Tuesday 10 October 2023
My friend Lindsay stayed with us from Thursday to Monday. Despite the heavy rain on Friday, particularly Saturday and a small amount on Sunday morning, we had walks every day. On Sunday, we left home at 07:30 to drive to Samye Ling for an 08:00 to 09:00 silent meditation session at the temple. We basically sat for an hour. We both enjoyed it. It’s so much easier to slow down when you have to. I don’t think I could sit for an hour at home without feeling guilty or massively distracted. I wouldn’t say I meditated but there were definitely a few chunks of time when I realised I hadn’t been either thinking of things I needed to do at home, a song that kept going through my head or thinking about things that are on my mind anyway. We wandered around the temple afterwards and had our packed breakfast of a bacon and egg muffin and a flask of coffee. Lovely, relaxed start to the day.
Our walks over the weekend incorporated checking out the section of flooded road that most vehicles couldn’t drive through, a few walks around the forestry tracks and, on Sunday afternoon, with the occasional suggestion of sun, we went up to St Mary’s Kirkyard above St Mary’s Loch and then on to the shoreline of the loch. We also baked a Victoria Sponge cake (eaten over the course of the weekend), made a chocolate dessert and sat across the kitchen table chopping vegetables for fattoush, a chicken and vegetable thukpa (spiced noodle soup) and the paneer and spinach curry we had on Sunday night. Lindsay was the first visitor who’s not really been far away from the house due to bad weather. I really enjoyed our local walks, most days more than one, sitting around chatting and chopping and baking.
Today, it’s grey and windy but unexpectedly mild. I have optimistically hung a wash out. By Saturday, the first zero degrees of autumn is forecast during the early hours and daytime temperatures are forecast to drop at least four degrees from tomorrow, but with some sunshine.
I feel more acclimatised to the wintery weather now, but it’s still cold indoors. Lindsay, however, never quite felt warm enough. She’s back in Hove now where it’s significantly warmer. She ended up borrowing an Oodie, a woollen cardi, a long-sleeved pyjama top, a hot water bottle and a selection of blankets. I had warned her it would be colder than she’d expect, but, as with my own knowledge of the significant temperature drop when I returned here from London, somehow it’s too big a drop to actually be able to comprehend until you experience it for yourself.
Openreach people are booked to come today between 08:00 and 13:00. It’s 10:33 and Chris and I have a suspicion they’re not going to come. Fortunately, our repaired WiFi set-up is still working fine. Other than work, I am also planning to start painting the stairwell today. I am yet to be in the mood for painting. I am also mildly apprehensive of painting a stairwell the dark blue I seem intent on it being. It seems a big change as the staircase is so prominent.