online: 24 september 2009 modified: 20, 24 september 2009 20 september 2009 sunset
beyond trees
...from a path I seldom walk... facing northwest and the evening light... tall trees encircle a steeply sloping clearing... part mown grass, part nettles, thistles, and other tall plants... above the horizon is a large bluey grey cloud with pink clouds above it... and on the way here there were signs of autumn (blackberries are already decayed)...
...while following chance directions at each fork i was led along a path i don't know and then was stopped by a hedge of dead branches and brambles etc which surround one of the old trees that the people in charge here are trying to preserve... walking round this obstacle (seen by some of us as a reduction of public space) i saw that about 20 metres of this hedge has been burnt, leaving charred and blackened logs and none of the prickly undergrowth... violence provoking violence, i imagine...
...the grey cloud has now moved to fill nearly all the sky and hide the sunset... I move to another seat, facing north, from which i can see chinks of yellowish cloud between the grey cloud-sheet and the north western horizon...
...the lights are switching on in a tall house or mansion in the trees below and red and yellow lights of cars shine through gaps in the trees, still in green leaf... but now casting dark shadows... a small helicopter approaches filling the whole scene with it's disproportionate roar... but these loud and visible signs of technology, and hurry, do not take away from my enjoyment of this little path alongside a wood, above a field and above a piece of forest... and the thought of people having walked here perhaps for millennia... walking in relative stillness...
...it's getting dark... 19:30... time to go...
..as i went, again in chance directions, i soon found myself walking along the remnant of a country lane, still existing amongst recent buildings... and greatly valued by some, in this modern context of vehicles and traffic lights and the sounds of traffic...
...there i passed a little observatory... which i believe is occasionally 'open to the public' (as we say of ourselves in or unpaid role as actual people)... i made a mental note (and later this electronic one) to return here some cloudless night 'to see the stars'!
...on my return i ate some blackberries, gathered near to this spot some weeks go and still eatable... thanks to the existence of freezers... i feel we should thank our recent ancesors for all such technical benefits (without which most of us would not have been born) as well as trying to correct their mistake of not considering side effects... and now we live in a world (half destroyed say some) where many are learning how live connectively... 'as a matter of course'...!
for comfortable line length set the window to about two-thirds of the screen width
You may transmit this text to anyone for any non-commercial
purpose if you include the copyright line and this notice and if you
respect the copyright of quotations.
If you wish to reproduce any of this text commercially please
send a copyright permission request to jcj 'at' publicwriting.net
(replace 'at' and spaces by the @ sign)
