I made an important discovery this morning... I think I'm afraid of the dark.
Normally, my walk to work takes me through a small grassy area. At some point in the last few weeks I have varied my route and now my path takes me around the outside of the aformentioned park. I don't know exactly when my route altered, but I bet it was some time around the time the clocks went back.
There are no lights in this park you see. From the entrance it is pitch black - you can't even see the monument situated in the middle. I know from daylight that it is a haven for drunks and teenagers (the empty vodka bottles and lager cans are a dead giveaway) but normally they have all gone by daybreak. So why am I not going in when it's dark?
The crime rate in Southampton is atrocious, several attacks on people in parks, but it's not quite so bad in this particular area, so I don't think it's that.
The path has a few bends in it, so in the dark I could stray off into mud or doggy doo, but I don't think it's that.
I've noticed that my new route has trimmed 30 seconds off my total travel time, but I don't think it's that.
I genuinely believe I'm scared of the blackness. This coming from a man who has sat through countless horror films without hiding behind a cushion and treats the Nightmare on Elm Street films as comedies. I'm sure a psychologist could analyse me and show it's a metaphor for being afraid of the unknown, or being frightened of the future, but for now...
...I'm sticking to the lamplit pavements until the clocks go forward again.
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