Heat and stuff

I went on a trip today and for the first time in I don't know how long came home without a single photo taken.

Right now it is close to 11pm and I'm sitting as still as possible, feeling I would be better off with gills to breathe, so humid is the air. There was a thunderstorm earlier in the evening which did nothing in terms of refreshing the atmosphere, if anything it made things worse. It's been hot here (30C plus hot, 35 plus in the last couple of days) for over a week with the temperatures and humidity rising by the day, the whole thing reaching climax today.

No way was I staying in the city in such conditions so we sat in the (air-conditioned) car and drove to higher grounds, an elevated plateau with a specfic microclimate. Most of the year the place is cold as hell but in these conditions it was a welcome respite from the unbearable muggy heat of the lowlands. Alas, many other people came to the same conclusion so there were crowds everywhere with queues for drink, queues for food, queues for the bathroom...

I still managed a relatively peaceful walk through a dense spruce forest with so many anthills as I don't remember seeing anywhere else. Some were like real mountains, others - mainly smaller - were teaming with frenzied ants. Their paths crossed ours and stepping on a few was almost unavoidable. I got ant-bitten in return. The clearings were teaming with butterflies and a few dragonflies hoverd in the vicinity of water sources.

So why did I not take any photos? I'm not too fond of shooting humans and usually realise too late there were photo ops at all. The light was relentless: sharp and blistering int he sun, muted half-dusk in the shade. The visibility was poor because of the heat haze. None of the wildlife (insects in particular) was ready to stay still for more than a few miliseconds. So I chose to rather enjoy the day as it was than chase the impossible and feel frustrated when things don't work the way they should.