I was alone – happily alone, I might add – munching my
sandwiches, relaxing on the grass by a rocky path during a
walk on the moor and heather of Lewis. Nobody, no human
habitation, in sight. Bliss! When... out of the blue – into the
black, more like – my day was ruined. I was not, as I fondly
imagined, alone; I had been joined – surrounded, engulfed –
all uninvited, by a swarm of midges, a swarm, such as I,
coming from England, had never met before. Although I had
heard of the notorious midges of Scotland, a few seconds‟
experience taught me far more about them, and what a pest
they were, than a five-hundred paged textbook ever could. |
