Back in March, when the brown stuff reached the aircon, the M4 motorway, which is just visible on the horizon from Foxy Towers, relaxed from its normal frenzy to a bare trickle of traffic. So little was it used that it attracted viewers, fascinated by the sight of kilometre distances between vehicles, almost all of which were commercial traffic. This manifestation of mellowness was miraculously accompanied by skys clear of contrails, by birdsong audible for the first time in living memory within half a mile of the baleful tarmac, and a general relaxation of the otherwise palpable manically driven southern English madness.

This time? The skies remain calmer than they had been, but as for carbon spewing motorised transport, there’s no such effect. The motorway has remained at its normal levels of activity, and the roar can be heard from a field or two away, yea unto sunset and beyond. Why is this?

Are folks just ignoring the reality of what’s supposed to be happening? Certainly, our neighbours seem to be paying little attention to their obligations as pedestrians. The Chelsea Tractor drivers are still meeting for a lengthy undistanced chin-wag twice a day outside the Primary School opposite the » Continue Reading.