There are many downsides to it getting darker earlier. My walk home past the Roman walls of Verulamium is a bit spooky as the ditch fills up with an ethereal mist, the autumnal leaves hide a multitude of perils and that owl has decided to nest in the most atmospheric position possible.
Still, being a chap and not adverse to a few Ray Mear’s style gadgets, this does give me the opportunity to use my incredibly bright torch when I exhaust all the street lighting. This babies so powerful it can illuminate the far set of posts on a football pitch, so I always get to see where I’m going on the way home.
Apart from the other Friday when we all descended upon Pizza Express after work that is. M’laddo decided that he didn’t like the dark and the only way to stop him whimpering at the owl or the ethereal mist was to give him the torch. I’m sure the thought he was helping by shining it directly in my eyes and when I told him to stop I didn’t really mean it but I got so dazzled I drove the pushchair into a wall. Fortunately there were no injuries sustained.
So if you see a chap out in the evening with a pushchair (pre the 7pm children’s bed time) wearing sun glasses, that’ll be me :)