A natural alphabet

Many, many years ago I was sent on an advanced police driving course so that I'd be authorised to break speed limits and pursue 'bandit' vehicles - if it was justified and safe to do so. The instructor was a dour Scot who would slap you down for the slightest mistake, and quite rightly so. In the sorts of situations he was training me for you can't afford to make mistakes because you'll be putting your life and that of other road users (including the bandit) at risk.

One thing that he insisted on during the early weeks of the course was a commentary. He wanted me to speak continuously to explain what was happening all around me as I drove:

'... I'm in a two way single carriageway street with cars parked either side of the road ... speed limit is 30mph ... shops all along the road and lots of people walking about ... watching out for pedestrians stepping out between cars to cross the road ... checking my mirror and there's a black Ford Escort behind me ... red Honda Civic in front ... traffic lights 50 yards ahead showing green ... checking my mirror and indicating to turn left ... lights still green ...'

The purpose of the exercise was to improve my powers of observation. By having to find things to talk about, I was forced to constantly look as far ahead as I could see but to also look behind me and to both sides. As the instructor rightly explained, the vast majority of accidents are due to lack of awareness of what's around you, either through inattention or distraction.

That was nearly 40 years ago and I've never had an accident - either at work or in my own car. I'd like to think that part of the reason is the good training I received.

I found myself thinking about this a couple of years ago at the start of the Covid lockdowns. I'd started going for longer and longer walks in the fresh air. Part of the reason was to get fitter. But I was thinking of my mental health too. Safe, socially-distanced interactions with neighbours and fellow dog walkers was very welcome. But I also enjoyed the solitude of walking among tall trees and across pretty meadows. As I've written about several times before (see here and here), this is something that has been proven to be good for our wellbeing.

I then decided to set myself a series of tasks to keep my brain active. I started by learning to identify all of the deciduous trees I passed. Then I started on the evergreens (still a work in progress). Then I topped up my knowledge of wild edibles to forage. It's been a fascinating (and tasty) couple of years.

And then, a few months into my first 'project'. I spotted this on the path in front of me:

It was a perfect capital letter D, made from two twigs that had randomly come to rest against each other. And a thought struck me ... could I find all 26 letters of the alphabet? What better way to really challenge and hone my observation skills?

Over the next few days, I ticked off some of the easier letters such as Y, O and X.

'This will be a piece of cake', I thought.

Oh boy, no.

Some letters proved to be surprisingly hard. Admittedly, I made it harder by setting myself some rules. Firstly, it had to be something that had occurred naturally - no arranging of rocks, twigs or anything else to make the shapes. Secondly, no photo manipulation (other than cropping) would be allowed. And, thirdly, it had to be natural and not man-made. That meant no cracks in pavements or wooden fences or bent pieces of wire. The only exception to this that I allowed myself were the horse hoof prints. They were made naturally by an animal and, had the horse not been shod, it would still have resulted in the same shape.

It eventually took me nearly two years to get the set .. and the final two or three really tricky ones took seven months by themselves. To be honest, I'm still not happy with either the I or the R. I really wanted a full capital I with serifs top and bottom but never did find one. And the R is ... clumsy. I'm still looking for a better example.

So, here's my wild alphabet complete (click on it to see it larger). 

I'll keep looking for a better R and a better I. The V is a bit ropey too.

And maybe more ... I spotted this just a few days ago ...

Here comes another year or so of observation training ...