In advance of a picnic trip if the weather holds, I thought I’d share some eerie pictures of twisted trees at Hollow Ponds in the Leytonstone end of Epping Forest. I’m sure it’ll look less spooky in the sunshine, but there was something a little wild and strange about the place, certainly compared to your usual tidy 
London park.
It *almost* made me miss the countryside. To visit mind, not to stay. For those of you that don’t know, I have a severe case of ruraphobia: the fear of accidentally moving to the countryside. The Leytonstone move isn’t helping, but I’m facing my fear 
What were the Hollow Ponds like in the 1930s? ‘FlyingBunny’ remembers his childhood visits there in the BBC People’s War archive:
There were always rowing boats for hire on the pond and it was always my ambition to hire a boat and explore the many islands there were.
It seemed to me then that the winters were very hard and I loved to play in the snow. My dad made me a toboggan which I took up to the Hollow Ponds and as there were lots of small hillocks I had a great time charging up and down them. There was one such occasion that I caused a major flap at home because I was so enjoying myself that I lost track of time, and arrived home about two hours late. They were just about to send out search parties for me.
There were also many occasions when the pond was frozen over and the ice would be covered with skaters. Even at night the cars would park around the pond and play their headlights on the surface of the ice so that the skaters could see. These events attracted many street vendors who brought barrows with braziers on and sold hot chestnuts and baked potatoes.
Wow, eating hot potatoes and skating by car headlight! Also I not only want a toboggan to play with, I want more excuses to say ‘toboggan’. Even typing it feels good.
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