Saturday 30 January
What a grim day. Non-stop rain, not particularly heavy stuff, but persistent. Fortunately, it was never heavy enough to keep the birds away from then back garden. And this was my day to take part in the annual Big Garden Birdwatch which is organised by the RSPB. They didn’t let me down; a robin, tits (great, long tailed and blue), starlings, blackbirds, a collared dove. Our garden staples. Plus, a great spotted woodpecker, and I am determined to get a close up picture of it soon.
I have finally finished the book I started at the turn of the year, and I wasn’t expecting where it went. Part memoir, part anthology, Ghostland by Edward Parnell shares his fascination in Britain’s folkloric ghost stories. At the same time, he shares his own sad family story that explores what ‘ghosts’ really are. Ghosts, for many, are more complex than white-sheeted apparitions that put the ‘live’ in derelict buildings or grave yards.
For me, like Mr Parnell, they are deeply-rooted emotional manifestations of our lives. These experiences can be ‘real’ or dreamed up in stories. But for me, my personal ghosts are emotions that that come from specific events from my past. These ghosts appear to me at different times.
When I return to places I have previously been or similar places, the beach, woodland or moorland – never towns or cities, they’re soulless. When I hear a song, hear a theme tune or watch a film or TV programme which has been rerun. Those are the obvious moments.
Objects conjour the most upsetting spirits from the past for me. Garage doors, the metal up and over type, scare me. My brother would take me home from infant school when he was at big school. On the way home we would stop at his mate’s house and they would run a stick down the heavy springs of the mechanism, creating the eeriest of metallic ‘screams’. The worst of ghosts appear when I see a bakerlite, round-dial phone. A gut-twisting spectre that makes me question so much.
The other ghosts appear when I least expect them too. Those triggered by a subtle smell or insignificant sight or sound.
The Bald Birder 