Living on a Round Planet

[tamaranth]

One should never post when drunk
*hic*
I've just spent a very pleasant hour in the garden, pursuing a favourite childhood activity for the first time in can't-remember-how-long: watching the stars come out.

Almost all of the time I spent living in London was spent in unbalconied flats. Where I did have access to garden (or fire escape) there was usually too much light pollution, of the sodium-orange variety, to have much chance of seeing stars.

There've been a couple of picnics where I've had a strong inclination to stay behind with the rubbish and lie there until it gets dark: but I have always been dissuaded by Sensible Types.

Here, I have a garden; although there are several street lamps around the edge, the sky above is pretty clear; it's quiet, come evening; there are two cats to make sure I can find my way back to the door; and, having had a very pleasant and productive day, I decided that some cider was called for.

So I've spent an hour watching the planes circle round Gatwick; watching the leaves on the nearest tree turn from green to brown as the street-light worked its chromatic magic; watching the stars come out, and thinking about why it's a gradual process, and why it's less gradual the further towards the Equator you go; counting the first five stars, and having the same five visible, without any others appearing, for some time; being mountaineered on by small furry guides, anxious that I shouldn't forget about Indoors; wondering why I don't like The Last Witchfinder more, though I enjoyed reading it; thinking it's about time I checked the heavens-above website where I find I missed the ISS by about 10 minutes; feeling very much a small fleck on a round turning thing in a limitless void, and loving it. Different to an eclipse, but on the same scale.

Could probably have done the same without benefit of CIDER, but I'd probably have got distracted by things I 'should' be thinking about, like werk and book reviews and stuff.

Comments

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Really glad to find you observing the world again as well as the stars :-)

[asynje.livejournal.com]

Sounds absolutely lovely :)

My parents live in a tiny town, so I've done that a couple of times with my mother. Sans cider. My mother is very much not a Sensible Type at times. One should just take care that one cannot be seen from the road, since that will lead people to slow their cars, clearly wondering whether one has passed away.

[camies.livejournal.com]

Every so often - especially when trying to get back to Kingston from Brick Lane on a Saturday night, viz. yesterday - I think 'I want to move back into London proper, not be out in the suburbs'. But then I go out into the garden and change my mind back again. Like you, up until recently I only lived in flats, and now having a private outside space with trees and grass is such a good thing.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Having the garden has made such a difference to me this summer. I'm much less adventurous than I used to be, because I don't need to go anywhere to enjoy the sunshine! (Converse of this is that I haven't been well, and it's nice not to have to hike for miles to enjoy a small patch of public park.)

Suits the British weather a lot better too -- take advantage of the five-minute bursts of sunshine, rather than rely on a whole afternoon being nice.

I do miss London badly, but I don't miss the lack of Private Outdoors.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Me too. I was horribly afraid I'd lost that joie de vivre. I need to feel engaged and excited and interested.

[tamaranth.livejournal.com]

Nice high hedges here! Though it's very odd lying in the garden in the dark, listening to someone in high heels walk up the road and along the front of the house: it's so quiet you can hear them breathing, and they have no idea there's someone so close.

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

I didn't realise you had such stalker tendencies!

[moral-vacuum.livejournal.com]

If you ever do end up moving back into south-east london suburbia, Jo and I have discovered the fact (only after living there our entire lives) that Bromley is full of green spaces, some of which are gorgeous. We are now exploiting this fully.