Reading Josephine Tey

My Mum was the most avid reader I have ever met. I consider myself to be quite a “good reader” myself (as my library badges used to proclaim when I was a child!) but Mum was in a different league from me, and she read a wide range of literature. One of her favourite authors was Josephine Tey, and I have also read a few of her books, including the “The Daughter of Time” which was perhaps my Mum’s favourite book. When I was browsing around for books to download to my Kindle recently, I looked up Josephine Tey and found that there were a good few of her books that I haven’t read, so I downloaded one called “To Love and Be Wise,” a murder mystery set in a little English village. I’m about half way through and am finding it excellent, beautifully written and very witty. I do notice that some of the language and turns of phrase are old fashioned, which shouldn’t surprise me as the book is seventy years old. One phrase in particular that I noticed was “She went to watch a play on the radio.” which I found strange, because nowadays we would surely say “listen to a play on the radio.” 

James went back to Glasgow yesterday to sign some paperwork in order to put Grandma’s house on the market. This makes me a bit sad in an “end of an era” sort of way, but it has to be done. He arrived back in Ullapool this afternoon with another car load of stuff. He brought the bikes too, which I think is a very good idea because I think I’m more likely to cycle here than at home. We shall see. 

Swimming in the river

I love swimming outdoors. Whether it is in an outdoor pool, a loch, or the sea, I really enjoy the feeling of freedom and I like combining swimming with being in the fresh air.  

Our cottage overlooks the Ullapool River with the sea loch beyond. So when we arrived back here last week I was keen to get into the water, especially since indoor swimming pools have been closed since quarantine began at the end of March, so I haven’t been swimming since I was in Bali in March. 

I have seen people swimming in the river on sunny days, so I thought that was the best place to start. James came with me because I felt a bit nervous and slightly embarrassed about going on my own.

So James loyally brought a deckchair and his book, and sat on the riverbank. I was already changed into my swimming costume and wearing a large towelling poncho which made up in practicality for what it definitely lacked aesthetically! There was nobody else swimming at the time so I wasn’t sure of the best place to enter the water. At first the water felt cold and the stones under the surface were very slippery so I waded in deeper as quickly as I could. I was pleasantly surprised that the water deepened to about five feet, so I could swim up and down, and the temperature of the water was fine once I got used to it. I was so glad that I had ventured into the river, I had a lovely time, and it was great to go swimming again.

Gorse

It was fantastic to be feeling well as I returned to Ullapool. At first I was almost scared to acknowledge it to myself because I was scared to “jinx” it. It felt like waking from a nightmare.
I even ventured into the garden to assist James with reducing the height of the huge gorse bushes in front of the house. We have an efficient routine; James uses hedge cutters to trim the thin parts of the gorse, loppers for the branches, and then a saw for the really thick branches. He then uses secateurs to chop the pile of trimmings into pieces small enough to go into refuse sacks. That’s where I come in. Wearing a pair of sturdy gardening gloves, I stuff the gorse into the sacks and when they are full I take them round to put them beside the car. Once I have filled ten sacks we put them in the car and set off to the dump. The Ullapool dump is tremendous compared to the extremely busy dump near our home; not only is it very quiet, it has beautiful views over Loch Broom! Then back we go to the cottage to reuse the sacks for another car load of gorse clippings. Despite my lack of skill in gardening I felt that I was doing a useful task to help James, and found myself really enjoying it. As the height of the gorse reduces, we can now see the river and the duck pond below the cottage.

