16 July 2024

July 16, 2024

I wake at 4:30 am, disturbed by crazy dreams about getting back together with Juan, and arriving at our new home – which is chaotic, and has nothing we need. For some reason I have a pair of shears. 🤔Then I am on a road trip – with Mum. 😳

I am tempted to get up super early – it is light and, even with an open-ended agenda, time feels precious. But I allow myself a couple more hours. When I get up, I have the pleasing sensation of a warmer house – yesterday evening I cracked and put on a storage heater because there is only so much tension-creating cold that a 64-year-old can take.

I am settling into my usual early-morning dietary and spiritual practice. And then what? This morning the rain is relentless. So I retreat into comfort cooking apple-crumble muffins. Just as I am messaging Clare to invite her and Paul over, they are knocking at the door. So there we are, the good old days, neighbours calling in on each other and having a cuppa and a bun.

Cleaning (meddling? – Ed) is (still) an ongoing activity, with one thing leading to another. Even as I’m writing this, I can see a pile of debris under the microwave that I will have to move. By picking up objects ad hoc when I see them, I have amassed collections of clothes pegs (very useful), spent batteries, and biros. In so doing, I have discovered stashes of cardboard that will be useful for drying the seeds that Paul and Clare (and I) are collecting. Not to mention an unopened box of Bird’s brandy sauce lodged behind the dresser. My most risky activity so far has been to restore the conservatory from a tool and refuse-dumping depot to a seating area. Given that Vicky was apparently grateful to friends who blitzed the kitchen just before I arrived, I think I am on safe ground. But I must stop here!

I force myself to step out into the rain, going via the jetty to drop off some plastic refuse – only to find there is no collection point for this. Egilsay, way to go on the recycling! Irritated, I dump my sack in the landfill skip – I’m clearly not gonna carry it on my walk.

I follow a path along the west coast down to the Bay of Vady and then back on an inland track. My app tells me I am watching a Meadow Pippit. But it is the flowers that capture my attention today: Lady’s Bedstraw, clovers, Meadow vetchling, Spear thistle (aka Scotch thistle), Cow Parsley and Angelica. Dotted around the hillside are Heath spotted orchid and Northern marsh orchid. On a day with muted colours the deep red of the clover and orchids juxtaposes with the soft grey backdrop. Sublime.

I have decided to make mid afternoon my swimming time. This is never easy. But I will lose all self-respect if I can’t manage my negative thoughts on the subject! And of course the payback is delicious: nothing makes me feel as warm as coming out of that freezing cold sea. I count out loud the two minutes needed to get over the shock of the cold and then it becomes enjoyable.

At around 8:30 pm the Sun peeks out and the landscape transforms. The absence of Stanley the cat, an ongoing conflict with my damp-proofing company, and concern about Mum’s mental state are all eclipsed by the glorious botanical symphony.