Hello dear bro,

Funny you should say that: I’ve always known somewhere deep inside that I would end my days on Tiree, but I kept thinking it was still a couple of decades away, as I had ‘other things to do’ first. While I was on my extended supine recuperation last year (wow, I can say that now and it sounds so much longer ago, so last year my dear ;~) and had lots of good ‘think’ time, I realised how silly that was. To go to Tiree as an ancient would not be particularly sensible, whereas by going now I can enjoy the best of it – the beaches, the surf, the skiff building and rowing, the community and – one of my very favourite activities – the renovation of a house. And anyway what are these ‘other things’? I’m loving my flourishing writing career (someone just asked me to help them write a book ;~) and Tiree will be a fabulous place to do that.

Two things happened yesterday: 

1) I was offered a seven week old red-brindled mini-dachshund – ‘DON’T do it Jules’ says every voice in my head, and ‘awww’ says my heart. Head, heart, head, heart, shake it all about……

2) My solicitor contacted me to say that, because of a boundary issue, the sale of Red Roofs will not complete on the 17th and indeed may take two or three months to be resolved. Pfffffff….

For some reason I found myself looking up the origin of the term stoic….

a member of a Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno about 308, holding that all things are governed by unvarying natural laws, and that the wise man is led by reason to live virtuously and free from passion, accepting calmly whatever happens

I must say, the ‘free from passion’ bit makes me feel a little gloomy, but ‘accepting calmly whatever happens’ definitely has merits. Despite this news effectively rendering me homeless in four days, with a van load of goods and chattels, myself and one mini-dachshund (sorry pup, no dice) for which and whom to find shelter, I do feel strangely calm. All will be well.

The silver lining (and boy, am I getting good at spotting those!) is that Flora (current owner of RR, and as frustrated as I am by this boundary scrap, borne of some spotty youth in some posh city lawyer’s office somewhere drawing the line squint)  phoned to say she has alerted the island grapevine to my plight and will be very surprised if something doesn’t transpire over the next few days. So if nothing else, the whole community now knows of my imminent arrival (but who am I kidding? they will all have known that already!!)

I’ve burned my boats here – the flat is re-let, the man-with-van booked, ferry tickets bought and paid for – so I cannot stay put, but must forge ahead regardless, with fingers crossed, and carry on up the Khyber, head up, shoulders back, twinkle in eye, smile at the ready.

You know how we cannot help ourselves from looking for patterns and ‘humanising’ things? When I bought my little car last year I noticed that it’s number plate reads SC1FF and I think of it as my little ship. So to have been asked on to the Tiree skiff-building team seems to be yet another message (from above?) that I’m heading in the right direction. 

The main mover and shaker of the skiff project is one Doc Holliday (Tiree’s retired GP who, 22 years ago had me airlifted off to Glasgow, but that’s another story). John (his real name) also Chairs the Tiree Trust committee who is employing me in my new role as admin staff for Feis Tiriodh. There was a suggestion the other day that one of my first tasks should be to go on a fundraising workshop later this month, which made my heart sink (picture the scene – slick suits and perfumed swathes of silk engaged in money grabbing role play in a plush conference room in Stirling). The Doc’s response? ‘Don’t do that, come and settle in to the community and build a skiff with us’. Hurrah!! I like that man.  

Three boys and Suzi for supper tonight and I seem to have packed all but one plate, oops. BYOP :~)

The next missive from NFA Tiree :~)

LOVEloveLOVE

Jules