Rewilding Myself

I have previously, at length and loudly, said I don't like the New Year celebration. You can read why here. This year however New Year's Eve  finds me coincidentally reflective, not because of the occa

Rocher Vale, Oldham

sion just because I am. 

When I retired people spoke about retirement as a thing: something you go from your job to, something you embark upon. In reality you go from the job that, to a greater or lesser extent, defined you to this vast amorphous expanse of yourself. People tell you that you find yourself busier once retired than you were when working. This is true but I only recently understood why. 

I am a fan of post-industrial countryside. Particularly the landscape that surrounds Oldham: Park Bridge and Rocher Vale are among my favourites. Great swathes of land scarred by the iron works and coal mines that helped forge the Industrial Revolution. These are now once more areas of natural beauty  given over to nature they provide homes for an array of flora and fauna. You can see the great sandstone remains of mills and mines swathed in honeysuckle and ivy; the kingfisher and heron hunt in the river Medlock that was previously too polluted to sustain the fish that feed them.

When I retired I felt that I was giving myself my life back, surrendering it once more to its natural state where life's riches could re-inhabit it. 

Despite my hankering for nature's wildness I find myself however scrambling with the dogs over areas of Rocher Vale where nature truly has taken hold, struggling to make headway where the undergrowth is thick with brambles, and where fallen trees bar the way. After a while the going gets too tough and I seek for a way back to well-trodden paths. In reality we are only happy with so much untamed wilderness, we like a nicely maintained path that allows us to make our way with relative ease while enjoying nature having its way nearby. 

And this is the life-point I find myself at: complaining that my time is not my own, that other things have grown seemingly unchecked into areas that, with hindsight, they are not that welcome. 

So the result of this reflection is that the time is here to start identifying destinations and laying paths to get there. This means - to continue the metaphor- pulling back some of the undergrowth to reclaim some ground, and then to enjoy the wildness where I want it.

Happy new year!