Yes, it's here, our first anonymous letter . . .
Yes, we posted the latest leaflet through everyone's door last evening. This morning , on my mat, was a beautifully hand-written A-5 note. It very politely pointed out that the pavement (1.2 metres wide, the old 4 feet) was for pedestrians, and that gardens were for flowers.
Our intention is to use the bricked portion of the pavement, near the kerb, for flowerbeds. We intend to leave the paving slab area completely free
I have no idea who our correspondent is (no visible fingerprints, no scented lavender paper, no tell-tale green ink, just a Biro-transcribed copperplate hand on the back of our leaflet).
May I take this opportunity to re-assure our dear neighbour of the best handwriting that it is neither our intention to take over the pavement with creeping greenery nor to make it difficult to progress down our road.
The BIG IDEA behind the Grey to Green for Chatterton Road is to make our road into a brighter and more beautiful place. It is our wish to work together to make the street into a scented paradise of bobbing wildflower heads in the afternoon sunlight. We will also be out in the road more often tending greenery, and we wil likely get to know each other better.
Also, we have a few children in the road, and some of them like the idea of Play Street, a scheme that Islington supports, whereby we can have the road closed for a few hours once in awhile. Children can then play in the road safe in the knowledge that there will be no cars or vans in the road.
In conclusion, I trust that has re-assured you. There are likely others in the road, amongst the 400 of us who live here, who are also hesitant about this big step, making flower gardens in the pavement. Let me re-assure you that this is going on all over London we have the blessing of our local council Islington, and they've offered us help and advice.
Anytime you'd like to join us, even if it's for a chat and a cup of tea, please feel free. There are no rules and no ceremony. We will be enjoying ourselves and we want you to enjoy what we're doing too. Thanks for your letter and for sharing your concern, we too share it. We know how important it is for wheelchairs and wheelchair users, and parents with prams to be able to get past easily.
On the plus side, I've just used PhotoShop Express for the first time on an iPad, to make this blog post. It's great to learn new tricks on technology !
The way things will go is that we won't be having meetings, we'll just be out there making whatever flowerbeds we can in our spare time and planting them out. I plan to receive flower seeds from various donors, and some plants are also promised. As resources come in I shall tell our committee members, or they can tell me, and we'll be getting on with it.
More posts as we do more work in our road. All the best for good gardening. . . and a Happy Easter to all.
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