Concerts come to Blackweir FIelds

Overcast again this morning, but the wind picked up and blew the clouds away by the afternoon. We went to the Eucharist at St Catherine's which included the baptism of a girl about eight years old in the service. There was a congregation of about fifty, half of whom were visitors. Some kind of event was being held in the church hall this afternoon. A Portacabin toilet trailer was parked on the grass next to the hall, which may have been for a wedding reception yesterday or for this afternoon's event. Refereshments were served in the Lady Chapel instead. We didn't stay, but returned home straight away for lunch.

I slept in the chair for over an hour after we'd eaten, and then harvested the blackberries which have been growing, so far un-noticed by the birds in a secluded corner of the garden. I then went out for a walk in Pontcanna Fields. Down by Blackweir Bridge a large notice informed park users of a series of summer pop concerts next month in the playing fields on the other side of the bridge, which are, I discovered, known as Blackweir Fields. 

On the far side, near North Road and the Ambulance Station is a small terrace of 19th century houses bearing the name Blackweir Cottage. They may have originally been labourers' dwellings rather than one house. The only headline performers' names I recognised were Stevie Wonder and Alanis Morisette. 

At the far end of Pontcanna Fields by the cricket ground there was a gathering of several hundred people gathered for a sporting awards presentation ceremony staged by 'Les Croupiers' running club. Quite an appropriate venue for such an event. 

When I got home the aroma of blackberry jam greeted me. Clare got to work while I was out preparing and cooking the three quarters of a pound of fruit I picked. Just three jars, but such a taste of summer that re-connects me with childhood. My Dad had blackberry bushes in our back garden veggie patch, and one of my tasks was picking them when I was a boy. 

After supper I spent the evening watching more episodes of 'West Wall' much of which is set in forest on the border between Belgium and Germany where the Siegfried Line ran. Most of its concrete defensive emplacements have long been demolished, except in the few places where they have been conserved since 1997 as a reminder of the cost in lives when it was being built by forced labour and then fought over. Up to that point it figured in neo-nazi propaganda as a reminder of past achievement. Thanks to conservation of structures the remains have become a haven for wildlife and unique biodiverse wilderness 'hot spots'. The drama centres around a neo-nazi terrorist cell that lives in the forest and uses a bunker complex as its arsenal. An unusual piece of fiction, to say the least.