As I was walking in the woods with good ol' mister doggo, more than normal I was enjoying the scenery. You see, normally autumn is not really my cup of tea. The smell of the wet leaves, the morning fog leaving some juicy traces on everything and and the constant shifting in winter clothing and in the afternoon pulling out the summer clothes is not really my favorite to say for the least.
But nearly every walk this week has been nothing more but fantastic as the temperature in the afternoons was still passing the more than 20 degrees celsius and it was truly a gift to be outside every day with the sun shining in the face.
I have been listening to a lot of podcasts lately while doing these walks. Not the ones where it is just one episode about some story. But more the ones that are about a cold case of some kind and where there has been multiple episodes of getting into the details, very often about all kinds of stuff that wasn't allowed to be shared before. Because several years had passed new information has come out and hopefully while sharing this new stuff, that also means that new clues worth investigating somehow might pop up.
Something that is more than interesting about these podcasts is what I find, they are happening more in the country side than in the big city, giving all kinds of Dutch dialects the chance to come into the open. And I absolutely love it!
Bring in the language that doesn't always get spoken about the people who don't always get seen!
The countryside people are like the shrooms in the woods
In general I always find that the high profile cases that happen in the Netherlands are always in the 'randstad' region. The randstad is what we call the four big cities together: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and every city there in between.
Not that this is the region where the high profile cases actually happen, it is the region where the most attention is given to. It is the region where the shroom is in contrast with the green background and you can really see of hear it and the audience is a listener that is willing to listen most.
Then we have another category. It is also the category where families are ripped apart, someone is missing their loved one and still doesn't have the closure of knowing that their family member is still alive or not. But because this is all in a dialect because of the region where it took place in, it feels like a whole part of the Netherlands doesn't really relate to it. Farm side hillbillies you know.
These are the shrooms that blend into more in the background. You don't really see them because they aren't screaming for attention. They are just there and you need to notice them and pay a closer look.
Also...the cold case team in for instance Rotterdam region has 10 people fully dedicated to the cold cases. The whole providence of Limburg has..... 1.
Interesting right?
Small disclaimer here of course, as I know there are enough Hiveans here from the city side in the Netherlands and I love you all. This is just for some extreme contrast you know!!
Full on attention
The thing to me while listening to these stories is that I love that I need full attention to it. When I am listening to some of these stories there is not option to think about anything else than what is happening on air. When I let the mind drift off about whatever other topic than what is in the podcast, immediately I didn't listen proper anymore and I missed the story again.
Multitasking is so much a lie in these kinds of thing!
Even taking a decent look around and seeing all of these different mushrooms popping up is already sometimes stealing a bit too much of my listening attention, and I have to go back in the story to hear what happened again.
Or does this mean I am getting old and I can not split my attention anymore...
Because whenever the attention slips it means that sometimes you pass that shroom all of a sudden and miss it entirely because you aren't seeing the detail. (See what is happening here...the analogy with shrooms and cold cases...)
Ow I just really hope that this autumn weather keeps up, because that means more walks and listening more to stories and let the mind drift away.
Because let's be honest on this one. What do you see in the scenery here down below. Where is the crime scene in the part that we don't see. Are we paying enough attention?
Or are we just seeing the beauty in this and choose to walk by.