Settling in

We had intended to spend a week in Ullapool when we arrived at the beginning of July, but there was so much to do in the house and garden that we ended up staying for a fortnight. I was still not well so James did the huge majority of the work. We spent most of our time in Ullapool, apart from one outing to Lochinver. It was a beautiful sunny day and we went for a walk at nearby Loch Leitir Easidh, where we had a picnic beside one of the wee lochs. Then we strolled around Lochinver Harbour where James was delighted to find that the hardware shop was open and bought several vital garden implements. There is also a smaller hardware shop in Ullapool which James visits regularly.
We had our first visitors at the end of our first week - it was Ally and Cat, who were hill-walking and took James to walk in the Fannichs on the Saturday. We had fish suppers when they all arrived back at the cottage, happy and hungry.
We headed back home on 18th July. Chanel had arrived at Casa Anderson not long after we left and so we were reunited with the four young folk (and of course Tom and Flora.) We caught up with all their news and had a few appointments and errands. It was good to be home, and by that time I realised that I was feeling a bit better. I had a lovely chat with Cat, and one rainy afternoon Chanel and I watched Hamilton (a film of the original Broadway stage show) which has just been released on Disney Plus; it was really good.
We set off back to Ullapool at the end of the week, with the car packed full of bookcases, tables, duvets, and pillows. Since we will be doing this four hour journey on a fairly regular basis, I downloaded the audiobook of Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman” and we listened to the first three episodes, which we both enjoyed.

Waking up

The first thing that we noticed when we arrived at our Ullapool cottage at the beginning of July, was the huge amount of plants and grass which had sprung up around it. It was startling and reminiscent of the thick foliage surrounding Sleeping Beauty’s castle! Of course only five months had passed rather than 100 years but the warm spring followed by rain in June had resulted in lush growth of greenery.
When we waded through the weeds and entered the cottage we we glad to find it in good order.
James was absolutely brilliant at constructing our Ikea sofa bed and rocking chair, and then the beds when they arrived. I cleaned the kitchen units and the fridge and defrosted and cleaned the freezer. With our furniture installed the cottage really started to feel like home.
James then enthusiastically set about the garden with strimmer and lawnmower and hedge cutters and loppers and secateurs. He woke me early one morning to point out a little roe deer who was nibbling at the gorse bushes at the back of the house. It was so sweet.
I wasn’t much help in the garden I’m afraid, I still wasn’t well so James set up the hammock for me (a new hammock that he gave me for Christmas) and I read my book or just looked at the view.
James and I agree that we will never get tired of our view across Loch Broom to the mountains beyond. It is stunning. Below our cottage is a duck pond, and then the Ullapool River flowing into the  loch. Several times a day we can watch the Calmac ferry passing on its way to and from Stornoway. We have a favourite circular walk from the cottage to the centre of the village, down the road past Highland Stoneware to the front, then up past the Ceilidh Place and along Castle Terrace. Then we follow a path down to the river, cross a wooden bridge and walk up to the cottage through gorgeous woodland. Even though I was feeling grim I could see the beauty of my surroundings and I think it has helped me. James was very supportive and I could tell that he was concerned about me because he has uncomplainingly tolerated me watching the whole series of “Married at First Sight: Australia” on television, which is the kind of trashy programme that he hates. Even I think it’s trashy but I found it distractingly compulsive viewing!
It has been really interesting to watch Ullapool wake up from the lockdown. We must have been almost the first incomers to arrive and at first the streets were very quiet. Then we noticed more people arriving in cars and strolling around the streets, and since the campsite opened on about the 15th July, there are now quite a lot of camper vans in there. With the pubs and restaurants and shops open, there is a much livelier atmosphere in the village, which must be a relief for the local tourist industry, although they have already lost half of their summer season.

