A local eye

What if where I live, this bog-standard corner of England, which had held no surprises for me, was actually full of them, if only I bothered to go out and find them? Not known, because not looked for.

from Local by Alistair Humphries 

Of late, I have begun to stop observing. I see, as Sherlock Holmes famously put it, but I do not observe. As an inquirer into many things, this is a poor state of affairs. With Humphries’ quote fresh in my mind, I walked down the Harringay Passage yesterday, on my way elsewhere, with the intention of observing. 

It was a beautiful September day, warm and sunny with just a hint of chill in the early morning. 

The first thing that caught my eye was this riot of red.

Firethorn

This feast of berries is firethorn or pyracantha ( Greek pyr "fire" and akanthos "thorn", equals firethorn). Birds love these berries, but they are mildly poisonous to humans and would certainly give you stomach ache. This is a very prickly bush and makes, as we see here, an excellent boundary protector and much more beautiful and useful than the barbed wire more often used to secure boundary walls.

Thorn versus Wire

A little further on, more red caught my eye as I looked again at a mural of a woman in silhouette holding a red heart. I'm not sure who the artist is, but it was well liked by locals when it first appeared. There is, however,  if you look more closely a sad message by its side, suggesting either a broken heart or a cynical frame of mind, or maybe both.

Disillusionment

Finally, as I neared the end of the Passage I was delighted by this big patch of Broadleaf Plantain (Plantago major) known in Anglo-Saxon times as waybread. It was considered one of their nine sacred herbs, being edible and also credited with healing powers. 

And you, Waybroad [Plantain], mother of herbs,
open from the east, mighty within.
Over you chariots creaked, over you queens rode,
over you brides cried out, over you bulls snorted.
All this you withstood, and confounded.
So you withstand poison and flying venom,
and the foe who goes through the land.

Rub a leaf on a nettle sting, its more effective than dock. 

Small birds love the seeds too.

Plantago major

So, in one short walk, three things to delight the eye and to make me recall things that were half forgotten.

Stay curious.