Friday 21 April 2023
My friends, Catherine and Chris, arrived yesterday lunchtime and continued their journey back south this morning. Although windy, it was a beautiful sunny day yesterday. We had a restorative walk through woodland and marshes, climbing over fallen trees (only one of us slipped over, though she did it so discreetly I thought she’d sat down to admire the view). The views were stunning. We encountered no other people for the two or so hours we were walking. Part way through, we sat on a grassy hillside, surrounded by trees and river, warm sun, sheltered from the wind, and shared a flask of coffee and each had a piece of cake. Prior to that, we had stood for a while on the forest floor, standing in silence to listen to the swaying and creaking of the sitka spruce trees. Such a beautiful place.
Afterwards, we stopped off at Ettrick kirkyard, to say hello to some lambs and just because it’s a really peaceful, pretty spot.
To my surprise and relief, we had a full water supply, the heating came on as it should (not that it’s very effective) and all was fine. That was the first time two people have stayed and Catherine was adamant that the not-as-comfy low half of the truckle bed was comfortable.
I amazed myself by making lunch and dinner the day before they arrived and there being enough leftovers for me to have lunch and dinner today. All good. This evening, I watched the last His Dark Materials (series one was good, series two underwhelming and I barely maintained enough interest to keep going with series three) on my PC screen. We still don’t have a TV here and I don’t know if or when we will get one. Logically, I suppose we would just transfer the licence and TV from London, but I don’t think either of us has missed TV particularly.
My social life, my home-alone life, my work life; all very different out here.
