Monday 25 September 2023
It is three months until Christmas Day. I am already fretting slightly about weather and plans for our whereabouts over Christmas. I have realised that we were lucky last year with the winter weather in Scotland, sort of. Since our road flooded and was impassable in one direction on 19 August, it has flooded four times since then, the last occasion being yesterday (not that I was affected; I’m in London). From speaking to people in the area around our valley (“neighbours” is probably the word, despite the miles between most of us), we are conscious that every year is very different and that last winter we didn’t get snowed in (though we were iced-in a few times), we didn’t lose electricity for longer than three hours and we were only once stopped from continuing on the road because of the flood (and that was just to visit a new town, ie we didn’t have an appointment, a train to catch, shopping to do, etc). We also didn’t have to change any plans to drive between Scotland and London because of the weather, and we drove up and down quite a lot in the early months of living in Scotland, November and December, in part to move stuff up from London.
I visited my mum yesterday and we talked about Christmas. We don’t usually talk about it this early on in the year, but neither of us has a clue where we’ll be or what will happen, though this is also because she is has as yet unknown dates coming up for various hospital appointments. Anyway, greater distances between people and places makes it harder to both plan and commit to specific dates, especially when there is wintery weather to factor in, which isn’t something I’ve ever particularly thought about living in London and the southeast.
It’s been a while since I last wrote, it actually feels like a month ago (it was less than two weeks ago) as I’ve been to London, Lanzarote and I’m now back in London. In that time, Chris has been to London, Palestine, London, Scotland, London and Scotland via Durham to drop his son back at university. Chris and I both chose to travel abroad from London rather than Scotland, in part at least because there are more flights to choose from and it’s easier.
I had one of the most relaxing and switch-offy eight-day holidays ever. I hadn’t expected to be inspired by Lanzarote, I thought of it as being an island of resorts and Kiss Me Quick hats. I went with my ‘holiday friend’, Sarah, whom I’ve known since we were five years old and I’ve holidayed with for the past six years. We had a very happy split of days lounging around and days out and about, it was sunny and warm, I swam in the sea and/or pool every day, we chatted, ate well, read, watched films, napped … all great holiday stuff. We stayed in a kind of sub-resort of a resort area, Costa Teguise. I surprised myself by appreciating the arid landscape and expanses of lava rock. It reminded me of Scottish Borders (no, really!) because of all the space. I loved that the resorts and even Arrecife, the capital, except for one seventeen-storey tower block, are all low-rise and largely white-painted with a really good green for doors and around windows. There was a good feel to the place, which I’m convinced is for similar reasons to why I feel calm in Iceland, because of the volcanic activity beneath the surface. I ate fresh fish every day and all our meals were fresh and with good quality produce. I also discovered Cesar Manrique, who kind of designed a large proportion of Lanzarote. I really, really like his architecture and design. Unfortunately, the cacti, succulents, use of lava stone and indoor-outdoor elements of a lot of architecture there is not transferable to the Scottish climate or resources. I didn’t even buy an aloe vera plant for Scotland as I know it wouldn’t survive the winter.
After, ahem, flying the plane from Lanzarote (we were all on board but it was delayed departing Lanzarote because of lack of staff for air traffic control at Gatwick, so the pilot said people with children could come into the cockpit. Sarah and I went up too. So cool and such a lovely co-pilot we chatted to. He even gave up his seat so he could take a photo of Sarah and I, ahem, flying the plane!! Honestly, such a fun thing to do and we got to ask loads of questions and chat to a very nice BA pilot) – got sidetracked there. Anyway, I arrived home in Lewisham to Chris and my friend Narissa, staying a night before flying home to Basel. Such a good way to prevent post-holiday anti-climax. The three of us chatted all evening, then Narissa and I slowly made our way into central London the next day ahead of her meeting her son and heading to Heathrow. Great to be in London and able to do that. London was extremely busy and touristy. I’m currently not sure when I’ll be driving back to Scotland as I want to stay around while my mum might be having medical appointments. It’s good to be in London and I’m meeting a friend, Shannon, visiting from Australia this evening and my friend Duncan tomorrow. Then a quiet week ahead back in Scotland if all goes to plan.
