Ivy
by Miss Roberts
Twisting through the City
I was teaching my students how to paint ivy leaves yesterday. Ivy is a difficult plant to paint, with its dark, grey-green colour and white veins. I like how it often has a purple or crimson-ish stem which, if you look carefully, seems to twist around like fine snakes weaving in and out of each other.
Once apon a time I used to live in a basement flat with a garden, at the end of which was the railway track carrying the Piccadilly and District Line tube trains into London. There was an ugly concrete wall separating my garden from the long drop down to the track on the other side. A great mass of ivy grew up and over this wall in a fairytale fashion. I tried to encourage this ivy, but one day the railway workmen cut it down and threw it over to my side of the wall.
Upon landing, the ivy curled over itself and formed a long tube. My dog Monty (a small terrier) loved investigating this tube and rummaging through it. Over time, the ‘ivy parcels’ continued to arrive and, eventually, my back garden became a maze of tunnels. I was impressed at how the ivy managed to stay alive, and indeed thrive, albeit in this tubular form.