Grass over

If you happened to have been anywhere near Nelson's column in London these past two days you would have seen that the paving stones in Trafalgar Square had been covered in grass.

It was a tourism promotion to highlight London's parks and fields, the city's green lungs. The grass only stayed two days before it was moved to one of the parks. But in the short time it was there hundreds of people took the opportunity to stretch out and enjoy it.

Every City needs its fields but unless the green spaces are protected there is no hope of saving them from developers. Once developed, the spaces never revert to grass.

When the City authorities in New York were seeking ideas for a fitting memorial on the site of the twin towers I thought that the best thing would have been to have grassed over the space so that New Yorkers could enjoy one patch of peace in their otherwise hectic lives.

But it wasn't going to happen. The human race is conceited enough to believe that everything on this planet is improved by human interference when the reverse is true.
So New York is building its Freedom Tower. I'm sure the final structure will be beautiful. But so is grass.