24th July 2014
2:15pm
North of Perth, Scotland, UK
I don’t think I’ll be doing that again –
I think to myself as I watch a field of flock of sheep grazing outside my
window. Honestly, it really sucks to leave the house after only one night. I
thought it would be nice to see it on my way north. Sure it was, but it really
sucks to leave so soon. This fact has me slightly irritable, or it would if I
weren’t on a train to the beautiful Inverness and if I weren’t still happily in
the honeymoon stage of travel. I guess I’m tired, but only the tired of a
person who had to get up at half seven (which I had done), not the tired of
someone who is truly jet-lagged. I guess I got that out of my system before I
left.
Really it’s good to be here. I
say, “Cheers!” to the guy on the trolley who just sold me hot tea in July and
he doesn’t look at me funny, but simply says, “Cheers!” back as if that’s the
thing to say. I suppose, that’s because it is the thing to say, but still it’s
fantastic to be back in a place where such things are normal.
As I sip my tea and write in
my journal, I’m listening to this adorable Scottish boy talking to his mum. The
boy can’t be more than four years old, and I think his name is Cameron. Anyway
one of the conversations goes like this:
“Mummy, do those horses like
each other?” but he asks it in an adorable little-kid Scottish accent. The two
horses in question are standing close to one another.
“I bet they do,” his mum says
and I can hear the smile in her voice even though I can’t see them from my
seat. “I bet they’re friends,” she adds.
“Do you think they’re in
love?” he asks. At the moment, I’m listening to a love story with horses (not a
love story about horses) at the moment so I find this an especially fitting
conversation beyond its inherent adorable qualities.
His mum chuckles before
answering, “Maybe.” I didn’t look up at the horses at this time, but I like to
think they were nuzzling one another, just because it adds to the image.
---
24th July 2014
3:37pm
Inverness, Scotland, UK
“Do you know anything about
computers?” the woman behind the hostel counter asks.
“Just a bit,” I admit,
although I’m cautious to do so.
She tells me about her issue,
and I’m really quite thrilled that I know how to fix it. So I pull out my
tablet and download the file she’s missing on her computer. We get it to hers
via a flash drive and in a matter of minutes she has the correct version of
Firefox on her computer. There is much high-fiving and shouts of jubilation.
Perhaps this is more than the occasion called for, but apparently she had been
without the ability to get onto the internet all day (which made it impossible
to do things with the hostel site). I was just thrilled to have actually been
able to help someone with computer troubles. Normally I am either useless or
somehow manage to make things worse.
I go to my room and drop off
my backpack and food bag. I won’t leave my laptop bag unattended, but I’m not
so worried about these other things as there’s nothing particularly valuable in
them.
I go and wander about the city
because I really have nothing better to do. I’ve been here before a hand full
of times now, and the last time I had stayed overnight here, incidentally in
the same hostel, it had been an evening just about as nice as this. So there
isn’t much new to see. But still, I have an audio book and a pair of good legs
and so that’s about all I need to entertain myself.
I pop into a few shops – buying
a custom OS map of Ancient Sites across Britten, a pack of Jammie Dodgers, and
a post card. I’d never sent a post card before, but I sent one to mom as I
promised I would. I made an effort to pick a picture that I had seen with my
own eyes rather than an aerial shot, or a cartoony picture of Nessie (although
both were certainly at offer).
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