May 19th – An evening ride around the common failed to reward me with a sighting of deer, but the welcome stillness after weeks of quite gusty wind was refreshing. I could hear delicate birdsong again, and the rustling of small animals scurrying out of sight. Everything on the common is now a clear, vivid emerald green, and save for a fisherman on Marklew’s Pond, I was alone. I love cycling along this boardwalk… covered by a green canopy, it feels otherworldly, and makes great noises as one rides over it’s ageing timbers.