Thursday 27 July 2023
I drove six miles to our nearest letter box to post a birthday card and a small package, then decided to carry on to a nearby village that I have only ever driven through. I heard a strange noise as I walked through a graveyard, looked at a drystone wall and there, to my surprise, was an emu. Two in fact. I love this area, there are so many surprises.
Behind the village, I discovered an area of community land with ponds, the ponds previously being for curling practice. I also saw two young children and realised with a shock that I don’t know I’ve ever seen young children in the countryside around here. There are very few children who live out here now that there is only one primary school and all other schools are in Selkirk and beyond. I also think the children I saw with their parents were tourists rather than locals, but it still shocked me to realise how rarely I see children here.
On the way home, I stopped off at a small shop and café. Chris and I have only been there once, not long after it first opened, to see what it sold. We really should use it more often. I like that you can order in meat from a butcher about fourteen miles away and collect it two days later (but I’m not organised enough to order on Tuesday to collect on Thursday). Anyway, it turns out they also now have cake supplied by Peony Rose tea room in Selkirk, which does fab cakes. I bought a Jaffa Cake cake and an apple and caramel cake. Both were amazing. I also bought some homemade raspberry jam, a 50p second hand book and half a dozen eggs.
On the drive home, I stopped off a few times to take photos. Even in the rain, the valley looked lovely. At one stop, I had to bat away a few flies. When I turned back to my silver car, it was covered in one type of fly, one I didn’t recognise. They were everywhere, including in my car from my having left a window open when I got out. Surprisingly, they exited via the window not long after I drove away.
This time in three days, we’ll be either on the road or back in London. I know I will enjoy being in London once I’m there but I increasingly don’t want to leave this house when it comes to going away. The air and the quiet seem even more restorative now than when we first moved here. I hope that’s not just because it’s summer and much easier being here than in winter (except when it’s really hot and there are midges everywhere and upstairs is hot and stuffy and we have no water supply). I do, however, think it is more that I am getting used to living here and enjoying and appreciating it more and more.
A friend of Chris’s is coming to stay for a night on her way up to a family reunion in the Highlands. This coincides nicely with our going away; it’s always good to have two reasons to clean and tidy. Cleaning and tidying will be tomorrow’s job. I love having a clean house to return to.
