The Mill Lane Open Space is a diminutive natural area in West Hampstead. Its narrow entrance does not anticipate the nice surprise that this piece of London nature is. It is in Mill Lane, London Borough of Camden, NW6 1. It is owned by LB Camden.

There are two great things about the space: the pond and a corner with a large pile of logs. They both support a good number of frogs and newts.

We visited the site at the end of May. Some big Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus) dominated the dry pond. The plant is native to Britain but cultivated worldwide. In some regions, the flag iris scaped to become an invasive aquatic plant. Its rhizomes make the pest practically impossible to eradicate.

In Mill Lane however, the flower is a very nice feature of the site.

A good novel by Marie Phillips, funny and quick to read. Apollo is less powerful than he think he is. Everyone thinks of him as an arrogant and not particularly clever god. His aunt Aphrodite reflects on how to exact revenge on Apollo while having sex with him.

Jesus Christ started the beginning of the end for the Olympians. Formerly civilised and proud Mediterraneans, for some reason the divinities ended up in the the barbarian and repressed North. Now their decadence is set between Hampstead Heath, which by the way is boasting a glorious spring these days, Islington, Angel and Kings Cross in London.

I just found that the book is mainstream. This is a screenshot of the homepage of Amazon yesterday:

A small public library closed last year. I was a perfect venue to return books originally borrowed at the much larger Swiss Cottage library and to check the press.

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