As promised, today we were “in paradise” – Paradise Wood, that is.
The venue – Earth Trust’s research woodland,
planted in 1994 on the site of former Paradise Field – was new to most of
us. The task, however, was familiar: to
cut back overhanging vegetation and scrub which were threatening to make some
of the rides impassable. We just had to
be careful at this site not to touch any of the trees which are part of a
scientific trial.
The site warden had said he would meet us in
the car-park and lead us to the right bit of woodland. I think it would be fair comment to say there
was some scepticism expressed about the idea that he (or C) would lead them into paradise.
Nevertheless, here we were, come to a gate which
is not open to all:
If any volunteers were thinking, “If this is
paradise, what’s hell like?” they were far too polite to say so. We were not quite sure what kind of paradise
it is when those select folks who are admitted, are locked inside:
Some of the
work was, perhaps, not awfully glamorous:
Nor could
one say it was ‘paradise’ on account of the return to normal fare at tea-break,
following the previous week’s experiment with alternative snacks. I am assured the cake(s) this week were “wonderful”: every bit as good as they looked. But so were the healthy treats last week.
Moreover, one kind soul (bless!) had even brought along specially some
healthy-alternative brownies (far left, behind the conventional cake):
This in turn
led to a discussion about how unripe fruit tastes sweeter after it has been
cooked, even if one has not added sugar.
One of us had experimented with a mango, which had refused to ripen:
peeled and chopped it up, and turned it into an improvised pilaff with Camargue rice, a little
left-over cooked sausage, a splash of lime, and coconut + cinnamon added to
take the edge off any tartness. Another had
found that hard plums had tasted delicious simply for having been boiled. Ditto for baked bananas. There must be some interesting chemistry
going on there …
So how did
we know we were in paradise rather than The Other Place? Different Green-Gymmers would give different
answers. However, I’d say it was because
of the teamwork:
Now, when he
returns, do we tell our absent colleague, who really has flown to a Caribbean
island, for a party, that there was no
need to jet off to the tropics to experience paradise? Or would that be unkind?
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