I was working with my head down and when I looked up I was a few inches away from a branch of the lilac. Until that point I hadn’t noticed that the buds were about to open, they were barely showing any colour, and I’d missed it until that moment. A few days later and the flowers are just starting to come. Not long and they’ll be out in full. As a child I remember us driving past row after row of lilac hedge, well overgrown, sturdy trees that seemed to stretch on away from the roadway for miles. Since then I suppose it’s been something that I mark the year with. I missed them last year, weren’t any around where I was. Glad I noticed this time.