Wasn't on yesterday evening much because of this (going to copy what I wrote to my friends last night).
I thought I'd try to walk from the office to the local station, because it was a nice day and I figured I may as well know how long it takes and the route just in case of future emergencies.
The footpath was entirely blocked by a fallen tree so I had to backtrack and walk along the road. Then a bunch of kids followed me for half a mile asking for cigarettes. Then I nearly got smooshed by a sports car on a tight rural road corner (I fell into a bush and got stung by nettles) which was a much scarier experience than I think I have yet processed. But then I found myself in sun-decked village lanes, meadows of bright colour, and the smell of spring all around me. I got to the station feeling a bit worn down, but having enjoyed the second half of the walk thoroughly.
I'd missed my train. I'd have to wait two hours for the next one…or I could wait one hour twenty minutes if I went to the next station. So I thought I'd try that, somehow failing to appreciate the next station was over 4 miles away through open country. I passed thatched cottages reflected in rippling water, I walked through flocks of sheep with little running lambs, I crossed wooden bridges across little waterfalls, I almost swallowed a bumblebee that instead chose to rest on my bag's lizard, and I passed a friendly man with a large axe (he was chopping firewood). At one point a herd of lycra-clad runners sped by and I foolishly assumed I was getting close. Nope.
Then I realised the time, and the distance, and how dark it was getting, and began to speed up. One gate got stuck and I had to push hard to get it open. I disturbed a small flock of houseboats nesting under some willow trees, puffing on their pipes of woodsmoke. Open fields, small woods, places where the water opened wide and seemed to blaze with the red of the sunset. As the time of the train approached, I found myself on a winding path between the river and a placid lake, over which a full moon was rising, bathing waterside lupins in its glow. A man stood almost motionless by a large bonfire between the waters.
For a bit, I ran, leaping over a few dubious sections where the path almost crumbled away into the now-dark surface of the river. I began to feel like I'd left the real world behind long ago and was now in some parody of the countyside, a curious walk turned epic quest. Then suddenly, a small terrier appeared and barked at me before a man in a flat cap apologised and told me he didn't bite. I realised then that I had reached the town I was aiming for, and leaving the cross-country paths behind, hurried uphill to the strangely-bright lights of the station, where I had 3 minutes until my train carrying me back to the impossible complexity of the cities.
Strange commute home. And that's not even getting started on what the workday was like...
(The workday incidentally involved half the office losing power, but only half, so our sysadmin was dragging servers across the room to get them up and running again. While the net was down, we made a working ballista, showing that developers do indeed devolve when separated from modern technology).
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@MDL:
My dog wouldn't stop barking tonight, so for the sake of our neighbors I've had to bring him upstairs to sleep in my room.
Right now he's dreaming and whacking his tail against the bed. All is forgiven, you adorable thing.
Pets get away with so much. What kind of dog is he?
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@zachri:
Turns out mum partially lied after I told her what I told her and we ended up having a talk because she was internally freaking out because of the attitude of some people to trans folk and she doesn't want me to be victimised. Not even allowed binding at home.
It's actually infuriatingly common that this kind of thing happens - and it's ridiculous because you're essentially being punished for the behaviour of hypothetical others. Or maybe it's just an excuse for their own misgivings. I dunno. Hope that your parents come round a bit more and give you the space you need to figure this stuff out one way or another.