Lake District Follies

Life is full of little coincidences.

Having a living room full of couch surfers again - and being the intrepid eco-adventurers they are, most have wondered why we're not particularly enamoured of nature and its like. In fact they seem incredulous over the fact that we really don't care much about the forests around! With glorious examples of mother nature in her tropical best only an hour's away in the form of world-renowned national parks, why haven't we taken the time to visit?

Paul : Me visit a national park? Like eeew.
Felix : I'd rather take a nap.
Paul : But do send me a postcard though.

That of course brings me to my very own infamous travelogue titbit of Windermere.

My ambivalence with nature stems from that happily lost weekend when my ISO and I got stranded in the picturesque Lake District due to a railway scheduling glitch. So young, so idealistic, so in love, so at one with nature.

It was two whole days of staring at lakes, trees and vales. Trudging down endless nature trails just to gaze at clumps of daffodils.

I wander'd lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

The prophetic words of Wordsworth seemed to be like a whispering mantra that nearly drove us insane. Seriously, don't believe all that crap about the beauty of nature. Unless you're a true-blue tree-hugger believer, it's all leaves, grass and muck to everyone else.

Fortunately we had a television to keep us from going completely batty!


Paul : Isn't nature lovely?
My ISO : Fucking fantastic.
Paul : If I see another tree, I might have to burn the place down.
My ISO : I have a match. We might be doing future generations a favour.
So yeah, I do dredge up that weekend quite a bit when folks question my dislike of nature walks. Which is why it surprised me yesterday when I found a postcard from my ISO in the mail! From the Lake District. With a scrawled message at the back.

'Aren't you glad we aren't there now?'

Guess now I just need to flash the telling postcard rather than rehash the entire story!