Nature Notes 4

The opening passage from Richard Jefferies’ post-apocalyptic tale of the demise of the UK after disaster befell it.  After London is the remarkable story of how nature fights back leaving the remnants of mankind returning to a lifestyle left behind many centuries earlier.  Another reminder (if we need one just at present) that man isn’t always in control of his destiny.  First published in 1885, long before nuclear or even H G Wells’ novel, The War of the Worlds.  After London can be read online at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13944/13944-h/13944-h.htm#Chap1-1 

“The old men say their fathers told them that soon after the fields were left to themselves a change began to be visible. It became green everywhere in the first spring, after London ended, so that all the country looked alike.”