The Darkness

By the time I come to walk the dog at half past five or so it is dark outside. Walking through the field is strange - security lights from the houses around the perimeter flash on and off at random and illuminate patches of grass in their 500 watt glare. Due to the strange slopes and bumps, the surface of the field is cast into strange relief in a most disconcerting way, as light and shade compete.

The woods are in complete darkness though. I had my mini maglite with me, but as I reached the halfway point the light began to dim and rapidly faded. The rechargeable batteries that I use have a tendancy to run out of power without warning if I don't keep them topped up. I paused for a moment to allow my eyes to get used to the gloom, and found that if I walked slowly I could just about pick out the path and I knew roughly where I was heading. I remembered just in time to duck where there is an overhanging treebranch at head height, and then the rest of the walk was plain sailing. It is strange how the sounds seemed to be magnified in the dark, and I'm fairly sure I heard an owl pass overhead at one point with a beating of soft wings.