It's been a while since i've taken to country roads at night, there's something about it which i don't like, the long dark roads and the corners, even when you're in the leather seat of a vintage luxury saloon treating those corners as if they were nothing, the headlights can only let you see so much, and the fear of getting into an accident is considerably more then that of driving at day, but it's not irrational, they do say you are more likely to have a car crash at night, and there's something scary about crashing at night, or even just breaking down, and lastly, maybe there is a fear hardcoded into us, a fear of highwaymen from the time they were oh so common on the dark and dangerous highways, and not to mention, the primal fear of the unknown, living, paranormal or dead.
As you probably already know, leprechauns are the green-suited creatures from irish folklore, they go along with the whole thing about pots of gold and rainbows, though none of this was on my mind as i left dublin, heading west, but i knew that as the sun was setting, that i would end up driving in the dark, i told myself 'well it's safer then the city at night' as the sun finally touched the horizon, but deep down, i had the fear of everything and anything that could possibly happen.
But there was surely nothing that could stop me, as my Jaguar Mark II purred itself down the road, at this point i had been driving for just over two hours, and it wouldn't be too long til i reached a flow state, and then, the state of highway meditation, the drive never to be remembered again, or so i thought.
I had been driving for at least a few hours, watching the road ahead the headlights and making adjustments as needed, hypnotized by the rumbling engine, and nothing but darkness to the sides and behind, and occasionally i saw shapes moving in the darkness in the distance, formations of lights flying around, it was just all in my head, i knew it, those phosphenes aren't anything novel to the experienced traveller of the night, land, sea or by air.
It is quite interesting how the older, larger, motorcars feel more safer then those modern, perhaps it is just a placebo that science and engineering shall discount at any time, but if the modern car is genuinely safer, it does not feel so to me at least.