Tuesday, December 19, 2006

More walkies

Holly and I visited another of Harvey's favourite haunts this afternoon: up the boggy hill. Only in Wales surely can the top of a hill be boggy.

It's been a long time since I've been in the woods and it's changed a lot. Over the last year an operation has been mounted to rid it of the rhododendron invaders, leaving only the native woodland species. As a result it's a lot clearer but, without the familiar bush formations, it's less recognisable as well.

Where there was a narrow track, great swathes of mud now exist, the result of the tractors and trucks that have been used to cart away the logs. It is an alien landscape.

And in the misty early-dusk I find myself talking to tree-stumps instead of Holly. It's not unusual for me to talk to trees but normally I am aware of what I'm addressing.

On the homeward trail through the deserted woods Holly stops suddenly, stock still, her ears pricked, her hackles raised. 'Oh dear Holly, what have you seen?'

It's all right; it's only a bit of plastic.

The combination of darkness and disorientation causes me to lose the path. Fortunately Holly finds it; then I lose her. How do people with dark dogs manage? It was bad enough with Harvey. I once bought him a little light to wear on his collar: the first time he wore it was one of the few times I lost him. And he lost the light.

And now a question for your scientific bods.

Is it really easier to throw a stick downhill than uphill? Or is it my little brain saying, 'You're a girly; you can't throw uphill'?

But your arm has to be at a different angle to throw up and gravity helps it to go further down so probably it is actually easier to throw down.

Another question: why did I have the smell of Christmas cake in my nose all walk when I hadn't been near a cake?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is exactly as hard to throw downhill as uphill, you put in the same amount of effort. It's just that the stick travels farther downhill than up. The stick has a horizontal and a vertical speed component, and since it falls downhill for a longer time ('cos the ground there is lower) the horizontal distance covered is larger too. QED.

Anonymous said...

A picture is worth a thousand words. Is is a Dali?

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

You make me miss a boggy hill in Wales! Love the diagram but I can't do science!