Confronting Storm Gerrit and hunting Nessie in Newton Wood

On a day that could only be described as dire, I ventured out to confront the tempestuous forces of Storm Gerrit. With a strategic approach, I sought refuge primarily within the protective confines of Newton Woods.

In my last posting, but one, I mentioned ‘pareidolia’. This is the tendency to see images of animals, faces, or other things in inanimate objects such as cloud formations, or, in that case, a rock. It lies behind such bizarre claims as the ‘man in the moon’ and the image of the Virgin Mary in a toasted cheese sandwich.

The ‘Rorschach test,’ named after the Swiss psychiatrist, Hermann Rorschach, employs inkblot images to scrutinise the brain’s inclination to derive meaning even from the overtly nonsensical. Evidently, in its quest for structure, the brain adeptly coerces arbitrary patterns into meaningful configurations, occasionally at the expense of rationality.

It came to my attention earlier this month that Nessie was lurking around in Newton Wood. Finding her proved to be no Herculean task, and the prospect of capturing her on camera seemed like a fitting endeavour for a rainy day. And, lo-and-behold, today happens to be that day.