I am walking in the field, alone apart from the insects and birds. The sound of traffic from the right reminds me of the vicinity of the motorway. From the patch of the forest behind me a jay calls. Ahead of me and slightly to the left a hay-rack is waiting to be filled with scented hay. Power lines criss-cross the landscape in two different directions. Most of the clouds, covering the sky for the past two days, have withdrawn and this late summer day is bathing in sunshine.
There is little evidence of the recent storm. Some broken branches lying on the ground, the leaves still green, some mud alongside the path. If left on its own, the nature takes care of itself and recovers quickly from its own rage.
Shimmering from the hedge attracts my attention. A dragonfly! The sun reflects off its delicate but powerful wings. I follow it into the woods, hoping for a shot but with little success. But there in the bush lies something that wasn't there the last time I passed. A derelict ramshackle sofa with a mattress, obviously left there by humans - unless it flew in through a time warp - a foreign body in the natural environment. I wonder how long it will take for that to decompose if it stays there. Oh, the nature will take over eventually if left alone, but certainly not overnight. And the sofa may stay there for years - a sign of human messiness and duplicity.
