Of A Summer's Evening

[poliphilo]

Someone nearby- but not next door- was having a party last night- featuring a live rock band. Voices were still to be heard at three o'clock in the morning. I don't mind listening to far-away rock and roll- it's the music of my generation and feels friendly- and it doesn't seem to have stopped me sleeping. File this with other recent posts about how noisy the countryside is.

A hot air balloon passed overhead in the early evening. It came so close I could hear the roar of the burners. I have loved hot air balloons ever since David Niven crossed the Alps in one on the first stage of his trip around the world. I've never been up in one- and am reluctant to try in case I totally embarrass myself. If standing on top of church towers- which are not so high and are connected to the ground- make me go all funny how would I cope with being in an wicker basket at a height of thousands of feet? Let's not go there...

Comments

[athenais]

Oh, I would love to go up in a hot air balloon! I have no fear of heights, except...I go all funny when I'm at a liminal point of height. Too high to survive a fall, not quite high enough to feel like it's all just a pretty picture and not dangerous. I wonder if there's a name for that fear? I have the same sensation when going out on the ocean. I don't like to be able to look too far down into clear waters. It's a type of vertigo, I imagine.

[poliphilo]

So the fear dissipates as you move higher? That is unusual