The stillness of a summer night

There was just a hint of a warm breeze. It fluttered through the leaves of some silver birches and made the uncut strands of our beech hedge dance in the half-light but apart from those sights and sounds, the night was still and silent. It was almost as if I was alone in the entire world and then, somewhere in the far unseen distance, a dog barked, and then a cow lowed and some sheep bleated, but only momentarily. Above, I became aware of a party of swifts high in the heavens, swirling and sweeping and screaming through the skies and then an owl hooted, just once, as if to remind me that he was working, even if many in the rest of the world were at rest.

Later, a few pipistrelles fluttered past, doubtless going about their evening's insect-catching duties and as the darkness became almost complete with no moon or street lights to break it apart, some magpies began to chatter, as if they had been disturbed during their slumbers. And then it was silence again, with neither a whisper of wind nor the sound of any animal or human activity.

Many of our finest poets have praised the virtues of silence and a recent report suggests that occasional periods of restful silence are beneficial to one's health because they are a fine means of countering the stresses and strains of modern life. In the balmy outdoor silence of a blissful summer night, I raised my glass to that!

There seems to be a bumper crop of elderberries this year. During the early part of summer, the elder trees in my part of rural Yorkshire were drenched in thick white blossom and now those flowers are ripening into millions of little black berries. By the time these notes appear in print, I would imagine some of that wild fruit will be ripe and ready for picking.

Although those bunches of luscious black berries look so tempting, they are not particularly tasty to the palate although birds and small mammals love them. If elderberries do have a part to play in our diets, then they are usually supplementary to the main dish, sometimes as a sauce, although some country women would add the whole to apple pies. People with a taste for game would enjoy Pontack Sauce which is named after the London restaurant which offered this speciality. There were different recipes throughout the country but one in my files suggests one pint of boiling vinegar or claret which is poured over a pint of ripe elderberries in a stone jar or some other suitable container such as a casserole dish. This is then covered and kept overnight in a very low oven and the following day, pour the liquid into a saucepan along with a teaspoon of salt, a blade of mace, 40 peppercorns, 12 cloves, an onion finely chopped and a small amount of ginger.

Boil for ten minutes and then bottle the lot. It has been suggested that this sauce is best kept for seven years although I doubt if many of us could resist using it for such a long time. Although I have never tasted this delight, I am assured it is rich and fruity, and that it is very good with most game meats as well as liver.

The berries can also be made into delicious elderberry wine and also jam, both of which are rich with vitamin C and therefore of benefit for health reasons.

Although we often regard the elder as a weedy type of tree, it does in fact produce some very useful healthy items. Coughs can be treated with a type of tea made from its flowers, an extract of its bark is used as a purgative and dyes of various colours can be made from its bark and leaves.

Not only that, the hollow stems of its young shoots make wonderful pea-shooters and an elder tree growing near the house or cattle shed will keep away witches. And finally, a twig of its leaves will keep flies off!

The Government has announced that it is to create uniformed litter wardens who will patrol the streets to deter louts from dropping their cast-off rubbish. From what I have learned so far, it seems these will be urban creatures; they will be paid a salary of £14,000 and will have powers to hand out £50 on-the-spot fines and act as witnesses in prosecutions for vandalism. Furthermore, they all have access to police radio networks so that, in the event of real trouble, they can summon the police if something major occurs. A pilot scheme is to be tested in the London Borough of Merton and if it is successful, local authorities have the power to appoint them.

There is no doubt such a presence is needed in our towns and cities. Some areas are an utter disgrace for there seems to be a culture of depositing one's sandwich wrappers or crisp packets - and worse - in the street, rather than in a litter bin. And taking such stuff home for disposal seems never to occur to some.

But this is not only an urban problem. The countryside also suffers from litter louts and these take much more catching because they throw rubbish out of cars which means they are soon a very long way from the scene of their crime. Only a week ago, I followed a car from which a young girl tossed a crisp packet and later, I paused at a local viewpoint and was dismayed at the amount of litter which had been left there. Plastic sandwich matures, crisp packets, drinks cans and bottles, sweet papers, cigarette packets and even a plastic shopping bag had all been thrown out of cars as their owners had paused to enjoy the view. Whilst enjoying one view, they were polluting another.

If these town litter wardens are a success, I do hope the countryside will also benefit - although I wonder why the authorities don't employ more police officers. Their powers are much wider - it would seem a better idea to have more police officers than to litter our streets with uniformed bodies who have a limited usefulness. There does seem to be a reluctance, especially among Labour-dominated councils and the Government, to admit the need for an increase in the police establishment.

Although litter wardens, private security guards, neighbourhood patrols and supermarket detectives and their ilk have their uses, it is surely better to have more uniformed policemen patrolling the streets.

In addition to keeping litter louts at bay, they might even deter a few criminals and prevent a few crimes. That would be far better value for the taxpayers' money.

To return to our fictional tale about life in North Yorkshire village, it was something of a shock when the parish council of Kelderdale discovered that the oldest building in the village was a public toilet, or to be precise, a disused public toilet. Hitherto, most people had regarded the pub as the oldest structure - the parish church was built in 1846 so that date eliminates that building - but old parish records have removed all doubt so far as the toilet is concerned. It is a building of historic and architectural interest.

The revelation occurred when a property developer applied to knock down the toilet block and replace it with a gazebo. The fact that it is now at the bottom of his private garden is not relevant because, some years ago, he acquired the strip of land upon which the toilet stood and put a fence around it. Now, it seems, the legality of that acquisition is the subject of an investigation into parish council corruption because some elderly villagers remember a public footpath to the toilet which, for those with no such facilities in their homes, was comforting. It then stood on common land and was often used during cricket matches and by wedding parties.

There is now a groundswell of opinion in Kelderdale which is demanding the re-opening of the toilet and the return of its site to public use. A local historian has explained to the Chronicler of Kelderdale: "Yon toilet was used by Cromwell and his troops when they came to these parts, and if it was good enough for Cromwell, then it's still good enough for this village." The parish council is looking into it.