Before we left Tim rushed into Blackwells and returned with a lovely book of Botticelli reproductions to replace the one I told him I has regretted ever since giving it to the POWs in the war! A beautiful present to remember the trip by! Got away before 10 and managed the trip home rather better with the aid of boiled sweets bought in Abingdon. Saw my first swallow while eating corned beef sandwiches in the car park of a pub beyond Alton. Lovely to see a countryside with no storm damage, until just beyond Petersfield one runs back into the distraction and desolation of storm damage. But even among the storm damage the countryside frothing with blackthorn and wild cherry.

© Anthony Lawton 2012