firehorseworld

There was the sensation of falling.  Darkness surrounded the consciousness as it slipped through space, a tunnel of dark upon dark neither cold nor warm.  Freefall through abandoned space.  Broken images danced on the edge of this awareness like the memories of a life that had been lived, or was being lived or perhaps even would be lived, there but not there, false images in the shadows of the mind.  The concept of time had eroded long since to be replaced by an infinite being, falling, falling, aware only of self but not of identity of purpose.  Thoughts clouded the mind, grasping at meanings where only empty space still existed.  The momentum was slowing with the realisation that every understanding had gone. There was no name, no concept of physical form, just the blind panic of an insane emptiness, slowing down and stalling, as if the falling was now a…

Vast sweeping mountains, pastel villages crowded around natural harbours, surrounded by tree covered hills that reach out with arms of hardened rock to protect the inhabitants within.  Isolated and secluded emerald watered bays provide playgrounds where suntanned Europeans swim from white sparkling yachts with wine and picnics on-board.  A shiny capital that boasts a stunning low arched bridge that stretches across the estuary to reach the foothills beyond.

The land is fertile, and good grapes grow locally, but the hills and mountains are not to be taken lightly as they are harsh, like most of Greece, with thorn covered plants of frightening number of variety that grab at the passer-by at every step.  Often the scrub land has bushes, tough green topped hardened wood that blocks passage from easier routes as the hillside suddenly sweeps upwards leaving you climbing up handhold ridden volcanic rocks that reach up 30 feet at…

The air was cold, as cold as I had ever experienced it. I had been told it was -45c at one point, a fantastic figure outside anything I had known before, but it was so cold you couldn’t stand outside for night for any longer than it took to pee unless you had just about every item of clothing available on so I believed it.

Me and Boz were lost, the path had disappeared from view an hour ago, so we had dug into the snow, a cave just big enough for us to crawl into and warm some of the surrounding snow over a small gas burner. We needed to find heat from somewhere, and although the thin air would not permit the water to boil, steam was now rising slowly from the surface. We poured powdered orange from a sachet into our mugs and mixed it with the…