THE BANDSTAND

GREENWICH PARK,  SOUTH LONDON

MAY 22 2008  07:29am

Beating the morning rush of commuters,  disecting the beauty of the Park,  like an army of angry ants,  in a monotonous quest to save a few precious minutes off thier daily journey,  I park my motorcycle up and traipse across the grass to a favoured spot.

Joggers whizz by me with their Walkmans so loud I can guess the tune from fifty yards away,  and the hounds of hell are released from the backs of estate cars,  chasing after their shadows,  created by the early morning sunlight,  which bursts through the sparse cloud cover.

I love this bandstand,  and have journeyed here since my childhood,  but never,  it seems to me,  has it seemed so ethereal as this morning.  Shadows dance across the ground and branches gently sway rhythmically in the welcome breeze as,  sleepy folk begin the morning from a hundred backgrounds,  each with stories unique to tell.