I went for a stroll along the beach yesterday morning with my li’l guitar, looking for a suitable spot to sit and play a while. On the way I came across numerous stranded jellyfish, some of them huge, and a bunch of the ancient breed of dark brown sheep that have grazed here undisturbed for so long. I was looking for the perfect rock to park my backside on and found one that looked a bit like the sort of chaise longue the Flintstones might have had, but it was still wet from the not-long-receded tide. Next to it, however, was the one pictured here (photographed by Marian when we revisited it later, sans guitar, hence the air-guitar pose below) with an indent perfectly shaped for me to sit comfortably whilst gazing out to Arran across the water and strumming in a soft-focus kind of way. My state of bliss didn’t last long, however, as I rapidly realised I’d come out without the requisite coating of Smidge Scottish midge repellent, and I was soon scratching and swiping my face and arms in a way that wasn’t conducive to playing the gentle Welsh lullaby I’d gone there to practise. Maybe the Scottish midges were waging such an unrelenting war on me because they’d recognised its lack of Scottishness? I don’t know, but whatever the case, I was soon back at base and spraying on liberal amounts of Smidge.
It turned out to be a really beautiful day that felt like being in the Mediterranean. There’s much conversing goes on round here with the interesting folk who end up at this community for one reason or another, and although I’d set myself to do some editing in the afternoon - :( - I ended up doing more chatting and getting rather ruddy faced in the full sun. Ah well, there’s always today to do the work. During such a chat over lunch, the Brazilian Buddhist nun who is in charge of the retreat came out onto the patio area and announced that she had some news about the cricket. I naturally assumed this was some Buddhist ceremony that I hadn’t heard of and prepared myself to be enlightened. However, it turns out that she was in fact referring to the latest Ashes score, and is besotted with the sport. And today, naturally for a Brazilian, she is going round with a certain glow reflecting England’s win.
Two of the volunteers are leaving today and asked me to play at their leaving do in the boathouse yesterday evening, so that’s what I did at 9 pm. It was a lovely cosy evening, full of good humour and affection, and a really fabulous bunch of people to play to. The only downside about places like this run by volunteers is that it’s always a random gathering of like-minded people who become friends in a short space of time and then before too long are scattered once again as they go back to their homes, probably never again to come together – but of course with happy memories of an unforgettable place and time together.
Today the midges are out in force – they’re even in the dining room. So we’re preparing to slather ourselves with Smidge and walk back to the red rock with the li’l guitar for another morning in paradise…
It turned out to be a really beautiful day that felt like being in the Mediterranean. There’s much conversing goes on round here with the interesting folk who end up at this community for one reason or another, and although I’d set myself to do some editing in the afternoon - :( - I ended up doing more chatting and getting rather ruddy faced in the full sun. Ah well, there’s always today to do the work. During such a chat over lunch, the Brazilian Buddhist nun who is in charge of the retreat came out onto the patio area and announced that she had some news about the cricket. I naturally assumed this was some Buddhist ceremony that I hadn’t heard of and prepared myself to be enlightened. However, it turns out that she was in fact referring to the latest Ashes score, and is besotted with the sport. And today, naturally for a Brazilian, she is going round with a certain glow reflecting England’s win.
Two of the volunteers are leaving today and asked me to play at their leaving do in the boathouse yesterday evening, so that’s what I did at 9 pm. It was a lovely cosy evening, full of good humour and affection, and a really fabulous bunch of people to play to. The only downside about places like this run by volunteers is that it’s always a random gathering of like-minded people who become friends in a short space of time and then before too long are scattered once again as they go back to their homes, probably never again to come together – but of course with happy memories of an unforgettable place and time together.
Today the midges are out in force – they’re even in the dining room. So we’re preparing to slather ourselves with Smidge and walk back to the red rock with the li’l guitar for another morning in paradise…
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