Monday 22 May 2023
Yesterday, we drove from Cumbria, in ‘the north’, saying goodbye to our friends from Manchester, pointing out that for the first time, they were the ones heading south while we were heading north to go home. I think I am in some kind of transition phase of mentally moving from London to Scottish Borders. As with most things, my brain figures it out later than my body. To date, our trips in the UK have been north of London and the southeast rather than west. We would usually comment on it being colder ‘up north’, flowers out later in spring, summer evenings getting dark later. I now feel settled enough in Scotland that my perspective has finally switched and, by holidaying south of Scotland, my thoughts are on Scottish/northerly flowers and leaf-green being later, nights and mornings lighter longer and it being chillier at home.
It was my birthday on Saturday and Chris had booked for us to stay at an inn in Cumbria for two nights before meeting James, Ita and their two children at Levens Hall on Sunday for the day. I loved the fact of our having somewhere realistic to meet half way. The thing with meeting friends from, say, Manchester half way between London and Manchester is that a disproportionate chunk of time is taken getting from Lewisham in southeast London to north London (whether by car or by train, though we’d most likely go by train) to then set off to the midway point. Ita and I have met in Milton Keynes before, both going by train, but it isn’t exactly a cheap option. Anyway, one of myriad great things about having moved somewhere new is that we have a whole new radius of day trippable places to visit, Lake District being one of them.
We left home in Scotland shortly before midday on Friday and packed a winter coat (in Chris’s case, his duffel coat), a waterproof jacket and a lighter jacket. For the whole weekend, I took my light jacket with me but didn’t use it. The rest was massively useless with the ‘heat’ we had. One of the friends we met at Levens Hall in Cumbria, Ita, said it was cooler in Cumbria and she hadn’t packed a warm enough jacket. Chris and I felt quite smug having a selection of six jackets and coats (as well as other jumpers) and us not being the weedy southerners not used to the cold. It was a lovely day spent with friends, all of us meeting somewhere we’d never been before, good weather and chats and jumping photos.
We have two friends, Annie and Tony, staying with us from tonight. I’m about to head in to Hawick for a shop. The spare room is pretty much already made up and I did most cleaning and tidying before we went away. Impressive planning on my part.