Pavilion Gardens at Lunchtime

Sat outside the cafe at lunchtime. Green chairs and a cup of tea, the usual mix of old couples and people on the verge of middle age. A man plays pipes in the distance, and there is something jarring about the sound. Forests and pan pipes and panic, and people vanishing. Echoes of this even here, on a mild grey day, murky and heavy with mid-autumn.
Watch the grass - signs to stay off it - there actually is no grass any more - they've torn it up. Muddy earth, wet and sticky looking. The few trees on the grassed area look marooned and remote. It seems impossible to think that people spend days here over summer drinking tea and pretending that autumn and winter never existed.