The Days are Getting Longer
The days are fast getting longer.
We are at the equinox and, whichever twilight you go by, the sun takes over this half of the year.
There is a time for coats and hats and a time for dresses and shirtsleeves.
But, while we still have a decent bit of darkness to the twenty four hours it is, I think, worth putting the night to good use.
Being out at night adds a fully human meaning to living:
Walking across the fields to my pigs,
The sea and St Anthony's light; the woods and hedges and ripples and white horses.
Stumbling with good people on the coast path; the moon coming up out of the sea and a dram passed around.
Running, with my dog pulling ahead, head torch on, along a muddy track, and suddenly blue lights flashing, high viz immersion suits and digital bleeps, on a cold hail shot slip, marks the passing of a thoroughly analog and warm hearted man.
Standing in the great field playing my fiddle across the water under a freezing, blazing sky.
Sitting under a navigable field of stars, watching sparks from the fire light up smiles in joy and cast shadows in intimacy.
Talking without glare, sweet nothings, bland natterings, bitter every things.
A night on the countryside is something worth enjoying wholeheartedly.
Tom Kemp