NighBlat: (Nox noctis coegi)

 

The good thing about giving it some beans in the dark is that you can't see the things that'll normally slow you down!

Despite the pace of any spirited blat with like minded enthusiasts, there is a strange serenity to what has become known as a NightBlat. Un-planned and un-checked, there's a run-away-train energy to the NightBlat experience as the momentum pours blindly into the dark. All the energy and action, though, is cushioned and softened, like viewing the event after failing to heed the warning to 'not operate machinery when taking antibiotics'.

The dark is the key ingredient in this effect. It removes what you don't need to worry about, that T-junction quarter of a mile ahead, that odd building that would normally be on the skyline about now, the less than enamoured gardener trimming his hedge as you pass close to his ladder in daylight. The field of concentration is narrowed just to the car in front or, if your leading the formation, the limit of the headlights and the road map in your memory... like modern work load management in a 'glass' cockpit airliner, you're presented with the essential information only. It's binary decisions, left or right, on or off, chicken or beef ... simplicity in making the 'now' choices leading to a sense of simple choices. Just don't choose the wrong one!

That's not to say it's easy, the pace is up and the 'events' change rapidly, you've already lit the fuse to the big firework and you're waiting for each explosion, but in this environment it's a linear delivery that has you ready for the display. You're on your toes, awareness is heightened and the stream of input is welcomed when each is thrown at you and dispatched with a flick of the wrist or a squeeze of accelerator.
 

NightBlats are an activity that seem to occur only with the alignment of a number of known factors in combination with a mix of elements that can probably never be identified.

It needs the basic platform of dry weather, an after '22 hundred hours' time window, a convivial meeting of suitably 7 equipped mates and some bright spark to throw the mere suggestion into the ring!

There it will sit amongst other topics of more comfortable subject matter growing in possibility as less mention of it is made. An hour or so earlier earlier you were to be on your way home , all finished for the day and with another work day looming... then, wallop, you're hitting the dark, empty roads with senses tuned to max, your blat gland on full spleen and the firework box lit.

Maybe it's just the contrast that 7 driving affords us from our daily experiences? The onslaught of noise, wind, speed and involvement can certainly be inviting, but not after a convivial evening's wind down over a meal...that ain't natural!

So, what is the extra ingredient that would be the catalyst in the NightBlat decision sequence... it's the same one that gets you out of bed at 5.30 am on a weekend to check the weather for a SunriseBlat, the same that has you in the garage on a Friday night, rather than up the pub, 'cos you need to be ready for that 5.30 call.Whatever it might be, it's a good job it's not available over the counter... it'd be illegal.
 

Cheers to Cannonball Bob and Rob W for a great Hampshire and Surrey borders NightBlat last week. Empty roads, flaming X-flows, a Chinook night exercise overfly, coffee and debrief at a Wildbean Cafe (read petrol station!) and home to sit around for 2 hours trying to calm the BlatGland!

Perfect mid week entertainment. Some people play 5-a-side football or go fishing. Me?

I'd go for a dose of:

NightBlat : the antibiotic to cure the day... warning: addictive.