london plane – Stilgherrian

19 October 202523 October 2025

Weekly Wrap 803: Craning to escape plane trees (not sorry)

A clear blue sky over the tops of brightly-lit London plane trees, and sticking up in the middle of the scene is the arm of a massive crane at an unseen building site. Circling overhear in the distance, barely visible at the top of the frame, are three seagulls.

The second of my two weeks in Sydney, Monday 13 to Sunday 19 October 2025, was another pollen-rid distraction, although I did get a podcast recorded.

12 October 202519 October 2025

Weekly Wrap 802: All the plane trees, all the hay fever

A quiet little street in inner Sydney’s Surry Hills. It’s lined on both sides with parked cars. On the right is a row of two-storey terrace houses, many of them still with old-fashioned iron railings, some with dormer windows added. Covering the street are the branches of London plane trees, fully leaved and towering to twice or maybe three times the height of the houses. The street itself and the sidewalks are littered with crushed and dried leaves, and the powdery remnants of seed pods.

My week of Monday 6 to Sunday 12 October 2025 was sore aggrieved by a scourge of platani down in Sydney, although I did manage to finish a podcast. I can be stubborn about these things.