Getting Home

This story is not an exaggeration ….for sure…it’s all pretty true 

Honestly …..for sure 

The plane journey from Inverness to Manchester Airport  was a delight…..though our single steward was a moody bastard.

I was off the plane first and literally 7 minutes later was walking down to the train platforms where various  uninterested staff shouted over that all the trains into Manchester had been cancelled because of an “ incident” 

All passengers were directed onto a unknown quantity of a Manchester tram system.

It was chaos for only a handful of people knew what to do.

Hundreds of people crammed onto the handful of trams .

I knew I needed to be at Piccadilly so rang my friend Nigel in nearby Stockport for help .

He told me where to go which was completely different to what a very loud young mother with a baby in a pram was telling everyone . She wanted to go to Preston eventually and had a big following to keep on to Victoria because she was confident and loud….she went on to Said stop  , where as I, following  Nigel’s advice  jumped off at Market Street

It was like a disaster movie 

Me and a young, sturdy legged student physio from Helsby led the charge. An Asian chap from Chester who kept saying that he was taking Tuesday off sick followed with  , a retired professor from Bangor ( who had just been to Nice with her daughter ) they were then followed a couple of trendy tattooed girls who knew where they were going followed by an old rather bemused and a bit tipsy couple from Cheshire with too much baggage. 

And we galloped across central Manchester for Piccadilly

It was obvious that the old couple was slowing us up , so the trendy girls and Asian chap took control of their luggage and as a group we managed to get to Piccadilly with 12 minutes to spare.

Piccadilly was in chaos 

But eventually the unnamed physio,  Bangor Prof Caroline, The Asian chap ( who I found out was called Sidharth ) and Hilary and Howard from Frodsham who was still helped by one unknown trendy gal with tattoos all made it more or less home .

What fun lol

People come up trumps when needed

Don’t they ?

A Thought or Two

 

This morning Ruth went back to work in the greenhouses and I took myself down the coast towards the village of Findhorn. 

I go home this afternoon.

I wanted to see red squirrels in the pine trees skirting the sand dunes but only managed to see the pointed heads of a couple of seals well beyond the surf .

The Findhorn Foundation has been an interesting experience.

Like everything in the modern world  the community has had to evolve in covid times, with redundancies hitting the staff hard during lockdown and a change  from volunteer staff in key positions to salaried staff who have pensions, bills to pay and corporate ideals to juggle alongside the foundations’ community beliefs and shared objectives for personal growth and a healthy lifestyle. 

I can see the appeal.

There is a warmth and a camaraderie here, even though two of the main public meeting ( and community eating buildings )were set alight and destroyed last year by a disgruntled ex employee, there is still a sense of community very much evident. The new corporate, eco friendly and expensive private housing lies a stones throw from the huts and caravans where I slept last night and in one of a beautifully appointed rental house, I was invited into, I spied a 50 inch Tv alongside the homegrown plants and eco friendly decor .

Findhorn is like any community. You take from it what you want to but unlike every community there is a lot going on at the get go.

That is part of its strength and a little of its weakness, I think 

For its easy to forget the real world that lies beyond the Sandhills, and out of sight of the pine trees and the hobbit houses almost hidden away in the glades of wild flowers.

Beach Day

 It’s been a mostly beach day today.

After a fat bastard breakfast which included a slice of the most delicious haggis, we had a tootle around an art gallery at Logie Steading before settling down over looking the Moray Firth 

An Evening In The Community

 A strange , hypnotic shuffling Mexican dance troupe LostheUltramar took over the community this evening .

Drank beer and followed their odd Latino rhythms until it finally started to rain

Scandi Noir

As it turned out it was fortunate that we were delayed last night. 

Only twenty of us caught the shuttle up to Inverness so over a nice coffee and “ just one biscuit” we all found ourselves looking at the clouds in a strange , almost ethereal twilight where the clouds heaved up and down like a vast dark ocean above a sky of blue and pink and orange.

It was simply….stunning, 

I can’t describe just how beautiful it was, I really can’t. 

Anyhow, Ruth is part of the famous Findhorn Community (https://www.findhorn.org/) here

And is spending her time gardening in the allotments and poly tunnels as she heals after the death of her mother. She knows the foundation and many of the community well and lives a simple life in a 1970s Scandinavian-sequel caravan deep in the woods, not far from the sea.

I do feel that I’m on a TV set of the scandi thriller and am just waiting for “Helmi”to be walking past, donned in a beautifully knitted  top and platt to die for. 

The place is silent save for the roar of the wind.

We are going to some sort of dance festival this afternoon and soon I will help Ruth check the poly tunnels and greenhouses before we have breakfast in the cafe and a walk down to the sea.

 

Airport

 

A nice day to be off to the airport

I’ll add to the blog later

It's later...6pm to be exact

My flight has been delayed until just before 10pm. Terminal three is crowded but buzzing

and I'm finding it all more exciting than not

Ask me again in 4 hours time and I may of changed my mind

I'm people watching and listening and I'm spoilt for choice

Ps blogger help has been very useful re identity of recent troll activity 

Just saying

Date Night

I’ve just had a date.

It ended with a snog which was nice

A bloody good snog by my front door, underneath the blackbird nests.

When we parted he cupped my cheek with his hand for a moment 

The first time anyone had done that in a long long time 

A gentle but serious gesture 

And it moved me greatly.

Top Gun 2 Lumbago and flatulence

Miles Teller and his acting moustache 

Last night , I met up with my sisters, brother in law, nephew, great nephew and sister in law for a trip to the cinema.

Everyone is banging on about TopGun 2 so we all thought we’d go

I never wanted to see Top Gun way back in 1986, so I wasn’t bothered to sit through a 2 hour rehash of American Jingoism with veiled homoerotic moments and slow motioned long looks into middle distance.

But I went

Some of it was exciting enough, I must admit.

 I did like Goose’s son ( Miles Teller)’subplot with Maverick ( Ton Cruise at 60) he was nicknamed Rooster and their father and son bonding at the end was suitably moving.

Sad not to see Kelly McGillis not reprising her love interest role from the first movie…..unfortunately for Hollywood she looks every inch her 64 years ( how dare she?) and would never have been given screen time….

Anyhow it was Glossy rubbish and

It was nice to see the family . I joked with my sister in law, as we were leaving  that we all should have our own nicknames like the characters in the film….

“ What would they be “ she quipped “ Rheumatism, limper, Lumbago and flatulence “, 

Guess who was flatulence?