Coot Canal

I love the lake and park at the bottom of our Road, its like a bit of countryside within very easy reach, for as long as I have lived here it has been a source of pleasure and peace to me.

When I was a lot younger I would go out very early in the morning and jog around it, cutting a dash in my red tracksuit!.

At times when the hustle and bustle and life in general is or has been too much it brings a sense of stillness and tranquillity. It’s a spot to contemplate nature, to be calmed by the gently ruffling water and watch the swans, geese, coots and moorhens swimming about their daily lives.

I have watched the park and lake over the years, even before I lived here I would come over and watch as the lake was dug out and constructed and the park took shape.

My view has been somewhat like a stop motion film, charting the construction, development, blossoming and now sadly some elements of decline of the area.

I watched it grow from a raw young thing with saplings and newly planted shrubs, the jarring edge of the lake dotted with new rushes and bright wood.

As it grew to maturity it blossomed into a special space, open vista’s and interesting places. It had lots of natural spaces but the paths were well maintained and it had a sense of being well kept and cared for in the places that clearly were not given over to nature to take its course.

In the early days, every year the dredger would come around and clear the canals that flow from each end of the lake, keeping the water free flowing.

Sadly that has not happened for a long time now and the canal at one end of the lake is completely blocked with overgrown rushes and a heap of human debris, supermarket trolleys, prams, bikes, wheelie rubbish bins to say nothing of the general litter, beer cans, plastic bags and the like.

Many of the paths now are not just pitted but have holes and sunken areas giving it an unkempt and unloved feel in some places, it would be better now if the paths were the more natural foot-trodden variety, as elsewhere in the area, rather than the neglected asphalt.

But it is still a breath of fresh air, a swath of green grass, bushes, trees and the glorious twinkling water, you just have to ignore the bits that nature has yet to fully reclaim from man!!!!