Twilight, just before dusk, the sky overcast. It doesn’t seem to matter if I have my headlights on or not. I switch them off for a second, I see just fine without them, then turn them back on for safety. There is a continuous drizzle, almost unnoticeable when standing still but speed compacts it, I can feel a constant spray on the lower half of my face and the spattering on my visor blurs my vision and diffuses incoming light into glittering halo’s around its sources. It is cold, my face feels numb and a few moments without gloves is … Read the rest
I’ve got the ear buds stuck in at angle to get the bass notes better, Volbeat blasting away, all electric guitars and garbled English. The air conditioning is set to a comfortable level and despite not being able to see the ground I still enjoy the view. It turns out our cruising altitude is such that we are flying just above a layer of clouds. Hills and valleys, crags, boulders and ravines all formed of pristine white vapor bathed in sunlight against a backdrop of clear blue sky and even a few lighter tufts of cloud above. It really is … Read the rest
I am passing the point where the street lights end, behind me the street is desolate and gloomy, no people around and but few lights in the windows, in front of me just murky darkness. As I leave the light a feeling rises within me, I don’t think it’s fear, no its not strong enough for that, but rather apprehension. In my mind I can rationalize it, I highly doubt some ill doer would be waiting on a dark road at the edge of a rural German town with the intent to accost a chance jogger. Neither do I think … Read the rest
I am crossing a small wooden bridge, the sound of the river rushing past beneath my feet is very visceral. It surges by with a noisome gurgling that drowns out the only other sound to be heard this early, that of my own feet treading the ground. At this hour, the vanity lights of the town church, the small castle and the bridge itself are all out and there are no tourists awake to take pictures of the night vista. Mists hang like a veil in front the grey mountains in the distance and the churning river is a dark … Read the rest
I’m sweating despite the early autumn chill, my heat is thumping in my chest and my breathing is labored. I’m running on a small path along the river, everything is damp from the rain, my steps squelch in the mud. To my right a single row of trees and beyond that the dim turquoise waters of the Rhein, ever flowing past me in the opposite direction. To my left a field of corn, the green stalks rising up to meet the milky sky that covers everything in the distance. I look up for a moment to see a mountain rising … Read the rest
There is a person swimming in the river! What the hell? I am standing on a bridge over the river Rhein in the middle of a fairly big city and really did not expect anyone to be swimming in the river. It is one of Europe’s main waterways after all, not just some small creek. Well, in my experience there will be some crazy people everywhere, Switzerland shouldn’t be an exception. But then, just as I’m about to turn around, another person floats out from under the bridge, a small boy in a life vest this time, and shortly after, … Read the rest
We took off with the nose pointing roughly northward, seeing little but blackness out the windows. Just a moment ago the pilot made a big sweeping left turn to point us more southwesterly and as we leveled out a magnificent view opened up outside the little porthole to my left. We are flying at a pretty low altitude so we can see the ground fairly clearly; most of it is wreathed in shadow but thousands upon thousands of lights are spread out in the darkness, little dots of amber intermingled with specks of blue tinted white. It lights up the … Read the rest
As soon as the road entered the mountains the fog descended. As we climb higher it gets thicker and I find myself unconsciously slowing the car down as visibility shrinks to just tens of meters. I hunch forward over the steering wheel and peer into the milky nether, searching out the curve of the road and the least sign of an oncoming car. My focus is heightened partly from fear of flying off the road, partly from excitement at the risk. My wife beside me is scared but the sense of danger has me smiling.… Read the rest
© 2026 Renegade Writings — Powered by WordPress
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