(Field Shapes, Cowslip)

At the foot of the common I met Margaret, as arranged. Margaret is a great enthusiast for fields, and can hardly pass one by on a country walk without saying “Look at that field!” In some ways, we complement each other perfectly: I, with my fascination for detail close at hand, she with her interest in the larger picture. But today Margaret had something different in mind. I was bending down to look at the dry husks, like bells of papyrus, of a decayed cowslip among the tough grasses, when Margaret said: “Would you look at that field?” I duly looked across the valley. “What shape do you think it is?” she continued. “It’s got five sides of different lengths, and then there’s that little bit added to the corner. It’s an irregular polygon, I suppose, but what sort of polygon?” I said I wasn’t sure. Margaret wasn’t to be deterred. “We should learn some geometry, then we could name all the field shapes too.” I opened my bag and pointed out that there might not be room in it for a primer on geometry as well as the wild flower guide, tree guide, bird guide and notebook, and sandwiches (and novel for any quiet moments) that I was already carrying. “But it could be useful,” Margaret said in her persuasive way, and of course I had to agree.