My thoughts on a page.

In case you have been losing sleep worrying and fretting over my lack of holiday accommodation five days before we travel, sleep tight my friend, for we are all sorted.

After writing my last post it hit me that there was a real danger we’d spend a week in Scotland with no place to lie down. I even wondered about hiring a bigger car in case we’d have to sleep in it. (Perhaps I should have been wondering about booking a car first!) The day passed and, nothing. By the time the following morning arrived I knew I’d to come clean and confess to himself I’d lied. We had no place to stay, not even for one night. As I arrived into the kitchen at 7am he looked more than a little surprised to see me up so early. I smiled and muttered about not sleeping before announcing,

‘We are in trouble next week. I can’t find anywhere to stay.’

He continued buttering his bread and without flinching said, “Ah sure we can buy a tent in Scotland if the worst comes to the worst.”

The relief! I smiled, externally and internally, before reality hit. The last time we’d set up a tent was nearly thirty years ago. We were living in Australia and going away for a few days with a gang of friends. Not having a tent we borrowed a friends. The day before leaving I drove over to collect it. It was bright yellow and enormous! My friend eagerly began to explain to me the ins and outs of putting it up. I stood and watched and it all seemed relatively straightforward. I returned home and began to relate the instructions to ‘yer man.’ He is not exactly a DIY expert and quickly became bored, especially as the tent was still in the car. He moved to turn on the TV saying, ‘For goodness sake, I’m no eejit.’ I bit my tongue and showing remarkable restraint, said nothing!

The following evening we arrived at an idylic spot and began to unpack. When our buddies saw our tent they couldn’t contain themselves. Each of them had brought small pop up tents which took mere minutes to assemble. We ignored their laughter and got to work. The rain began to pour and the minutes and hours passed. The others sat drinking and chatting in tents occasionally offering help, only to run a mile as the atmosphere became more and more tense. We soldiered on, barely speaking to each other. Thankfully if you do something for long enough you learn and eventually there it was, our magnificent sixteen person tent (slight exaggeration). We shouted and celebrated enough to bring our friends out of their tents. The rain was relentless as we began to feel around for our mansions opening, only to discover it was around the back, up against very large, prickly bushes! We’d to find sticks to push them back before the whole gang of us entered our palace.

My memories faded and I returned to reality. I would of course find somewhere, I had to, I just needed to keep looking. So I grabbed my laptop and began afresh.

Two hours later I’d emailed a few lovely looking places I’d missed the day before and I’d also booked our car. Now it was a matter of waiting. My place of choice was the lovely upstairs apartment in the middle of ‘I didn’t care where’, surrounded by mountains and a loch 60 yards away. I’d not too long to wait before receiving an email confirming it’s availability.

Yahoo.

When I showed it to ‘yer man,’ later that evening he said, ‘Oh that’s lovely. Sure there was no panic really.’

Today I purchased two fleeces I hope never to use, although I listened to the British forecast late the other night, and heard, ‘Scotland… blustery winds, gales, scattered showers,’ I continued to listen intently but I don’t think he mentioned sun once. I’m hoping, Beth from ‘I didn’t have my glasses on’ is right as she commented on my facebook page that it was just his accent.

I’m not sure if I’ll give the internet a full break next week, but at best I’ll post a photo or two on my facebook page (not of me!) I’ll update those of you with a real life without Facebook when we return Sunday week, hopefully together.

So two more sleeps to go. I hope Scotland is ready for us!

photo credit: Suffering Tonight via photopin (license)
photo credit: Highland mountain flank near Bridge of Orchy via photopin (license)