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Through the nightOn the Contents page, the chapter headings are all prefigured with an hour of the night – 5 pm, 6 pm, 7 pm and so on. That's not surprising for a book about the night, but the surprises came as I read. Even just the part I've read has shown me heaps of things I didn't know. Twilight and duskRight at the beginning, author Annette Lees surprised me by announcing that there are three grades of twilight – civil, nautical and astronomical – terms understood and used, by people such as sailors, climbers, farmers and other outdoor workers, to delineate the different degrees of rising dark. I'd never heard those terms before. Together the three twilights are what we call dusk. Lees illustrates the power of dusk by telling how she once became completely lost trying to find her way back from a small bush-clad West Coast lake she had walked to one late afternoon. Do read this. Scary. (See pages 36 through 38.) Finding the way at nightLees spends some time talking about finding our way at night using available light but then by contrast tells us about New Zealand bats – long tailed and short tailed. Bats I know nothing about, so I was surprised to find that: 'New Zealand bats (page 63) fly at speed in complete darkness through cluttered native forest, dodging tree trunks, branches and leaves, snapping up moths and mosquitos and crane flies. They perceive all these things through sound alone, by sending out through their open mouths a srtream pf high pitched echo locating buzzes and clicks of varying harmonics, rate and intensity that bounce off features in their landscape back to their ears, orienting it in its world... How strange that would be to see by sound.' The Home GuardIn the 8 pm chapter, titled 'Where are you' Annette Lees diverts her attention from natural animals of the night to humans who were trained to stalk at night to attack an invading enemy. These mostly older citizens were the Home Guard – a guerilla force designated to attack the Japanese or Germans if they invaded. I grinned at the extract (page 79) which Lees has quoted from the training manual. It lists the provisions each guard is to have when on duty: 'a haversack, two blankets, a waterproof coat or sheet, a great-coat, knife, fork, spoon, plate, mug, change of underclothes and socks, a serviceable pair of boots, soap, towel, rations for at least 24 hours, and a bottle of water. There was an addendum linked to the socks: 'If fresh socks are not available, the dirty ones should be changed to the opposite feet.' Amazing what you can include if you write a book about the dark! The title makes it.Indeed, the title, After Dark, is the key to the sucess of this book. It's a genius choice because it enables the exploration of that which is hidden by the night. And we all know that that which is hidden hides all sorts of remarkable endeavours, mysteries, secrets, achievements deeds of devotion and astounding natural facts.
John McInnes 31 March 2023 Publication details: After Dark, walking into the nights of Aotearoa by Annette Lees. Potton & Potton, Nelson, New Zealand 2021 ISBN 978 1 98 855026 8 ##########
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