Bärensee

Just back from a pleasant walk in the woods with Princess. Yes, it is late; and yes, it was very dark. Princess likes to walk in the dead of night, we have been on many such night wanderings - but usually at or near full moon. Moonlight may not seem like much to you dwellers in bright cities, but its absence makes an enormous difference when you're out in the woods.

The Bärensee (literally bear lake, don't ask why) is pretty well civilized: paved paths all around, and a teahouse on a hill with a dining terrace that faces the sunset across the second (of three) lake. It is often overrun by joggers (and in recent times Nordic walkers too, a surprisingly noisy bunch) but is a wonderful place nonetheless - and everyone else has the sense to go home at sunset, after which one is alone to commune with Mother Nature. Once, we were surrounded by fireflies: literally thousands of them, drifting around us in vast waist-level clouds. Another night, the paths were swarming with hundreds of tiny frogs, we were at great difficulty not to tread on them in the dark (it was so strenuous that we cut short the walk). Other occasions have been less adventurously pleasant.

We actually started in the late evening, other photos on Flickr show the lakes in their still-sunlit beauty. We walked around two-thirds of the course, then sat on the teahouse terrace for an hour over a beer, discussing the state of things and our various relationships (romantic and otherwise), then walked back to her car in the dark. One of the many things I like about Princess is her refusal to do smalltalk, she always wants to get down to the heart of the matter and has no fear of airing her (or others') dirty laundry. She is one of the few people with whom I feel I can speak freely.

We were talking this evening about appearances, and she claimed not to understand why many people seem to be envious of her. I asked, "do you really not know? Would you like me to explain it to you?" She laughed and clapped her hands in delight, so I did. She is constantly travelling, London last week and Vienna next, doing whatever she wants - and only what she wants; she has no boss, no kids, and a partner who is as independent as she, so nobody tells her what to do; she never seems to be working, never has to leave a party early because she has to be up atimes next morning; in short, she appears to be entirely free. We both know how little truth there is in that appearance, but: In the absence of a truth drug or mindreading machine, all that we have to go on are appearances and what we understand of what people tell us. (On the other hand, I tend to agree with Douglas Adams who described his natural-universal-translator the Babel fish thus: "the poor Babel fish, by effectively removing all barriers to communication between different races and cultures, has caused more and bloodier wars than anything else in the history of creation."