Scottish lowlands. next stop Carslile.

face forward this time. to see what it's like -- looking towards the future. a hole in the sky dripping rain. a shaft of light from the heavens. a flock of black birds flapping in unison. the eye is drawn to the sky whilst we plunge through a landscape of the brightest greens yellows browns & reds, vibrant from within, regardless of the lack of sunlight. livestock stand, stock still & watch the progress of the day, feeding off the life of the earth & giving up their own.

now hills & hedgerows & moss & tunnels. a darker place. the life here is buried deeper in the earth. we plunge through valleys and tunnels, always near running water for like the water, rails seek the low ground.

the landscapes change so fast on this little island. Back in the states, driving from NYC to Chicago, the landscape unfolded grudgingly, from pennsylvania backwoods hills to the plains of ohio, iowa... hours at 80 with nothing changing but the names of the fast food chains. here its a blur. blink and the world has changed... the colour palette, vegetation, shapes, livestock, weather.

theres no hiding from the unexpected here. no pretense of foretelling. none but oracles & the insane. both tragic. while the middle class is just sad, losing their perception of the future they've worked so hard to insure as their pensions values are decimated just as retirement hits. all this whilst my downstairs neighbors, an art student and a social worker go into the future without savings or fear, pregnant & jumping into the unknown with no parachute to speak of. i admire these people. they remind my of my parents, penniless with kids, moving to a foreign country, not speaking the language, believing, somehow, in something, be it fate, or destiny or even themselves, to make good.

5 minutes and we're barreling through a sunlit valley... or is it a plain? the mist rises from the ground and is burnt. the sheep are cleaner here, even their undersides white. trees scarce and perfect against the skyline.

next stop carslile. the cafe car is open...