I am
right by her side and exactly where I need to be at this time. Arrived safely but acutely aware that I
probably shouldn't be allowed in the real world on my own. It may have been the very early start but I
think I was locked into a trance like stare the whole journey. I failed to connect with much around me and
just moved through the different stages of the journey a little lost in my own
thoughts. Now you are going to ask me
what I was thinking! Sadly, I can't tell
you that because it is a little hush hush at the moment and may, in fact,
amount to nothing. But if it does turn
into something it will make us all stop and take in a breath. I am absolutely busting to tell you but, on
this occasion, I am exercising some personal discipline. This doesn't happen very often so it feels
slightly alien.
In fact
the whole of yesterday evening was in my head as I review the communications I
had. It has become part of my daily
routine to sit down after supper and respond to emails from you guys and yesterday
I was a little distracted with plans for my journey today. Creating a real and meaningful dialogue with
my readers is my number one priority with this blog so I shelved my thoughts of
my journey and focused. Many of the
emails were quick questions requesting more information or web links and I can
deal with these quite quickly. But there
are always some that are longer and require much more careful attention and
thought. I had several of these last
evening including one from a reader who visits Arran quite often and follows
this blog. As a piece of communication
it was written from the heart and read like it had to be written and I
immediately appreciated that. I read it
several times before considering my response.
When people take that much time out of their busy lives to give me
feedback and connect with what this little virtual space is busy with I am
always humbled. I was very humbled last
night and I do hope my reply did justice to the original communication.
I did
have moments today when I focused on communication and, I think, there lay my
problem. I went into my head because the
quality of the communication around me was so disappointing. For me it is all in the
faces. I think it must be easier to
frown than it is to smile because I saw very few smiles. I saw a lot of heads down and a lot of
menacing looking frowns. The worse
things for me was when people just ignored other people who were trying to
communicate with them. Many of these
people were wearing headphones and looked like they were blocking out the world.
Perhaps
this is how we travel these days and perhaps that is the best way to survive
it. Ultimately, I was no better because
by the time my plane landed in Southampton I had gone into my head. That said, I did not forget to thank the
cabin staff on my way off the plane. It
is not as simple to say that people failed to polite because it felt more than
that. It felt like we were all closing
ourselves off and cocooning ourselves in our own day regardless of what was
going on around us. Living on the isle
of Arran is not like that and so I noticed the contrast. On the island we talk to eat other and seem
to smile a lot more. We seem to have
more time for each other and more interest in each other's lives. When Annie visited last week she really
noticed this and has referenced it in her own blog post that she posted
yesterday. It is a really interesting
read and shares a different perspective on the island.
So, I
have some things to ponder as I live on the mainland for a while and I expect
them to test my thinking a little. A
change of environment should shake us up a bit as new observations and
reflections work their magic inside our minds.
All my years teaching means that I have fairly well developed
observation skills so let us hope I can find the time to reflect on what I am
seeing as Scottish island mum exists in a very different environment.
Our
family has a very special person in our lives called Nikki and on Monday she
had a baby girl called Summer. Summer, her mum, dad and sister and brother are
visiting Arran in August so we will all meet them then. There is a story to be told. Welcome to our lovely world Summer.
Until
tomorrow. Xx
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