All in all it’s turning out to be a very satisfactory kind of September – wind and fallen leaves yes but also bright sunshine and sandal wearing warmth has been noted. The hedgerows are full of things this year. Ellie has been round filling up my kitchen with damsons, blackberries, pears and apples. It’s been a veritable bonanza. For those of you interested in free food all year you should read Food for Free by Richard Mabey.

In between climbing trees, oh alright, reaching up to pick apples from trees, I’ve managed to write an article for Now or Never, almost write the minutes for my residents association, write some more poems and been to work. Wow I hear you say!

About a month ago a large steel structure appeared. It looked like a silver circle with a cross in it. Then little coloured boxes filled in the circle to make it look like a giant setting sun. It dawned on me that this was the ‘swift tower’ that I’ve heard rumours about. So today being a lovely day for a walk – instead of continuing along Riverside – I finally crossed over the river on the dream of a bridge to have a closer look.

Designed by Andrew Merritt to look like a giant African sun it emits the sound of swifts calling from a solar powered bird scarer that has been modified. I couldn’t actually see any swifts darting in and out but there are certainly swifts in the area. I see them playfully swooping up and down the river whenever I cycle along it. I would have preferred to see a ramshackle picturesque cottage with lots of good old fashioned eves for the swifts to nest under but if modern art can play the same role then I applaud it. However I should have thought the sounds of fake swifts would have been off putting to the birds but I guess only time will tell that. If I were a swift that had flown all the way from Africa then I think I’d probably like a bit of peace and quiet while I did a spot of neat building!

Still it is all pretty exciting. It’s the first swift tower that any council has commissioned so well done Cambridge City Council! You can read more about it on Action For Swifts or in the Cambridge News and the BBC Cambridgeshire.

The tower is certainly an interesting edition to the area which now has a proper path with benches and litter bins. One of which is one of the new solar powered compressors that made their début in Ireland last summer and on Green End Road Park in Cambridge earlier this year. There is also a bin for recycling! Yea! Finally!

Along Riverside itself to add to the the cycle bridge and the bollards that were put in a few years ago to prevent cars shooting along the length of the road, there is the new walkway that will hopefully prioritise pedestrians and cyclists over cars and make the walk from Midsummer Common to Stourbridge Common just that bit nicer. To encourage cars off the road Streetcar are planning to put a car on Riverside. The already have one in the Vie Development. It looks like the whole area will soon be a haven for the environmentally conscious Cambridge cyclists. What fun!

Cambridge is preparing itself this year and there are to be quad bike snow ploughs at the train station. I just hope they clear the cycle paths – last year it was a nightmare for cyclists as cars zoomed slushily past on cleared roads throwing snow, ice and fear into the cycle paths while cyclists balanced preciously on their bikes amid frozen treacherous black peaks of icy debris.
The rowers on the other hand are hardy types who despite the weather this morning were rowing up and down the river wearing massive gloves and looking pretty cold.

Anyone out there nervous and in need of a haircut should definitely head to Benet Street in Cambridge and deliver yourself into the hands of Al and his team.

On Saturday the sun came out so we cycle down the towpath to Milton, on to Landbeach and then to Waterbeach in search of Emmaus a community for homeless people. They have a large shop there selling all sorts of recycled things and furniture. They even have new pine furniture they make there. If you’ve got stuff you’d like to donate to them you can drop it off or ask for it to be picked up. We just happened to be there for the Solidarity Sale for Emmaus International so everything was half price and we had great fun bargain hunting.
We cycled back picking plums and munching them. There are lots of plum and apple trees and apples seem to be very early this year. We’re already enjoyed plums and custard several times as well as blackberry and apple crumble this year and we now have a freezer stuffed full of plums that should last us a good few weeks.

I then popped along to the Stop The War picnic on Lammas Land near the play area before calling it a day and having an early night.

Andy and I spent the rest of the day buying him a bike on the ‘bike to work scheme’. It sounds like a great idea – people are encouraged to ride bikes to work and the money to buy your bike is taken out of your wages and you benefit by not paying tax or national insurance on it. The downside is that your employer gets to decide where you can get your bike and Halfords isn’t a great choice. Most of the customers in the bike department were clutching their bike to work vouchers with a sort of manic desperation. I was left undecided as to whether they really did need a tax break on their bikes or they just wanted it because it seemed like a really good higher purchase scheme. Perhaps the air of desperation was due to being in Halfords which is possibly the worst place to buy a bike from. I am convinced that the lack of choice of where you buy your bike from is a major drawback of this scheme. Halfords has an expensive and unimpressive range of bikes, it was chronically understaffed and the staff seemed to have a total lack of passion about bikes. Give me a little bike shop any day, where people know what they are talking about and can offer you real and valuable advice.

Yesterday I went into the centre and visited useful and exciting places such as the tourist information. The tourist info is a bit run down and depressing here and doesn’t not even supply tourists with free maps of the city – it’s probably easier to check them out online and print out a map of the city yourself.

I was fully intending to go and see if Cambridge Cycling Campaign had their stall outside the Guildhall yesterday but the morning slipped past me before I had a moment to grab it – so that’s a little job for next Saturday.

Of all of the heartwarming things this week my favourite is that Waitrose let you use bike trailers for free. I am definitely going to try it out and see if it’s as good as it sounds.

And all my internet search led my to a great environmental blog based in Cambridge.

The weather was amazingly hot over the weekend and Monday. On Sunday I wandered round Slottskogen failing to find Karin and her music quiz possy but managing to get a bit of sun. On Monday it was back to work but in between I have mainly found reasons to sit in Star Cups drinking beverages. On Monday I managed to convince K to hang out there with me and yesterday Cheri and I spent a pleasant hour or so there people watching and sipping English Breakfast tea.

Today after a few pleasant hours with Cheri in the centre of Gothenburg, I went for a very pleasant walk with Karin and Ted and paid a visit to the shop near the habour which sells lost property found on the trains. We spent the evening chatting and munching popcorn which was very satisfying.

The bookclub now has a blog all set up and ready to go – so now you can all read the books and comment on them even if you can’t come to one of our meetings.