Desolation has an antithetical beauty if one does not allow discomfort to distract from one’s appreciation mused Jake as his eyes roved from the dull pewter sky to the conifers swaying in the biting wind from the North Sea. Considering the pines, he shivered and recalled he had read they were a new addition to Snape Common whereas centuries ago, the view from the barrows over the Alde estuary to the sea would have been unimpeded and therefore even more desolate. Wasn’t it a paradox that a sense of isolation can be increased by the opening of horizons? Amid the trees, a person might be lurking whereas without them, the eye would sweep over water, mud and waves to the skyline without the reassurance of seeing another living soul.
Given his solitude, he wondered whether he was teetering on t
