What now, cows?
(Highland cattle in Pollok Park: Glasgow, Scotland)
Yesterday I was in Pollok Park with three chums, taking advantage of my first full day off in a month and our first (and potentially only) beautiful autumnal day this year. It was deliciously warm in the sun and the sky was a clear blue all day. We wandered the Burrell Collection, had tea and cake and walked around the woodland grounds, spotting all manner of animals and some surprising fungus. These highland cattle are permanent residents of the park and I forget that they exist, in a way. Despite living in Scotland, I rarely see these cattle and I genuinely forget how ginger they are. They look like an enormous, scruffy ‘see you Jimmy’ hat but with horns and a sombre expression behind their glistening snouts. I forget they truly exist – they are as quintessentially Scottish as Nessie or as haggis (the animal that runs around mountains, rather than the meaty treat). Yesterday was a pleasant day of little stress and it was welcome. I am exhausted.
I keep waiting for this hectic period of my life to slow down – it keeps displaying signs of decreasing and then another issue crops up unexpectedly and throws all my plans to the wind. Last week was possibly one of the most difficult weeks I have worked through in recent years; it was chock full of events. As well as the (still ongoing) Project B saga that eats up half my time, one visiting friend was supposed to stay for a weekend, but ended up contracting a serious bout of tonsillitis and stayed the entire week. Of course, it’s nice to see friends, but when they’re holed up in bed on their holidays, it’s not so fun for anyone. Another friend, Maz, arrived to stay but had not alerted me to the fact until he turned up on my doorstep. A blend of stress and forgetfulness on his part had caused the error and I was unable to send him away – especially as the reasons for his visit were more serious than sightseeing. On the same day as Maz left, Mark arrived from London. I looked out another place for him to stay since not having a bathroom is still a major issue.
The sad fact is I am becoming used to it. Only once have I opened the door with surprise, forgetting what lies behind the door. I have become used to flushing with a cooking pan, to ‘walking the plank’ of the narrow strip of usable floor space and seeking out friend’s showers. Anyway, to continue with my week, I had two workshops with a charity, one of which was cancelled after I had arrived to teach. This was a blow, but I used the time to seed my freshly dug lawn – it took three hours to rake it over and it was dark before we managed to finish. To exacerbate my woes, as well as making attempts to hold off impending jury Duty, I have a cold – it is now showing signs of disappearing, but of course, I was concerned it might flare up into tonsillitis. And top all that off, I had to prepare for an interview that required a five-minute presentation on ‘a subject of my choice’ and the interview itself lasted two and a half hours.
Oh, I do like a good winge sometimes.
Saying that, it was lovely having Maz to stay (as he used to live with me) and we’re both having a frantic time at the moment. It was simply nice to share all that with someone else and feel the support of someone that one might not see too often, but still share a close bond with. I felt that about all three visitors this week, in fact. As well as that, the interview seemed to go well and after a shaky start to my presentation, it resulted in many (planned) laughs from my audience and several questions – that can only be a good sign, surely. Here’s hoping I will hear good news next week.
– Today Rosie is meeting a friend for lunch, another for a museum trip and is organising her studio for the coming week in Glasgow, Scotland –
Sure, you will hear good news next week.
good people have good returns.