May is the fifth month of the western calendar. If you are able to come to England in May, it is a wonderful month. The weather may be changeable with snowy clouds and rain squalls but then comes the sunshine, soft sunshine, gleaming on the wet leaves. At this time the hedgerows, trees, meadows, burst with new greens of a hundred thousand different shades, electric with burgeoning growth. I once met a chemist from California whose speciality was the e-number of colours, particularly greens. I found him staring up at a horse chestnut tree in Oxford one May. He was filled with wonder and turned to me and said "This is the colour of a horse chesnut in England in spring." He resigned his job in California so that he would be able to revisit this cherished site. What is it about that new growth? It almost gurgles and creaks as each leaf unfurls and escapes from the tiny seed from which it has grown and, like a new pink baby, the freshness will never be surpassed.
