Sunday 29 October 2023
It’s 07:56 and chucking it down with rain. The clocks have now gone back an hour and I have no recollection of yesterday being this dark at almost 09:00. But it is very wet and cloudy. The river at the bottom of the drive is a muddy, raging torrent (well, compared to, say, yesterday). I’ve been going on about how much I’ve enjoyed October in Scottish Borders because of the beautiful autumn colours and how it’s been a very long time since I’ve appreciated October/autumn to this extent. However, had it been this wet and gloomy, obviously a different story.
Yesterday, realising that today’s forecast yellow-warning rain would probably result in most leaves departing the trees, I drove a few miles down the road to Ettrick Marshes. I absolutely love that area and the fact that I rarely encounter any other people. I listened to a podcast recently with Dr Tara Swart, a neuroscientist, who explained more than I’d heard before about why being outdoors in nature is good for you (eg as a connection to ancestors from hundreds of years ago). Where I walked, there are neolithic remains, which made it seem even more pertinent. I prefer walking in cities for the buzz, distraction and, weird though it may sound, the reassurance of lives being lived. But for reflection, de-stressing and calm, it’s a connection to nature and the earth that I, probably most of us, need. I have always gone to the sea to make big decisions, and I still do, but somewhere high up a hill or mountain in strong wind would be almost as effective. Moving out here, I have never been so conscious of the extent to which your environment affects your wellbeing. It has not been some miracle de-stress but I’m increasingly aware of the benefits of taking a break and going for a walk, even in the rain (which is just as well considering it’s Scotland). I find it a lot easier to write in our house here in Scotland and it’s been a real joy to have been able to set what I’ve written in this area and have this almost-daily writing as a reference point for weather and general scene-setting.
On Friday, my afternoon didn’t quite go to plan, though, more so, neither did that of the Openreach engineer who started the day adamant we should have a fibre broadband connection that day. As we only have WiFi calling as a means of making mobile phone calls and sending/receiving text messages and as we only have signal for Vodafone and O2 up the garden, it transpired that, for a specific work-related contact, he would need to drive down the road for a signal for BT/EE signal. He’d been down the road a few times and found where he could get a bar of signal. On one trip out, he was gone quite a while. When he returned, he was van-less. He’d had to drive into the verge when a logging truck hurtled towards him. It was a particularly steep and deep verge and the van got well and truly lodged in the mud, so much so that two wheels left the road, though thankfully it didn’t quite topple over. He got a lift the few miles along the road back to our house where he could at least be indoors and have WiFi connection. He was mortified about having to wait here when it transpired that the recovery service wouldn’t be for about two and a half hours, it being a Friday afternoon and our being, as I constantly heard over the phone, in the middle of nowhere. As I had him captive, I had a guinea pig for some Indian snacks and sauces I’ve been experimenting with recently. Turns out he used to work in the food and beverage industry and was brilliant at identifying flavours and giving really interesting (and positive, hurrah) feedback. I dropped him off at his van when the recovery truck arrived. They had to block the road for maybe ten to fifteen minutes to get the van out of the mud. Only a couple of minutes in, a DPD delivery van drove along. I spoke to him, explaining what had happened and that, obviously, no one would be able to get past while they were pulling the van out the ditch. He thanked me for explaining, reversed into a parking bay and waited patiently while the road was cleared. I dread to think how that would have gone down in London, but I suppose your mindset does change a bit depending on the situation and surroundings.