Ombrophilia

It's been a good week for those who like lots of rain. People as well as plants.

There's a word for everything and the biological term for loving rainwater is ombrophilia and is used mainly of plants. But why not use it to describe humans in the same way as a bibliophile loves books. An ombrophile then would be less likely to be in a library this week than outside admiring waterfalls (and in doing so getting wet).

Blacka has two and this is the one few visitors get to see. And it's in great form. Long may it remain a well kept secret. This view is rare, nature as wild as anything you can find inside a city boundary. To gain this viewpoint you will need to spurn risk assessment advice beloved of conservation workers and professors of tourism. The slope has many traps for the unwary. Mudslides and slippery tree roots, streams to leap over and other hazards.  Add a wolf or two and some wild boar and the children I once knew would be here like a shot. A nature reserve set aside for the under 14s and the over 70s.

What do you call someone who's enthusiastic about old twisted hawthorns - apart from weirdo perhaps? So it could be there's not a word for everything, yet.

That was the initial reason for visiting these parts and there are many old hawthorns here.

Trees can age as once people used to before advanced cosmetic surgery.

Youthful perfection is touching but so is age with added dignity and character and no prizes for symmetry.