Footnotes 

Indoors and Outdoors

17 April 2025

April 17th 2025

Introduction

Is there a feeling of sped up and slow passing phases? A different experience of time, like endless childhood summer compared to adult months? I remember this in 2024. Suddenly we were fourth, fifth into the year after winter.

There perhaps is the explanation. We want it to stop, so it passes slowly. Then it does, which feels subjectively faster. Anyway here it is again, and a good time for flowers regardless.

Wild Flowers

I have a mental flower map for walks. Bluebells, cowslip, snake head fritillary, violets, primrose, ragged robin and more. I know where they are and like corresponding walks, especially in the spring.

The same applies to the Lake District and Snowdonia. I know primrose beside Brothers Water and on rocks at Aira Force. A lane which leads up to a fine walk in the Moelwyns, another near Beddgelert in quiet countryside with distant views of the big hills.

I like the wildness of wild flowers, the name and idea of it compared to gardens. I developed a small book collection of which this is my favourite because of the beautiful illustrations. I like too the way they grow in cities with paradoxical life, in concrete cracks, waste sites and derelict areas. 

The fritillary above is a hidden away patch people don’t know about. I visit them every year.

Featured walks

The Lake District is notoriously crowded and for about ten years I’ve preferred Snowdonia. There are a few quiet areas, north of Skiddaw and Blencathra for example, and east of Ullswater and Wastwater. I recommend the latter (Scoat Fell and Red Pike) and do so confident that it won’t be flooded with people. It would have been already if people liked it. I think it’s because there’s drama nearby with the Scafells and Great Gable.  Quietness is unlikely for well known routes, particularly in summer when you also struggle with congested roads.

Aran Fawddwy is a fine place to wander. I’ve done it three times I think, the last occasion with an overnight camp. When you get back down you think why isn’t this well known? Wales is rougher, the land less smooth and the tourism less developed. Snowdon is unpleasant in that respect and Llanberis gets busy. Beddgelert – a favourite area of mine – is also busy in summer but not too bad because it’s a small village.

You can take a tent to Fawddy if you like, or enjoy it as a day walk. You will probably see no one, and that’s easy to find in Snowdonia if you know where to go and avoid.

I still walk in the Lakes but not so much. The last time I was on Maiden Moor it was February I think, with a forecast of minus 30 degrees because of cold wind from Siberia. My plan was walk up, get some photographs, then come down again because of the Arctic conditions. It wasn’t too bad. Minus fifteen and walking hard, all I wore for the climb was a base layer and jacket. It’s a great place for a wander with views to the Newlands Valley, Dale Head, Derwent Water and Blencathra. Don’t worry about a destination view as such, because it’s not that kind of place.

Unpleasant Outdoors

You often hear about bad behaviour in the countryside, especially since the pandemic lockdown. Tales and photographs of vandal camping are well known on social media, to the extent that I wonder about doing it. The anger is legitimate, the outrage justified, but it doesn’t solve the problem and becomes depressing.

There’s a blog from a volunteer ranger who conveys what it’s like trying to stop it. There are several stories to read and this is a good start. Wild camping was and still is illegal outside Scotland but we do it as a civilised agreement. This is still understood, but vandal campers are a problem. It’s mostly unpleasant people who aggressively don’t care, as if it’s their right not to, which is unacceptable for people who love the places they desecrate. Surprisingly, it’s sometimes like this:

 

Whilst we were removing all residual heat source / fire risk the lads asked the EMP wardens ‘how do you get a job looking after nature?’. They said that nothing on their social media feeds about wild camping had explained risk, nor did it show salaried and volunteer wardens working to protect these places.

We described the landscape and the wildlife and they listened and asked questions. They were amazed to hear an owl lived less than a hundred paces from where they’d set up camp.

We walked out of the valley as a group and at the car park they apologised for what they had (unknowingly) done and thanked us for looking after this place. (link)

 

Watching

There’s some good content at Amazon Prime film. David Attenborough’s Wild Islands repeats the format of the typical nature programme, which I thought might be tedious, but it’s a beautiful watch which is the point of it. I like flying birds especially.

I’m on my second viewing of Night Manager which has good characters, acting, and drama. The camera worship of Tom Hiddleston and related plot is sometimes grating (she wants him, she wants him, he admires him etc) but this is Bond-like excusable for the genre. 

I also like Channel 4 for some content. The fourth season of Astrid is not as good as the others, which I recommend, but I’m still watching it. The friendship between Commander Coste and autistic Astrid is touching.

From the same production company, Walter Presents, Seaside Hotel is light hearted fun with seaside views, occasional poignancy, and a likeable main character called Fie.

Reading

Last year I read The Unaccountability Machine by Dan Davies as an explanation for dysfunctional society and how it is structured. It’s very illuminating and currently topical as the basis for what Elon Musk is doing with DOGE. I anticipate a strong reaction at the mere mention of this for which I suggest chamomile tea and the following advice. It’s just a fact. I read the book as an unconnected enquiry around October last year, partly because I recognised it would have I Ching connections. 

In 2004, Tony Blair referred to “a shock absorber in order to maintain the status quo” which Davies describes as an “accountability sink.” Keir Starmer has begun to express similar ideas emboldened perhaps by Musk. Who knows? Who cares? The point is, it’s obvious. 

It’s rational and not political. UK local governments are notorious for being twisted up with inefficiency, incompetence, and being ridiculous because it doesn’t make sense. It happens because they function publicly not privately, so no one cares if six people arrive to change a light bulb.

If you start to feel you’re living in a Kafkaesque society (like me) and nothing works sensibly (it doesn’t) it’s a good read.

I’m 3/4 into Henri Bergson’s Creative Evolution. I’m taking it slowly, with long pauses. It’s mot a book for everyone, probably few, even in universities where Bergson is rarely mentioned. You can see why, because he is intuitive more than intellectual, which doesn’t fit either the British or Continental tradition. It reminds me of Indian and Chinese philosophy, which is why I like it.

Listening

Jazz is my main musical interest. The BBC have offered various programmes over the years; there used to be a Saturday afternoon show I listened to every week. Documentary style, they told you about the life and history of Bud Powell,  Billie Holiday, Coltrane and so on, mixed up with their music. It was memorably good.

Night Lights from Indiana is similar, and better. It’s been running for a long time, and is a radio gem.

My current listening is Krzysztof Komeda  who you might think is the trumpeter but in fact is the pianist. One of the interesting things about jazz is how there are variations. The US tradition but also French, British, Italian and Polish. Start with Henri Texier, Stan Tracy, Stefano Battaglia, and Komeda.

I’m listening to a famous Komeda album called Astigmatic, which is very good. I’ve been leaving it in place while I’m driving, listening carefully, not changing to another album. It has everything. Be-bop moments, sophisticated lines, near free expression and occasional moments like this, from another album, which features in a Roman Polanski film: