Whelming
Benhill Road, London, SE5
Whilst admiring the leafy lines enveloping this box and wall it occurred to me that perhaps what I was witnessing was a whelming. To describe the situation as overwhelming seemed overdramatic (or would it just be dramatic?), especially as it will be a far more appropriate description in a few weeks time – when the box and wall have been fully engulfed by a proliferation of leaves. But for now, was a whelming occurring? Is this even a word?
The dictionary says Yes! Whelm almost means the same as overwhelm but with a less panicky, desperate feeling. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the wall and box currently think they are being overwhelmed, but they’ll soon discover what overwhelmed really means.
I’m rather enjoying the whelming stage though. There’s still space to enjoy the dark delicate structures of stem, the reds and greens of fresh new leaves, the baby blue of the box and the orange insulating spray foam ‘flowers’.
