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27 July 2024

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At 7:45 am the sound of a hairdryer blasts me awake, followed by exaggerated whispering – WTF. At the ferry terminal I chance sitting on the grass, remembering how I clocked 13 ticks, one day here in 2017. The spellbinding view and excellent coffee from The Sandwich Station café are perfect companions. The traffic queue for the Kintyre ferry is crazy long. And my high-season snapshot of Arran shows a similar dynamic in Brodick. And again in Lamlash. The “Holy Isle Ferry”, now run by Grant Ross, was rebranded as “Lamlash Cruises” some years ago. But there are a number of changes since I was here in June 2023. By the pier are picnic tables and a shelter with colourful posters advertising a range of cruises, and other activities on the island. Grant’s business has morphed from service to Holy Isle to cruise entrepreneur. If it suits him, volunteers can “piggyback” on the day trips – which are now a structured 4-hour visit. He calls these “barnacle runs” – but it is a precarious arrangemen...
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31 July 2024

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When I finally take a turn around the garden, views and judgment are quick to surface. Last year the semi-abandoned vibe could be ascribed to Julie “finding her way”. This year it’s clear that – apart from the big polytunnel, which is bursting with healthy tomato and cucumber plants – the lack of productivity and controversial aesthetic is a choice. I would need to find a degree of acceptance beyond what I can currently muster to work in this environment. Just as well, then, that my 3 island days haven’t put me there. I have a bit of time before Grant takes me off the island. So I mozy along to the 15-minute meditation session that some of the volunteers have instigated in the refurbed yurt. It’s a strange development. What’s wrong with the beautiful shrine room and scheduled sitting sessions that have served us non-Tibetan Buddhists for decades? “Some people don’t like the icon of Buddha”, Graham says. Oh come on. I have found it physically tough, this visit. Am I coming to the en...
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30 July 2024

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My “how am I going to cope with seeing so little of the island?” concern is solved by being given the option of accompanying Diana to the Plateau, to cut grass and bracken from around tree seedlings planted around the same time I was in Glenscorrodale in February 2023. Apart from the sheer exhaustion of the work (an hour, there and back, and we do this     “commute” twice) it is enjoyable work in possibly the most remote part of the island, in ideal conditions.  After we have called it a day, I walk the Red Rock route to get down to the shore. The idea was to shear some of the bracken en route, to make the path clearer but I end up confused. creating a path to a vertical drop and having to backtrack. Whoops.  A wonderful swim in late-afternoon sunshine. I am beginning to feel at home. It has taken three days to take in all the changes, and the flux of people (two more blasts from the past arrive today – Helen from 2018 and Sam from 2017).
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29 July 2024

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Day 2 of “dailies” (toilet cleaning etc) and room cleaning. The dream team takes healthy breaks… … and I stop work  a little early as I am itching to wander. I follow the well worn shore path to the south end, populated with new additions to the Eriskay pony herd.
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28 July 2024

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Holy Isle. I am in familiar territory. But this trip I am getting a lesson in the adjusting to change: Apart from the imminent departure of Adam (shock horror), and a new team running the Centre, there are more than the usual number of new faces and re partnering. I am working in House Care, which is at its busiest, between courses. 30+ sets of sheets need to be put through machine cycles, dried, and folded in a very particular way; 30 yoga mats need to be cleaned; sitting mats vacuumed, and so it goes on. After a six-hour working day I am pooped, and everything is hurting. A short rest becomes a two-hour snooze. And, before I know it, it’s supper time. Hastily, I plunge into the sea. At least I have done that one thing. At the end of the day, I sit outside the Peace Hall, Julie’s annuals backlit and thronged with bees. Beautiful.
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26 July 2024

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Today it is Kev who can barely stay awake. But we manage a visit to the Gallery of Modern Art. Polarization, 1972, David Croft-Smith David Croft-Smith has said that his paintings are based on dreams and visions in that space just as you fall asleep. He is interested in where ideas, imagination and creation come from in that dream-like state of the subconscious mind. Bridget Reilly Wrong Beat and Baby, 2021, France-Lise McGurn Flame Garden (mold bloom), Enzo Camacho and Ami Lien Watercolour, ink, beeswax, abaca pulp, bagasse (sugarcane fibre), banana stalk, bugnai leaf, cilantro, coconut, cogon grass, fennel, kale, leek, onion skins, pine leaf, primrose petals, rice hull, sargassum algae, seashell, seaweed, spring onion, statice blossoms, taro shoots, wild grass And enjoy the street art all around the foody-drinky Merchant City. After adding a few more carbs and coffees to our groaning digestive systems, we go our separate ways at Glasgow Central.  I am travelling to Holy Isle, via...
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25 July 2024

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I arrive Aberdeen at 7 am, having overnighted in a pod (tolerable semi-recliner). Bus to Glasgow via Perth. At the changing post at Perth Park and Ride bus number 2 has a technical problem. A rival company, Stagecoach, sucks us up, at no cost. Sweet. I meet Kev and we have a delightful day moonching around the city.  Random curiosity about a high-rise adjacent to Queen Street station leads to us charming the security guard into showing us the view. A disappointing (not very) Japanese meal is enjoyable in good company.
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