuaded to do a bit more. Maybe they could be paid to do more. But at the same time it has to be recognised that we cannot take everybody, we cannot solve all the problems. At the end of the day, these are not our problems. These countries have not been colonies for a long time and they have to learn to get along without us. So when push comes to shove, setting off in a leaky boat from the northern shores of Africa is not a green card for Europe, and setting off in a leaky boat from the eastern shores of Asia is not a green card for Australia. We have a tendency here in the UK to get sanctimonious about the rough ways of the Australians in such matters - but then we are not in the front line in the way of Turkey, Italy or Greece. We can afford to be nice about it.
Maybe Pastmaster Blair could be persuaded to write an opinion on the matter. He was always good with words and as a born-again Catholic he ought to be good on charity.
And so back into the car park, where the bordering trees, for some reason, were full of crows.
Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/snowdrop-time-again.html.
Reference 2: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/not-cheese.html.
Reference 3: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/bognor-three.html.
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