One on Christmas Eve and the other on New Years Eve 2015.
Christmas Eve: It felt like walking in spring, the sun was out my jacket too warm and the wild flowers were out! The first thing I saw was a Magpie and how unusually low the sun was, casting shadows from the bunkers and earth work hazards that had never seemed that prominent before. I remembered children playing war games amongst these earthworks one summer and thought how prehistoric they looked, like something you might find along Offa’s Dyke or the Ridgeway.
I noticed new graffiti on the footpath markers and passed a man with a dog.
I saw dandelion clocks and what I think was wild carrot which I believe comes out in June. To see the lonely horse in the far corner of its field walking freely about made a wave of happiness flow over me as it usually stands motionless on a concrete floor where its stable used to be. Then I disturbed a large flock of seagulls who were just sitting on the grass. I made them all noisily fly up and circle round and round just by walking nearby. I saw a Jay and a crow and went home.
New Years Eve I walked around the swamp for a change and entered through the gate I had never encountered wide open before. I could hear lots of different birds singing, but could only ever see woodpigeons. The sun was low again and I decided to walk through the prehistoric earth works as they seemed very prominent again and thought it time to check out the graffiti in the tunnel under the dual carriage way. I could see the horse standing motionless on the concrete base where his stable used to be.
The graffiti had exploded and the tunnel was completely covered with new stuff. The floor was equally amazing, it was completely littered with the detritus from an underground rave or something! Just covered with broken bottles and cans along with countless little gas and air canisters from whipped cream boxes of 20 or even 50 in each, and there are dozens of these boxes everywhere. I did see a Strongbow dark fruit cider can and thought how I would hate to drink that.
I remembered reading a book called The Mind In The Cave which basically says hallucinations are very much part of Palaeolithic cave art in Europe. A ritualized event, pretty much what seemed to have happened here? I remember a phrase called Vision Quests where Shamans using hallucinogenic drugs would visit cave paintings. It was suggested that altered states of consciousness was a key a part of anyone viewing cave paintings and the deeper you went into the cave, the deeper the trance or journey you went on! or something like that anyway. I walked back through the earthworks.
I noticed a wire fence had been torn down and thought I aught to explore as access is free. I was about to explore… but instead became aware of a very large black dog standing still and watching me! Just for a moment it felt like this dog was hunting me…. and now it’s cover was blown it would leap towards me and I would have to wrestle with it. It was only about 20 yards away, and my memory of it is a cross between a Newfoundland and an Alsation, I could see no owners. I stood still looking at it knowing I was not really under any threat at all and the surprise of seeing it staring at me had triggered my imagination. I watched it trot off towards an owner somewhere I preume. I watched till it was obscured and I could see it no longer and wished it was my dog. I carried on through the broken fence and found some scaffolding at the edge of the swamp where workmen must have reduced the height of this boundary hedge down to about six foot.