June catch up

So what has been happening in Casa Anderson and beyond since I stopped blogging in June? Well, lockdown has continued to ease, although very slowly. Even now, at the end of July, it doesn’t feel anywhere near “over.” Scotland is about two weeks behind England in lifting restrictions, which seems to have been the right decision because there are almost no deaths at all in Scotland now I’m glad to say. The number of deaths has dropped in England too, although not so markedly. Needless to say a lot of people jumped the gun as they saw the end of lockdown in sight, and rushed to crowd the beaches and parks. There were also a number of protests against racism around the country following the death of George Floyd, which I mentioned in June. I wondered if people congregating in crowds might increase the infection rate again, but it hasn’t made much difference, perhaps because of the warm weather.
Scotland introduced the wearing of masks in shops a couple of weeks ago, and England has just recently followed suit. All shops are now open, with social distancing and masks to be worn. Restaurants have now reopened, first those with outside eating areas only, and then indoors, again with social distancing measures put in place. Our first experience of this was a couple of days ago at the Route 7 Café in Aviemore. There were only about half of the tables being used, and they had implemented a one way system around the café.
June was a bit of a blur for me but I carried on my normal routines as much as possible. The weather was more mixed as the month went on, but there were still plenty of dry spells so I tried to go for a few walks. I tended to go to bed early to read, because I didn’t want to inflict my miserable face on the young ones! I was very keen not to affect their work and study. I read so many books in June, I have already exceeded the amount that I read in the whole of 2019!
Then a big change was announced for the beginning of July in Scotland; travel restrictions would be lifted (previously we had been restricted to only five miles from home), and we would allowed to travel to self-catering accommodation and second homes. So we could go back to Ullapool for the first time since February! (Of course lockdown didn’t begin until 23rd March but we went to see Jamie in New Zealand in Feb / March and by the time we got home everything was beginning to shut down.) James and I rearranged the delivery of the beds for our cottage, filled up the fridge and freezer with supplies for the young people, and set off northwards on 3rd July. At last our Ullapool adventure was about to continue.

Hello again

I have had a break from blogging because unfortunately I became quite mentally ill during June and the first half of July. Sadly this has been something I have had to cope with at intervals over the years, going right back to childhood. Luckily I usually have at least several years between episodes. Unluckily they always recur. One day I may blog about this in more detail but not now. 

Anyway, a few people told me that it might be because of lockdown, but I don’t think so. Although Covid-19 has been a terrible thing, I was enjoying running the household and cooking dinner for our young people while they worked and studied, and I was also walking, drawing and reading.

The reason for my illness is complicated but I think that the main reason is that I have been grieving for Grandma. When she died at the end of November there was lots of arrangements and admin to do. Then came Christmas, and soon we were off to New Zealand to visit Jamie. So it wasn’t until quite recently, when I have been helping James to clear her house, that I really started reflecting on her life and how close we became as she grew older and how much I miss her. She was so brave and stoical as she had to endure more and more medical issues. All those injections to her eye to slow down macular degeneration, and she never complained once. Or the time she mangled her finger in a taxi door but simply bandaged it and wrapped a silk scarf around her hand, because we were all going to a concert together in the evening. She didn’t tell us until the end of the concert when the blood started seeping through at an alarming rate and we ended up at A&E! And one time when I was really stressed at work and I mentioned it to her, and she was really indignant on my behalf and offered to “phone the school board” to complain, which I found very endearing. 

And she loved the sunshine so much, and liked nothing better than a run in the car on a warm day, and she was the last surviving grandparent of our children, and she loved them. I miss her, and her death has reminded me of how much I miss my own parents and Jimmy Anderson too. 

So anyway, after two months of pain, I noticed some improvements at the end of last week, and within a couple of days I felt more or less back to my normal self. Again, this is my normal pattern. It’s like a light switch - ill / not ill. At the moment I’m just enjoying feeling well again, but I need to do something to try to understand better and prevent this happening again, because it will. I have been reading Bill Oddie’s autobiography and he seems to have a similar pattern as me, of recurring episodes. 

Two months of illness has taken its toll. I feel fragile mentally and weak physically and I have lost a stone and a half in weight. My hand tremors have got worse. But there are good things too; I have had support from some wonderful people who have kept in touch with me and checked on me, and I have appreciated that very much even though I was not able to respond very well. It feels inappropriate to start listing them here - but I hope that they know who they are and I will thank them personally. And their support during this difficult time has reminded me that I have the best sister and husband in the world!

Anyway James has encouraged me to start blogging again, so here goes!