The beginning

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In the Beginning………

In the beginning there was a forest and , on the floor of the forest lived a man………don’t you just hate cliché!

To look back now, it truly was a beginning and an end, the forecast was for the wettest July for something like 50 years, either way it was pretty rough but the general conditions were good for me, I had warm shelter, no visitors, no responsibilities excepting my stomach, and no neighbours, life was good, a little too good perhaps, I was supposed to not to be enjoying myself, God had made sure of that however I took the rains with a constant saying in my head, some curse the rain whilst others take joy from the rainbow.

It works, if you want to convince yourself of something then your create, from whatever is around you and whereever you are, find that little place in your heaven and you can make it happen, when someone asks you why you do it, think of an answer and if you find one, either let me know or fail to accept the existance of such a place where only you exist in the wonder of the and beauty of world; sketchpad, waterproofs, boots and nature, what more could a person want but, as I said, God had not intended that I should enjoy myself.

The night that caused the change in me however was drawing ever near as I just wandered happily around sketching and watching the wildlife, and, though gladly occasionally, the odd 2 or 3 walkers that wanted to stop for a chat, I new the surrounding area so well I was easily able to provide a destination to any natural phenomina that someone was seeking, nesting kingfishers, jumping salmon, mink, rat and green woodpecker, I know where they all were and for sure spent more happy hours watching them all than I did worrying about my situation, homelessness for me was a luxury compared to the city but hey, that’s another story and one I cant be bothered even to ponder over, it was just a simple fact, end of.

The wind had already picked up over previous nights, it made little difference to me in my little shack, it was sturdy but strong, light but watertight, so I just ignored it.
Darkness in a rural coppice reaches town darkness quite quickly, so quickly in fact that it is an unstoppable force and continues to force out the light in totality, by seven pm the rain was coming down landing quite noisily to a point where there was not a single audible sound that could be heard above the tumultuous cascade of water on plastic sheeting, but one sound.

I was aware of the trees movement, not because I could see them but because I could feel them, even the trees that supported my shelter that I had chosen for their size and location, tucked in against a moss covered stone wall that acted as a shelter. The air pressure pushed against me and then released me from its pressure together with that from the other trees near me, then, above the thunder on the roof I heard a terrific boom followed by a massive groan, first one on its own then followed by heavier thumps; it was the trees being bent over by the wind then allowed to crash back in the interlude.

The amount of Fear for my structure ( Video clip ) combined with the adrenaline coursing through my entire body was absolutely electrifying, any tree, at any moment could actually fall upon me, these were not small shrubs, these were 60 foot Pine trees with trunks, not so massive as an oak, an oak would spread and be supported by its branches, these however it was the sheer length and combined weight of trunk plus velocity would have let them have a clear fall of 60 feet.

Still the stubborn one, I remained stoic for a second night before finally reaching the conclusion that I had to do something with myself, I was 50, a passion to be an artist and too insecure to do anything about it, God had told me, get out there and do it, stop dreaming, one day at a time.

Grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and Wisdom, to know the difference

the video of the structure that I was building, the clip was made some weeks after leaving in September 2007, it remains to this day, unfinished....... To be continued.