19^th June 2016

Dear All,

The weather has had a fairly profound effect on events this week. On Wednesday the Police cancelled cricket because the weather forecast was dire. On Thursday we got damp walking and our annual Garden Party for the U3A “Just Vegetating” class was rudely interrupted by a downpour. In addition, RHS sent me a photo of a field where we have a trial in Spalding which was under water.

On Thursday we completed the “Lea Valley Walk” that we began in Luton in 2014. The plan had been to walk the last section through the Olympic Park in spring 2015 when the flowers were at their best. In the event this did not happen until last week. We started at Tottenham Hale and walked the tow path to the Olympic Park where we had booked a couple of blue badge guides for a tour. It began to rain more or less straight away so umbrellas were up and down like yoyos. The tour was very good and the efforts to use the park after the games seem very commendable. The admin block is being turned into offices and cafes, the Aquadrome is now a public swimming pool, numerous cycle tracks start from the Velodrome and, of course, West Ham have  been virtually gifted the main stadium. There has been a lot of planting since the games so the site looked very smart even in the rain. Goodness knows how many billions have been spent but it has certainly regenerated a scruffy area.

River Lea near Tottenham Hale

Velodrome

New planting

Aquadrome

Barge below Olympic Park

Canary Wharf Tower

Sky Garden

After lunch on the site we walked via Limehouse to Canary Wharf and the Thames culminating at the “Sky Garden”. I didn’t know that this existed but it is a splendid glass dome covered garden on the first floor of 20 Fenchurch Street, mainly planted with drought resistant plants.

On Friday we had an open garden and meal for 25 from our U3A course. Kate had prepared a splendid array and they had just settled down outside when it began to rain so they all ended up indoors. However it did not dampen spirits too much and it seemed to go well.

Love

Mike & Kate