Yesterday - May 24th - was such a warm and beautiful day here in the north of England. After our evening meal, enjoyed out on our decking, Shirley gathered her sewing materials together and went off to her pattern making class.
After watching the TV news and weeping about the details of Monday night's innocent murder victims, I jumped in the car and headed out into the countryside - to Higger Tor. It's a rocky plateau that in ancient times was inhabited and used as a defensive position.
Looking east the evening light was warm like honey - colouring trees and rocks alike. Looking west there was a milky mistiness. All of the pictures in this blogpost were taken between 8.30pm and 9pm. In a month we will have reached the longest day.
I saw a group of BMX enthusiasts practising their techniques on the weathered rocks. I also saw a young man with his dog. He kept filming himself and I overheard him reflecting angrily on ISIS, terrorist outrages, the Manchester Arena murders and suchlike. Maybe he didn't realise I was observing him and listening to his animated outpourings. He was a British Muslim.
I just wanted him to shut up and enjoy the peace and the soothing warmth of the evening, instead of filling the air with his endless ill-considered ramblings. The dog looked on, wondering what the hell was happening. I usually feel the same about smartphone use.
i wonder if your ranting young man instinctively took himself out where he could connect with something beautiful, in an attempt to calm down?
ReplyDeleteThe light of a long summer evening is nearly always beautiful, what a lovely thing to capture
Your idea might be accurate Kylie but I would have preferred it if he had found somewhere else - like a cave or the middle of a pine plantation.
DeleteFor that young man he probably felt the desperate need to vent...to let out his anger and frustration caused by the atrocious murders, injuries and never-ending suffering of the innocent.
ReplyDeleteOften it does one good to let it all out rather than allow the emotions to fester within.
Where better to exhale than to stand high looking across the land below and beyond, with a clear sky above?
Perhaps if more people did similar rather than holding everything in until boiling point, a better world it might be.
It seemed to work for Sally Bowles in "Cabaret"!
I think if I'd been there I might have joined in with him.
Unashamedly, I've done similar when I'm out driving in my car if I'm feeling overwhelmed by things that have happened/are happening - things that a beyond my control. I will yell my lungs out. No one can hear me...but it is certainly a release.
And I'm not embarrassed to admit doing so every now and then when the burdens of the world have descended heavily.
Mock me if you wish. :)
Mock you if I wish? Christ! I wouldn't dare do that Lee.
DeleteVocalisation can be a good way of letting out tension and making better sense of things but I wanted peace up on that plateau.
You often do mock me, Yorkie. :)
DeleteI guess the young bloke also wanted a quiet place - a place where he could vent in peace. It was just unfortunate timing on both parts.
Beautiful photos, YP. The second from last one is especially to my liking.
ReplyDeleteI understand what you mean about being quiet and taking in the peace and quiet and allowing others to do so. I also understand that maybe the young man needed to share his anger over an event that might end up having negative repercussions for him (as a Muslim) and perhaps he had nowhere at home to make his video. People. We are all different.
You are a very understanding woman Jenny.
DeleteOne of the things I love most about where I live...If I were to step outside right now and scream at the top of my lungs, only my husband would hear me. Er, never mind. He's watching tv with headphones....Love the last two pics - especially your giant rock soup bowl!
ReplyDeleteIt is a strange rock - with a natural bowl where water gathers and no doubt birds drink. I wonder what you shout at the top of your lungs Hillary? Perhaps, "The hills are alive with the sound of music!" or "Come on! I ain't afraid of bears!"
DeleteBeautiful countryside. Did you have to drive far to get there from your home?
ReplyDeleteSix minutes Sue.
DeleteThe mellow evening light this time of year is simply wonderful, isn't it! I can't get enough of it and will miss it later on in the year.
ReplyDeleteIn the second picture, what is the building we can see in the distance? My favourite of this set is the next-to-last one. I really am glad you got out and had your camera with you!
I imagine the young man was filming himself to put his rants as video messages on youtube or so. As has been said many times, most Muslims are decent people; maybe this man feels he needs to speak up so that non-Muslims understand that the majority of his faith would never commit such a terrible act.
The building in the second picture - which I deliberately included in this shot - is Longshaw House, a National Trust property. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/longshaw-burbage-and-the-eastern-moors
DeleteYou are so lucky to be so close to that beautiful countryside. Six minutes' walk from me is Waitrose and six minutes' drive in any direction is yet more conurbation. I have to drive for a good half hour to even get to the edge of countryside. Having said that, I do have some wonderful parks around me, one with an enormous heron colony on a lake and another with quite dense woodland. Lovely pictures and so clear given the time of evening you took them.
ReplyDeleteLondon has some wonderful parks which is all credit to our Victorian forebears who had the vision to define and preserve so many green spaces. My daughter's current flat overlooks Tooting Common - yet another green lung.
DeleteFantastic photos showing beautiful scenery and solitude YP.
ReplyDeleteThank you Derek. I was right on the border between The People's Republic of Yorkshire and The Derbyshire Caliphate.
DeleteWhat an interesting spot! This weather has been remarkable. We're downright warm here in London! And yes, the light is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteYou can tell by that dog's pose that it's completely confused by the man's behavior. It's like, "Hey, are you OK?!"
I think the man has contracted smartphoneitis - it is spreading through the world like a plague...so he's not OK.
DeleteSpectacular photos of pastoral landscapes, just the view we need right now.
ReplyDeleteLovely that they are within a few minutes driving distance, I would probably be there at least once a week :)
I 'spect it's best the ranting man was where he chose to be, rather than in a shopping center.
~Jo
I hate to be pedantic Jo but in England he would be ranting in a shopping centRE and not a shopping centER. You have almost turned into an American!
DeleteLol...
DeleteI get tired of fighting the spell checker gadget !
I knew you'd call me out on that one, as soon as I wrote it.
~Jo
The emotions that fills peoples hearts right now seem to prevent us enjoying life . It's understandable but we need to fill our hearts with other emotions, otherwise we'll drown in hatred. Such wonderful pictures YP!!! In my latest post I added a few pictures with the honeycoloured sundown softening up the scenery. No need when you have a scenery like yours!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, I envy you a bit, but envy is a sin, I believe?
A sinning pastor! Now that would never do Solveig. Good job Fred Fox is there to keep a watchful eyes upon you!
DeleteConstantly, mr Pudding, constantly!
DeleteKeep those wonderful Pictures coming and I'll invite you to share some of mine, I'll let envy go! In spite of forces that spread ugliness we still live in a beautiful world!!!
Beautiful photos YP - especially the last but one of the soft evening light across the hills.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the young man had nowhere else to go, to vent his anger ? Perhaps he also wanted to make that point that not all Muslims are like the one who committed the latest atrocity.
That was certainly the sense that I was picking up from his monologue CG. In the soft evening picture, the conical hill in the background is called Lose Hill. It overlooks The Hope Valley.
DeleteThere is something so poignant about these beautiful photographs and the terrible slaughter isn't there YP?
ReplyDeleteManchester lies just beyond those hills that were fading away into the distance of the penultimate picture.
DeleteThat poem from the Manchester post brought a tear to my eye...these are beautiful and I'm glad you enjoyed the evening. Your part of the world is beautiful.
ReplyDelete