



"While there is still much that we don’t know about our intimate link to the natural world, the positive effects are undeniable. And unlike many drugs, the dose curve for outdoor time doesn’t follow a bell-curve; a little bit of nature is a good thing, and even more nature is an even better thing.

"The best part of this is, we don’t need to alter our lives dramatically, in order to see beneficial changes. Just being around living greenery, like houseplants, can help, and a short 15 minute stroll through a natural area is enough to show measurable biochemical changes. But if you want to go for the gold, chose an activity that includes the magical trifecta of wellbeing: outdoor time, spontaneous play, and social engagement."

It's been a gloriously sunny weekend here, and while it's easy to let anxiety about the ever-rising temperatures across the globe take hold, at the same time there's nothing intrinsically wrong with appreciating the beauty of a hot and sunny day where and when you happen to be at the time. Our species may or may not survive this century, and if we don't, there's no real doubt that it will be our fault. Perhaps it is inevitable. In any case, there is no less joy in the world than there ever was. The immediacy of any present moment is a bottomless wellspring of cosmic giggles. Nowhere, I think, is this more apparent than when one sits by a fire.





There's a lot of dry and rotting wood on my allotment , mostly old fence posts and crates that I've been breaking down for wood chip (if it's really rotten) or sawing into smaller chunks to use for I knew not what - until it occurred to me it might be better just to burn them. Or it might not, of course , in big picture terms, but again - anxiety, joy? Let's focus.









Fire forces focus. There's something utterly compelling about it. Both on Friday and on Saturday evening, I found myself transfixed by the flames for hours at a stretch. Fire is the first technology, perhaps the discovery that facilitated one of our species' earliest evolutionary leaps. I found myself pondering this as the evenings drew in. The birdsong faded with the light, but the joy remained.









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Our "intimate link with the natural world", indeed. I barely gawped at my phone at all.