It was lunch time, we headed towards Saint James’s Park to have picnick like many Londoners and tourists. But St James’s Park was different on that day…

St James's Park as you usally see it...

The first thing we saw near the entrance of the park was a lawn full of crocus and daffodils. It was so beautiful! Then, we saw the squirrels. They were grey squirrels and they weren’t shy at all: they were eating out of our hands.
We were then very surprised to see so many people in the park, and especially businessmen wearing suits, white shirts and ties, seating on the benches or on the grass and eating sandwiches. It seemed very funny to us, we had never seen anything like that before!
The park was very clean too: there were no leaves on the grass, no paper anywhere. It was obvious that some gardeners were doing a good job in this park to keep it so nice and tidy. We went towards the lake in front of which we wanted to have our lunch break. And there, we had quite a shock! Where we should have seen the lake, there was no water, there were no ducks… there were engines instead! They had emptied the lake to clean it out! So all the animals (mute swans, geese, Mandarin ducks…) were gathered behind some fences. Saint James’s Park had lost most of its beauty! But anyway, we ate our pack-lunch on the lawn, where everybody can walk, sit or even lie… not like in France! We had great fun playing with the squirrels and giving them our food leftovers  too. We even played soccer on the grass!
What surprised us is that we were in the heart of London, between Buckingham Palace and Whitehall, but we played with animals and it was really quiet and very relaxing. We could even have rented deckchairs. It was really amazing.

St James's Park as you have never seen it!

Bright Side of Parks
London is one of the greenest capital city in the world. The Royal Parks are huge and situated in the heart of London. They belong to the Queen, but they are open to everyone during the day. Saint James’s Park is one of the most central parks in London, situated just in front of Buckingham Palace and opposite Green Park. It has a large lake with an island in the middle. When you look across the lake, you can see the government offices of Whitehall and even Big Ben in the distance. Many birds  live on and around the lake.

Article paru dans les Reportages d’Europe N°5, 2010
Rédigé par Shannon, Dimitri, Florian & Jesse du collège Louise Michel de Paimboeuf.