The days are fast getting longer.
We are at the equinox and, whichever twilight you go by, the sun takes over this half of the year.
There is a time for coats and hats and a time for dresses and shirtsleeves.
But, while we still have a decent bit of darkness to the twenty four hours it is, I think, worth putting the night to good use.
Being out at night adds a fully human meaning to living:
Walking across the fields to my pigs,
The sea and St Anthony's light; the woods and hedges and ripples and white horses.
Stumbling with good people on the coast path; the moon coming up out of the sea and a dram passed around.
Running, with my dog pulling ahead, head torch on, along a muddy track, and suddenly blue lights flashing, high viz immersion suits and digital bleeps, on a cold hail shot slip, marks the passing of a thoroughly analog and warm hearted man.
Standing in the great field playing my fiddle across the water under a freezing, blazing sky.
Sitting under a navigable field of stars, watching sparks from the fire light up smiles in joy and cast shadows in intimacy.
Talking without glare, sweet nothings, bland natterings, bitter every things.
A night on the countryside is something worth enjoying wholeheartedly.
Tom Kemp