Released from the nauseating Pendolino
I found myself outside my rural comfort zone
Several minutes’ walk from Euston
I discovered an oasis in the park
Where Virginia Woolf once strolled
Not just a room of her own
A garden reserved for those of her class

London’s microclimate bathed me with warm sunshine
Relieved from the North-Eastern cold winds and rain
I strolled aimless and free to notice
Snowdrops, crocus, robins, budding of leaves
Out of my mind, meditative, until
the burliest squirrel I ever saw, swaggered over,
sat up on its haunches and squared up to me.

I didn’t know if it wanted to sell me drugs
or mug me.