At play

I had a surreal experience early this evening. I’d been over Ampthill Park at dusk, listening to a Rob Bell sermon on my iPod whilst peering into the freezing gloom to see what wildlife was around. I then walked round the Park whilst catching up with The Archers. Going home via the children’s playground I couldn’t resist having a go on the swings. This used to be one of my favourite activities when I was younger and, as a father with young children, I managed to get away with it in broad daylight during their tender years. But I have to do it secretly now, regularly casting furtive glances to make sure that I’m not being watched. But tonight I thought, “Oh, hang it all!” And so there I was, swinging to and fro as high as I could go, in pitch darkness, and in the midst of a snow flurry, whilst listening to William Orbit’s arrangement of Barber’s Adagio For Strings. Like I said….surreal!

We adults need to play more, to let go from time to time and not worry about what sensible grown ups think as they look down their noses at us! Carl Jung once wrote concerning himself, “The small boy is still around, and possesses a creative life which I lack. But how can I make my way to it?” One of the answers he found was to play! Get those beta-endorphins flowing…do something playful today!

One of my New Year’s resolutions is to play more…..watch this space!

Wildlife sightings today.

Dawn in Ampthill Park:

• 7 bullfinches (2 male & 5 female) feeding amongst the brambles.
• A stoat amongst the lime trees near The Rezzy which I managed to ‘charm’ to within 5m where it scampered up a tree and sat on a bole staring at me before descending and disappearing into a bramble thicket.
• Close views of a female green woodpecker in the children’s playground stabbing the turf in a search for food.

Dusk in Ampthill Park:

• A flock of 23 fieldfares and 17 redwings in the Bunker Field.
• A female muntjac with well-grown fawn in Bunker Field copse.