What’s the Story in Dalamory

I have been away this past weekend so did not buy my usual Sunday Times; fortunately Gordon from Scottish Bloggers www.scottishblogs.co.uk alerted me to the fact that there was an article o­n blogging in the Ecosse Section of the paper. It featured his photo, but giving this blog a write up. I managed to find it o­nline and have been preening myself ever since.

Of course you realise that means the quality of the content will probably take a drop. The more so over the next week or two now that I know that the removal will take most of three days. That means the cat definitely has to go to cat prison and the dog has to have a refresher course in charm so that she doesn't eat the removal men. (Four men and two vans – a whole squad of removers, and No we do not live in a mansion.)

A publisher friend tells me that the problem with writing fiction, a novel or short story in particular, is that there is a special skill in writing convincing dialogue. I obviously need to practice, so here goes with my own Pooh o­n computers and things.

     “Bother!” says Pooh staring at the screen.
     “What's wrong?” I enquire.
     “My paw is too plump to fit the keys properly o­n this key-thingy.”
     I correct his row of pppppp's and ask, “What are you trying to say anyway?”
     Pooh looks a little Eyore-ish and mumbles, “pppp-lease will anyone who reads this send me pots of honey…..”
     “Haven't you got enough already?” I ask.
     He recovers himself, stands up straight and sucks his tummy in, “What's the point of writing a blog if you don't get people to send you things?”
     “Okay,” I say, “I suppose you have got a point.”

Please don't send honey – or anything else! It is meant to be about reminding ourselves we are all part of some new esoteric community of souls who connect, even though we spend our time bashing out words into the ether.

The opening of The Tao of Pooh (Benjamin Hoff) says much about my state of mind in these pre-removal days. And it reminds me that humour is essential to balanced living.

“What's this you're writing?” asked Pooh, climbing o­nto the writing table.
     “The Tao of Pooh,” I replied.
     “The HOW of Pooh?” asked Pooh, smudging o­ne of the words I had just written.
     “The TAO of Pooh,” I replied, poking his paw away with my pencil.
     “It seems more like the OW! of Pooh,” said Pooh, rubbing his paw.
     “Well, it's not,” I replied huffily.
     “What's it about?” asked Pooh, leaning forward and smearing another word.
     “It's about how to stay happy and calm under all circumstances!” I yelled.
     “Have you read it?” asked Pooh.

A bear after my own heart.

A week today the congregation at Kilbrandon and Kilchattan are having my “Leaving Do.” Of course I shall be there to say farewell and hopefully to take part in the service, but it will all be hard. Although I shall probably still see many of them (in Tesco's in Oban if nowhere else!) it will not be the same. This past year has all been about letting go. Letting go of being in control of health…..(though that is returning in stages)…..letting go of responsibilities….letting go of things…..

It is good to have to let go sometimes. I like the little saying that says Let go and let God….. but in some ways I wonder if we can use it as a cop out. I have to ensure that I am as healthy as possible by taking my medication, eating healthily, exercising sensibly and taking adequate rest. If we abuse our bodies we take the consequences. If we abuse our spirits then everything suffers. That's why musings like this can help the spirit and soul…… there is a feeling of connectedness with the whole of life. Spring is my favourite time of year and when the birds start to sing all the more loudly, I sort of want to join in with the crescendo of sound that lifts everyone's hearts. So I guess I will always want to preach God's love. And it is good to know that retiral from parish ministry is not retiral from ministry itself.

But it has been a difficult time to come to this place of peace.

Today the last rep from a removers is coming to look around and assess our wordly goods for an estimate. What a palaver it all is! The place is beginning to look a bit of a state as piles destined for different people accumulate. Two of the rooms are more or less empty and o­ne is half empty. But I am still worried that seven into four just will not go – not when it is rooms anyway.

Thus today is to be a treat – shopping in the big city. I shall probably return wishing I had gone down the usual route of mail or internet order, but am hoping a change will do me good. At least I cannot be looking around me at all the things demanding to be done. Strange that in o­ne moment I am throwing things out and in the next accumulating more. Ah well! Such is the human condition.

Tenacity and courage have to be admired; both were displayed today in the person of a truck driver from our local quarry. He had set out to deliver a large load of gravel to o­ne of our neighbours. Not all that difficult you may think, and certainly not worthy of comment. Not so! The road is single track and the dustbin lorry has to straddle the road very carefully to get along it each week. The gravel lorry must have taken the corner ever so slightly squint…..and by the time I noticed, the driver was alternately scratching his head, pulling at the side of the vehicle as if he could right an ever increasing list to port, and eventually almost stamping in an apoplexy of rage and frustration as the full nature of his predicament became clear.

In the end, he spent the rest of the day (some five or six hours) shovelling out the load. Then a digger from the quarry arrived and managed to pull the truck out. It took a further forty minutes or so to get rid of the mud from the sump and wheels, but at last the engine roared into life.

I hope the driver doesn't get into trouble, he deserves an accolade for saving the day.

It seemed a good idea to have a computer that could take to bits without having to find a screwdriver, and with the attendant risk of losing the screws down in amongst the works. But…..that is always supposing that the bits go back together again.

A new DVD/RW necessitated the box of tricks being taken to pieces and now the side of my PC is held together with sellotape.C'est la vie…..I suppose.

Have sold my first two items o­n eBay this week. So now I am a seller as well as a buyer. It is an amazing concept altogether. Why is it that somebody else always has the ideas that will make the millions? The idea of hundreds of thousands of people surfing through items for sale makes the mind go numb. The next ploy is to work out if I have got the energy to sell off some of the elephants. Don't worry – these are the carved wooden kind, not the large noisy o­nes.

I have been busy trying to finalise estimates for the removal. We get the keys for the new house o­n 22nd March, so there is not much time. Removal anticipated for the end of the month probably. But it is incredibly stressful trying to get companies to commit themselves to an actual estimate. Having spent ages trying to spell both the old address and the new (it would be a Gaelic housename!) to two central call centres, I ended up exhausted. It is a rest to be sorting through stuff to go to charity shops. None of it is helped by my levels of tiredness and still feeling a bit wobbly. I am blaming the tablets though, not Him behind the wheel.

And I don't mean the rabbit.

It was a mistake to try eating a mussel. It was cooked, and it was in a top restaurant, but it was still a mistake. But that is o­ne more “event” for my Sixtieth Year.