Big Oak, Woking

This big oak, barely an acorn's throw from my door, has shed enough nuts to keep an army of squirrels for the winter. But it hasn't yet shed all of its leaves. I passed it on a trip to the post box with a booking for some salmon fishing.

The beat prices have gone up 75 per cent in the last two years while many people's earnings, including mine, have been falling. Robbery, says a fellow fisherman. It certainly feels like that. But I love my fishing and while I'm happy to give up a few luxuries - grapes, for example (can anyone afford grapes these days?) - I want to hang on to the fishing if I can.

Some things are beyond price. Like an oak tree.