Since last Monday, Mel, my wife has been having a torrid time having tested positive for Covid. We managed to dodge it all through the pandemic, but this week it caught up with her. You can imagine, I have been trying to avoid catching it myself, while at the same time ferrying hot drinks, hot water bottles and wholesome 'nursery foods'. It has meant that we are listening to far more radio than we normally do - although we are already devotees of BBC Radio 4 and Radio 3.

One of the programmes we listened to was Curious Cases, in which listeners write in asking problems to be solved, and this week, it was a young woman who wanted to know why it was she was a sleep walker and was sleep walking only a human trait, or did other animals go 'walkabout' when asleep?

It is a fascinating subject. We learnt so much. There are different phases of sleep, for example when waking the brain is functioning at 35 cycles per second, but in deep sleep that drops to less than one oscillation per second. As you pass through light resting sleep into deeper sleep, or non-REM state (where REM stands for Rapid Eye Movement), there are three phases, in the third of which is deep sleep, here you are paralysed from the neck down. Then you go into a lighter sleep, in which there is considerable REM and is when you have your most complicated and vivid dreams, many of which we often remember. This phasing of lighter to deeper to lighter sleep can happen several times during your sleeping period. Sleep walking and other 'para-somnia activities' happen in non-REM deep sleep, and usually the sleeper has their eyes open, so what may be happening is that parts of their brain are asleep, and other parts awake, and those awake parts may be enhanced as the brain is demanding less energy overall. That in turn may mean that the sleep walker's vision is actually better than when they are awake!

There's more, but we have lots of news to tell you about, so you will have to listen yourself! Keeping to the 'seeing in the dark' theme, I have been thinking about what changes may occur as the world heats up (climatically rather than politically). As temperatures rise, many of us are going to find it unbearable to be walking in the heat of the day, and more of our activities will be scheduled to take place at dawn or dusk, or even at night. In July 2023, I was at the Prespa Encounters in Psarades, in north western Greece and daytime temperatures climbed into the high 30Cs and even one day it was above 40C. I was undertaking interviews with walking artists and seeking shade at every possible opportunity (of which, I warn, there isn't a lot). So come July 2025, should you be considering participating in the Encounters, keep this in mind. The details of how you can participate are now available, and you can find them here.

Some get accustomed to the heat, I am not one of them, so it is unlikely you will find me there this summer. Yannis Ziogas the co-curator of the Prespa Encounter, is clearly a man who can withstand the heat. He is hosting a café this coming Wednesday, to which architect and community-based educator Stavros Sofianopoulos will be the guest. He is clearly another Greek man less affected by the heat, as he's been working for many years in Chiapas, in central Mexico, establishing a teachers' centre for the local indigenous Zapatista community. I am intrigued in what they have achieved, not least as it was an area that I hiked through in my early 20s, and the indigenous population were practically invisible (as I have learnt latterly, much because of persecution by successive Mexican governments).

Also this week, on Tuesday, we have community member Richard White hosting a Salon where the guest is Corinne Fowler talking about her new book 'Our Island Stories' in which she reveals how the British landscape has been and is still shaped by the UK's colonial past. Through his walking art practice Richard has been researching the influence of slave ownership and just how far reaching its affects have been.

Just after Christmas, we have another Walking Writers Salon to look forward to. Chantal Lyons, our writer-in-residence has invited two other Wainwright Prize nominees to join her in conversation for an event entitled Words to Light the Dark. Chantal's own book 'Groundbreakers', in which she has written extensively about the revival of Britain's wild boar, was shortlisted for this year's Wainwright. Together with  Sophie Yeo (Nature's Ghost) and Polly Atkin ('Some of Us just Fall', and 'The Company of Owls'), they are laying down a challenge to you - between now and Sunday 5 January, write a haiku responding to the themes of the Salon, follow us on Bluesky app, and post your haiku there with the #hashtag #wlchaiku for a chance of having your poem appraised by the three of them live at the Salon, and possibly being the winner of a rather special prize....

Best, Andrew

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