I wanted to write-but what about?  The colour ‘green’ came to mind so I decided to flick through my photographs, pick out some of the ‘greenist’ ones-and write a bit about them. No philosophical messages.  No hidden meaning.  Just a simple exercise.

I chose about a hundred and immediately deleted anything with litter in them.  This left about fifty.  I then went through the fifty knocking out ones that didn’t jump at me, and that left about twenty five.  I then went through the twenty five and kept ten of them that reminded me of something, or felt important, or just looked good.  And here they are!

A bus to the end of the line leaves you at a point on the outside of Cherbourg in France. Start wandering, and if you caught the same bus as me and wander in the same direction that I did you’ll come across this amazing Chateau.  Name?  Chateau Martinvast. Leveled in the 100 years war this building has gone through many transformations, and many owners.  Badly damaged in the second world war by both an American and then an English incendiary bomb serious restoration didn’t take place until 1967.  Currently owned I am told by a very rich banking family.  The grounds were beautiful.  Perfect for walking (and dreaming) in.

Ah, the magical campsite just South of Le Mont St. Michel in Brittany, France.  This was their Japanese Garden, and relaxing it was too. The campsite had a swimming pool, rabbits, horses, ducks, a massive dog, a Peruvian caretaker, a stunning owneress…and it’s the same campsite I managed to get a very needed week’s work in.

Mallorca, and this ramshackle house stood in its special plot of ‘green’.  To the left right front and back were busy main roads.  To the left right front and back were busy tourist hotels-yet this ramshackle building had not been destroyed or moved.  I loved passing it by.  The owners were elderly.  I liked to think they had defiantly said, “No, we are not moving.  We have lived here all our lives.  Build your roads.  Build your hotels.  We’re going nowhere”. Defiance.  With peace attached, this is a great act.

Marnhull, Dorset, round the back of my Folks house.  You walk down a lane taking your sorrows with you, look out across the fields, breathe in the green, do the circuit, and return refreshed, perhaps not healed but in a better state of  mind.  Thanks Folks. Thanks Dorset.

Love it!  Cherbourg, France again…and how much care can you give a tree?  Wires coated in rubber hosepipe pinned to the ground and clasped to its trunk.  I wish we cared for all of nature like this.

Eastern Crete, Greece.  Overlooking the multitude of olive trees that carpet this Island, this Country.  Books give estimates of 30,000,000 olive trees on Crete alone.

A road accident.  A memory.  A loved one.  A friend.  Walking along the roadside it’s very difficult to pass these memorials by without looking for a picture, taking a deep breath and wishing all concerned well.  In Greece you’ll see a lot of these.

Wanderings in Normandy, France.  Soft moss underfoot gives the option of overnight sleeping spots.  I’ve never seen a fairy, but if I was too, these are the places I would see them I’m sure.

I love reading plaques on benches.  I’ve taken loads of photographs of them.  Not a lot of green in this one I know, but it still jumped out at me.  What a great quote.  Must have been a great lady. (Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London.  In this park which was only about 100 metres by 100 metres…I counted sixty six litter bins!).

The green labels of Sitia’s olive oil bottles.  It wasn’t the bottles of oil that jumped out at me, it was the shelving that supported it.  I had the job of supplying 10 or twelve units for this Tourist shop.  I made them all out of recycled pallets.  Lots of work, appropriate money, lovely owners.  Greece is going through a very difficult economic time, and the owner of this shop who is a very nice man had to leave his wife and family to go back to his old job of captaining container ships.  You’re a very good man Ianni.  I hope life is being very good to you.  I have not met many people with such a heart as yours.

Another view across Sitia bay, (Eastern Crete, Greece).  Wow, what memories I have of this place.  Learning ballroom and latin dancing. Combing the beaches for driftwood. Combing the beaches for plastic.  Olive picking.  Coffee drinking.  Huge lengthy walks. Beautiful people.  Time to get back there for a visit…soon.

Green photos!  What next, blue…or something different?