Observer R

Cissbury Ring, Sussex, September some years ago.
I observe the top of a hill towards evening: was the sun going down? It was hard to tell due the the heavy clouds. Anyway, it was darker than it had been a few minutes earlier and it felt like rain was only a moment away, maybe was already falling but still evaporating before it landed - you know the cloud you see with the rain sheeting down but fading to nothing before it hits the ground. No matter, those were the conditions and I observed a young man near the top of the hill start to run, heading east, following the track. As he reached the gap in the bank lightning forked and thunder cracked. I blinked, wouldn't you? But then you'd have missed it, like I did, whatever it was. Once my senses had come back into service he'd gone. OK, he was running fast by the time the lightning struck, but I'd only blinked. A fraction of a second - how could he have got away?

Observer O

Cissbury Ring, Sussex, September some years ago.
I observe the top of a hill towards evening: was the sun going down? It was hard to tell due the the heavy clouds. Anyway, it was darker than it had been a few minutes earlier and it felt like rain was only a moment away, maybe was already falling but still evaporating before it landed - you know the cloud you see with the rain sheeting down but fading to nothing before it hits the ground. No matter, those were the conditions and I observed the lightning strike the ground and and the thunder crack. I blinked, wouldn't you? But then you'd have missed it, like I did, whatever it was. I certainly hadn't seen the man running through gap in the bank but there he was, bearing left down the track to Findon. But I'd only blinked, a fraction of a second - where had he come from?

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