I’ve been writing a very rough biographical memoir to leave to my children and grandchildren. The narrative reflects the changing world since my earliest memories from the 1950s. Sometimes the passage of time is crystallised in the realisation that there are once common things you no longer see: coal men; pink paraffin deliveries; men and women in hats; grocery delivery boys on bikes; cars with rear window stickers saying ‘Running-in Please Pass and so on. I was reminded today that you no longer see fields of stubble burning, a practice that was widespread until it was effectively prohibited as recently as 1993.
Photo: Barley, burning straw and trees near Burrough Green, Cambs, 170614