If you go down to the woods today...

I've just been on a residential team development/training course thang here for a couple of days.

Apart from mapping out support needs, doing a skills audit and playing with balloons (too cool!) we went for a walk in Grizedale Forest Park.

There was a storm here, not so long ago, and they're still clearing up the wind damage. It was an incredible sight - you felt as if you were walking across the set of Gladiator (you know, the opening battle scenes were they trash some woodland) and into Middle Earth.

Whole stands of pine snapped off at head-height, jagged, splintered trunks still showing rose-gold where the wounds are fresh. Moss-covered trunks laid flat amongst still standing firs, wreathed in mist. Beech and ash tipped over, their root plates canted at awkward angles, like the King of Siam's wives in unaccustomed crinolines.

Living nature and destruction hand in hand. There was something very awe-inspiring about it all.