Something for the future
Written by John MacphersonI met him in the woodlands, years ago. I’d come upon him without him seeing me as he was distracted, bending over and sticking something into the ground. He was a giant of a man, his full camouflage clothing made him blend in with the surroundings. I walked on towards him, the windnoise concealing my approach.
He didn’t expect to be seen, and was surprised to see me, appearing from the mistswirl of this testing day, and in such a remote place. And he was suspicious.
William and an oak tree. © John MacPherson
I explained I was working as a photographer and that my client had arranged permission for access with the landowner. And I remarked how much I was enjoying this wonderful day, gale force winds whipping trees to and fro and blowing waterfalls vertical in the gusts. Elemental and satisfying.
He smiled.
“I’m the Estate stalker and gamekeeper” he told me. He looked at my cameras and said “I’ve got a little video camera, here” and pulled it from his pocket.
“They’re very good” I said. “What are you filming?”
He looked carefully at me, sizing me up. Then with a tinge of emotion in his voice said “I’m retiring in a few weeks, after 50 years of working on this Estate, with knackered hips and ruined knees from pulling deer off the hill and working in all weathers. But I’m going to miss the place, badly. So I’ve been filming all the places I love so that I can sit at home and revisit them when I can no longer walk.”
We stood together silently amidst the roar of wind and whipping trees, rain spattering our heads.
“What were you doing bending over?” I asked, curious.
He hesitated, a sudden look of embarrassment at having been ‘caught’ tingeing his cheeks…then slowly put his hand in his pocket and pulled out…an acorn.
“I pick them up whenever I see them. Then when I see a place that needs an oak tree, I push an acorn into the soil.”
I smiled and felt a prickle run up my spine.
He looked at me again and said gently, emotionally… “I just want to leave something behind me…..for the future”
We parted and went our ways.
I have a son now. He loves oak trees. Their size, their age, their presence.
Author — John Macpherson
John MacPherson was born and lives in the Scottish Highlands. He trained as a welder in the Glasgow shipyards, before completing an apprenticeship as a carpenter, and then qualified as a Social Worker in Disability Services. Along the way he has cooked on canal barges, trained as an Alpine Ski Leader & worked as an Instructor for Skiers with disabilities, been a canoe instructor, and tutor of night classes in carpentry, stained glass design and manufacture, and archery. He has travelled extensively on various continents, undertaking solo trips by bicycle, or motorcycle. He has had narrow escapes from an ambush by terrorists, been hit by lightning, caught in an erupting volcano, trapped in a mobile home by a tornado, kidnapped by a dog's hairdresser, rammed by a basking shark and was once bitten by a wild otter. He has combined all this with professional photography, which he has practised for over 35 years. He teaches photography and acts as a photography guide & tutor in the UK and abroad. His biggest challenge is keeping his 30 year old Land Rover 110 on the road. He loves telling and hearing stories.