Rent Free In Your Head

 I hate it when people say something “ wasn’t meant to be” if a plan doesn’t come off 

Of course it was meant to happen.

It just didn’t .

I’m full of the first proper cold I’ve experienced in three years.and so yesterday I licked my disappointed wounds mostly in bed, with vicks rubbed on the soles of my feet and slept most of the day and all of the night. 

My sister, Janet called up this morning and completed my birthday garden makeover. She observed that my chest cold couldn’t have done well in the 35 degree heat and fumes of central Rome and she was right of course. 

I’m wheezing like a fat walrus.

I made a spicy katsu curry with salmon and coconut cream and tidied the cottage as it simmered with lashings of coriander . The neighbours commented on the lovely smell.

I couldn’t eat it when it was cooked

More lemon water for me

My friend Ruth sent me a photo of her minuscule static caravan toilet in a successful effort to lighten the mood. The toilet was so small that I had to back into it slowly like an articulated lorry backing down an ally and when one of Ruth’s Findhorn friends asked how I was coping with the rather “rustic” arrangements I kind of shocked her by describing using the loo as 

“ lowering a family sized jelly onto an eggcup”

I will leave you with that visual

Fed Up

 I’m fed up today.

I don’t feel well either, which I know is probably a part of being fed up. 

Two mini holidays ruined in just two weeks.

I’ve messaged Trendy Carol and asked if the girls can stay a bit longer and then went back to bed.

I’ve only just got up again and ate, somewhat ironically, a thin Italian style from the freezer.

I’m returning to bed shortly 

Paradise By the Dashboard Light

I’m not travelling again by plane for a while. My next trip is not until Oct! The message that our flight was cancelled was given by an unfortunate red faced airport worker flanked by two policemen at our boarding gate. 

Look on the Ryan Air App was their only advice 

I’ve not long got home.

Gorgeous Dave is a calm soul but even he was a little disappointed ( note the sad eyes) 

We sang Paradise by the dashboard light on the way home which was fun

I emailed Fabio ,on night shift at Hotel Prati  even he was disappointed 

Fat Rascal

 I wrote today’s blog early this morning but felt dissatisfied with it

This is a quick, insipid blog filler.

Four fat Rascals were delivered  today

I’ve put them in the freezer to be enjoyed on an autumn evening with a nice cup of tea

It’s hot and humid and I haven’t packed yet.

Off to Rome later

No Chatter

It’s warm, almost hot again today but with a breeze.

I’m happy to be alone today. 

I don’t want to chat or talk.

I have spoken to Gorgeous Dave and have finalised arrangements for tomorrow. 

Out of all of my friends he’s probably the most easy going so things will be fine.

Apart from him, I don’t really want to talk to anyone else.

I walked the dogs early when it was cooler and picked up my antibiotic prescription . 

But I was happy to return home. Dorothy is sleeping on the back patio . Mary is dozing in the front window, with one eye out for flying insects, things she most obsessed with .

From time to time, I can here the snap of her jaws as she tries to pluck a bluebottle from its flight. 

I’ve got paperwork to do, the lawn needs a cut and I’m going to play with my sister’s birthday pressie , the   Concertinaed garden hose, as the flower beds are so dry. 

But apart from that I’m just going to potter

All is ok with the world 

As long as no one wants to chatter

In The Office

 My office window is full of houseplants. 

They shield me from the view of the nasty new cottage behind Bwthyn y Llan 

I’ve been meeting my fellow students on line this morning. 

I start my counselling course in September.

I particularly liked the look of two of them. 

Kind faces, nice way about them.

I had to sneak off for a few minutes as there was an urgent knock at the door, One villager I know was having a bit of a panic attack and suddenly needed to go to the next village for a prescription. 

We have just arrived back all calm. 

Calming panic attacks is something I do well…I have the boring voice for it.

An old friend is coming to lunch in half an hour and so I’m making her a chicken and mango salad to eat outside in the sun. 

I’m catching up with another friend later. 

But I said I won’t be eating or drinking alcohol if I go out. 

I want to lose some weight 

I have always been chunky but once in the groove that is healthy eating I can shed the pounds like a good un…..my downfall is shift work where discipline goes out of the window when tiredness and apathy take over. 

( and before the lectures start , I don’t begrudge my haggis and black pudding breakfast in Findhorn the other morning….it was bloody lovely) 

Before my guest arrives, I’ve managed to book tickets for a guided tour of the Colosseum for Saturday. Fabio the concierge from our hotel suggested it.  We have been corresponding by email for weeks now like clandestine lovers. He works the night shift and likes to add to his emails, little flourishes of interaction , such as “ John ! You are emailing late this evening” and “ I hope you are not flying easyJet, always a poor service given” 

I may be a sad sack and send him a Christmas card…..

I feel happy today. Happy that things seem to be clicking into place. 

My nephew has just informed me that the Dr Who experience ,I had  treated him to in between comic con visits was cancelled ….I’ve booked us to see My Fair Lady instead which will be nice as neither of us has never seen it. 

I’m so pleased, I thought I might have been all Sci fi-ed out! 

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.