It was John Major who infamously spoke about going 'Back to Basics' and the last person I would like to emulate is that Tory prime minister, the very rotter who oversaw the privatisation of the railways.
Nevertheless, for this post only, Basics is exactly where
The trees around Nunhead is going back to.
Nunhead has lots of roads whose names derive from trees. But I don't think there are many lindens (limes) on Linden Grove, Limesford Road nor Limes Walk. I haven't spotted any. Hollydale Road may have some holly, however, and I'm sure somewhere on its long length Ivydale Road boasts some ivy.
This small specimen, which is none of the above, can be found on the corner of East Dulwich Road and Peckham Rye (W):-
Turning the other way, there is this huge horse chestnut:
Some of you may recall my posting of 11th March (
Just what it says on the Tin) where I wrote about a huge tree on Nunhead Green that
'after some heavy-handed topiary... dominates the Green today. Huge, menacing, with blunt fingers grasping at the sky'.
Well here is what it looks like now. The blunt fingers are covered with greenery and a lot of the sense of menace has gone. Perhaps the topiarist knew what she or he was doing after all:-
Just around the corner, this strange growth stands guard over Nunhead Library:
There are quite a lot of these strange spiky trees (bushes?) in the area. Maybe they were fashionable once?
This poor shot of the roundabout at the junction of Clayton and Consort Roads at first seems pointless in the current context.
But closer up, you can see a mature Aruacaria or Monkey Puzzle Tree.
Elsewhere in Nunhead, these trees stand outside Ivydale school (unsurprisingly, on Ivydale Road):-
And this is the entrance to Nunhead Cemetery from Limesford Road:
Finally a photograph of the unusual house that stands near the south-east end of Peckham Rye, opposite the old tram stop:
So. I've beaten the bounds of Nunhead (sort of), photographed some trees - some for the first time - and gone Back to Basics.
And I feel all the better for it.
After all, people might otherwise wonder about the title of the blog and what it was all about, and I wouldn't want that.
Oh, and I felt it would be appropriate.
This has been my hundredth posting.
Turning the other way, there is this huge horse chestnut: 
Some of you may recall my posting of 11th March (Just what it says on the Tin) where I wrote about a huge tree on Nunhead Green that 'after some heavy-handed topiary... dominates the Green today. Huge, menacing, with blunt fingers grasping at the sky'. 
Just around the corner, this strange growth stands guard over Nunhead Library:
There are quite a lot of these strange spiky trees (bushes?) in the area. Maybe they were fashionable once?
But closer up, you can see a mature Aruacaria or Monkey Puzzle Tree.
Elsewhere in Nunhead, these trees stand outside Ivydale school (unsurprisingly, on Ivydale Road):-
And this is the entrance to Nunhead Cemetery from Limesford Road:
Finally a photograph of the unusual house that stands near the south-east end of Peckham Rye, opposite the old tram stop:
So. I've beaten the bounds of Nunhead (sort of), photographed some trees - some for the first time - and gone Back to Basics. 
