In June, I tried the Wildlife Trusts’ 30 Days Wild challenge. Spoiler: it didn’t go too well.
It started ok. Well, it started ok in May. I found myself continually doing things that made me think “I should be saving this for next week” but when June started, it wore off a bit.
The first week was fine. On Saturday I went on a training course for getting my camp licence, which is pretty wild, and I taught an archery session in the blazing sun in the middle of the field to the other participants. Sunday I rescued a spider – using the 100 Wild Ideas leaflet. On Monday I held Brownies outside – we learnt some basic first aid and I took my shoes off and walked barefoot in the grass while they played parachute games. Tuesday was a bit busy but I had time to go outside and moo at the cows behind the office.
On Wednesday I rescued another spider and I also went to the green gym at the local rec and walked round dogspotting. On Thursday I went out in the garden and tried out my watercolour paints by painting a little garden scene. I’m not artistic but I spent a while really looking at things while I figured out if I could paint them.
On Friday… Oh yes, that was the day I went to the Russian visa centre. Between that and the train and the 1.3km I swam in the London Olympic pool, I didn’t have time for anything wild.
Week two. Another archery session, along with a few birds just asking to get skewered and then I paddled in the sea in the evening on my way to a comedy show.
On Sunday I discovered there are thousands – millions! – of bees in the hedge outside my house.
After that it really dropped off. That’s partly because I was out every evening for the next few days. At a push, does it count that I replaced my walking shoes? My old ones had no grip whatsoever on the bottoms and the backs had disintegrated to the point that they hurt. I stood out in the rain and watched the ducks on the duckpond in Devizes.
Thursday to Sunday I camped in Devon, walked on the coast, paddled in the sea, talked to the sheep, listened to the bird. Wild weekend.
That was the 16th, that Sunday. After that it never really picked up again. I paddled in the sea again and watched sparrows on Friday 28th, swam in the outdoor pool on Saturday 29th and then went kayaking on the 30th.
What conclusion do I draw from this? That there isn’t space for wildness in my 21st century life and that’s not a good thing. I’m a reasonably outdoorsy person, so I thought, and if I can’t do anything vaguely wild and outdoorsy for even half a warm dry sunny month then how unwild are other people’s lives?
At the very least, given that a chunk of my summer is going to be devoted to writing & scheduling posts for when I’m away in September, can’t I take my laptop or notebook out in the garden after work and write in the fresh air? Why can’t I take my camp blanket to work and eat my lunch in the old beer garden? Can’t I even find a few minutes to watch the bees?
July has actually been pretty good so far. I took the Brownies to the rec to do a scavenger hunt on Monday – find a yellow flower, a cloud shaped like an animal, a creepy-crawly, that sort of thing. We did a GPS walk with Rangers on Tuesday. On Wednesday I did an archery session in a field with the Guides. On Thursday we had our county campfire, so a whole evening sitting in a field eating hotdogs, playing parachute games and then singing round a campfire. It’s Thursday night right now as I write this but my plans are to go out in my inflatable kayak tomorrow and then go to Guide camp on Friday night, waking up in the tent and eating biscuits at sunrise on Saturday before going to London. After that… I can’t think that far ahead right now, but I’m going to see if I can #MakeJulyMoreWild. The 21st century needs more outdoors.