Monday 10 July 2006

Afterthought

So it's now July the 11th, only three weeks from the solstice and yet already there is a subtle change in the weather. Last night it was windy and a little bit rainy, and whilst it has been a largely hot and fine summer there is nothing new there, what there was though was an ever so slightly diferent feel in the air. The wind brought with it the first signs of change, the very tantalising soft first edge of the coming winter, the sort of weather to bring out the wildness in one, a gauntlet thrown down; if I don't get to the jungle in time I'm going to be facing another one of these it seemed to say.

bring it.

The corn is going yellow, some of the taller grasses, having seaded, are dying away - just perfect to use for tinder - all of last years growth being hidden away by this years, slowly rotting away and returning to the earth.

So the seasons travel on.

I feel as though I have only scraped the surface, there is a huge untapped wealth of knowledge hidden in the wild places, mostly now that knowledge is no longer stored in people's consciousness, not passed from generation to generation but resides in dusty books in librarys. Fortunately I have access to the Bodleian library in Oxford, I am writing from there now, and a bit of research into this lost knowledge will help to break up the day from what is turning out to be the monotonous task of planning the trip to Ecuador. If I discover anything startling I will share it with you here.

The blog of my life right now has moved here

http://bethejam.squarespace.com/preparation/