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2/52 Photo - Walking
Jan. 12th, 2020 04:55 pmLast night I went for a walk with a Meetup group (the relentlessly enthusiastically named "Give it a Go Adventures!")
It was about 3 miles over very uneven ground and deep, exceptionally slippery mud. In the dark. And the person who'd offered to lend me a headtorch didn't have a spare in the end. So I was reliant on the light of others and occasional use of my phone torch (not enough juice to last the 2 hours).
It was fun! Reminded me of night walks we used to do in Guides when I was a teen. And of a life I haven't really led in years now.
As usual, I couldn't resist cutting down men for making stupid comments. A man declared early on "I was trained to have night vision in the Army cadets" and then when we stood on top of Devil's Humps (snigger) and all turned off torches and looked out across the horizon to city lights below he says "see this is what I meant about night vision" and naturally I immediately retort "isn't this just...vision?"
Like pal, you haven't developed infrared vision. We can all see tolerably well in low light.
It doesn't endear me to many people, doing this, but I also cannot stand the unchallenged chuntering of men boasting this sort of nonsense. Women never seem to do it in these big groups. Women do get challenged by men for claiming completely provable skills and knowledge. Men claim to have magic vision and everyone just shrugs.
Similarly, at the end of the walk we went to the pub. And I was standing in a group of two men and three women (including me). A man offers a biscuit from the side of his cuppa first to the man next to him who insists he offer it to the women first. So he offers it to each of the women, who decline it delicately, and then me, who cheerfully takes it. And then there's a pause because it turns out the first man wanted it but through some bizarre idea of chivalry felt it was necessary to offer to women, but was confident none of us would accept it. Like mate. I'm hungry. Fuck these ridiculous ideas women somehow subsist on air.
Anyway. Walking around woodland in the dark is cool. And ancient yews look really cool in torchlight because when you stand under their spreading branches, your light bounces off them and illuminates a sort of room. And they seem welcoming and protective.
It was about 3 miles over very uneven ground and deep, exceptionally slippery mud. In the dark. And the person who'd offered to lend me a headtorch didn't have a spare in the end. So I was reliant on the light of others and occasional use of my phone torch (not enough juice to last the 2 hours).
It was fun! Reminded me of night walks we used to do in Guides when I was a teen. And of a life I haven't really led in years now.
As usual, I couldn't resist cutting down men for making stupid comments. A man declared early on "I was trained to have night vision in the Army cadets" and then when we stood on top of Devil's Humps (snigger) and all turned off torches and looked out across the horizon to city lights below he says "see this is what I meant about night vision" and naturally I immediately retort "isn't this just...vision?"
Like pal, you haven't developed infrared vision. We can all see tolerably well in low light.
It doesn't endear me to many people, doing this, but I also cannot stand the unchallenged chuntering of men boasting this sort of nonsense. Women never seem to do it in these big groups. Women do get challenged by men for claiming completely provable skills and knowledge. Men claim to have magic vision and everyone just shrugs.
Similarly, at the end of the walk we went to the pub. And I was standing in a group of two men and three women (including me). A man offers a biscuit from the side of his cuppa first to the man next to him who insists he offer it to the women first. So he offers it to each of the women, who decline it delicately, and then me, who cheerfully takes it. And then there's a pause because it turns out the first man wanted it but through some bizarre idea of chivalry felt it was necessary to offer to women, but was confident none of us would accept it. Like mate. I'm hungry. Fuck these ridiculous ideas women somehow subsist on air.
Anyway. Walking around woodland in the dark is cool. And ancient yews look really cool in torchlight because when you stand under their spreading branches, your light bounces off them and illuminates a sort of room. And they seem welcoming and protective.