Slow train


No time to write yesterday as I was travelling back from a weekend at Electromagnetic Field, described on their website as "a non-profit camping festival for those with an inquisitive mind or an interest in making things". This is the fourth time I have been with my family and my head is full of conversations and experiences. Very fun but very intense, and then I ran straight into preparing for a job interview this afternoon. To free up space for camping equipment in our small family car, my son and I travelled separately by train. In a car the journey takes about an hour, by train it's at least twice that. So I found myself on an unfamiliar route, sleepily staring out at a heatwaved scene and jotting down notes on my phone. Here's the result:

Slow train

An unfamiliar landscape
The Midlands are hinterlands 
Sun roasted fields, scrambling sprays of brambles line the track
Already black with berries, unsettlingly early
A level crossing
Water stressed trees already browning
A bleached oak like bone lies stranded in a field
Hazy blue sky with puffs of white cloud
A field growing solar panels
Sharp edged sheets capture the sun
We cross a canal
White boats are moored
Tiny red brick new build houses
Another level crossing 
Metal roofs, the reality of farm buildings
Hay bales stacked, dullest Tetris ever
All is safely gathered in
In the distance an arcing spray limply sprinkles dusty earth 
More houses, encrusted with satellite dishes
Rosebay willowherb, the fireweed
Drooping buddleia
Trundling past crispy teasels, convolvulus
Sheep nibble straw-like grass, sweltering in their fleeces
Another level crossing

Photo shows a pompom planet I made at whilst helping at an art workshop at EMF Camp. The festival is entirely volunteer-run and I signed up for a couple of shifts. It's a really different experience to a big commercial festival, feeling like you're playing a tiny part in making the event happen. My other shift was less glamourous - washing dishes in the volunteer kitchen, but surprisingly fun.

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