The wild, wilderness; nature writing terms that are quite Americanised. Normally I would be against such a collection of American terms in our culture. Hip hop/RnB culture can look pretty fucking stupid sometimes within our society, though I clearly love a part of that. No desire to be a part of it though. Wild would just be hills here, outdoors, nature, smaller terms for a smaller nation. It has been a long time since Scotland was truly wild, and has definitely tamed itself, or been tamed, maybe since Culloden. Where does that leave our nature writers? Endless books on Munros, shortest or quickest routes, wild swimming (otherwise known as swimming) is popular, birdwatching from a forest with a wind farm behind it, and in front of it, accessed by a hydro-electric board road.
Wild? Not one bit. Hill tracks abound yet people do still get lost here, so I’m not saying to take it lightly. The opposite in fact. We can take this for granted and still make mistakes. Weather turns quickly, that is truly wild. A nice day in Alaska can stay a nice day. Here you never know what you’re going to get. Simplistic perhaps but I’m all over the place this morning. Christmas is fast around the corner, it’s a shitty miserable day but the presents are wrapped and we’re off on The Polar Express!