The road is open, quite deserted actually. Cloudy dark skies which match my mood. Feeling dark and heavy and in a sort of limbo. It is very easy to socially distance yourself as per the government’s of the world suggestions, in the remote Scottish Highlands. Not knowing what is going to happen to life as we know it from hour to hour. I am looking inward and need to get out. Life is not definite.
I turn on my playlist and somehow it picks all the songs I need to lift my spirits. Song after song, until I feel my mood lifting, together with the clouds, a bird is soaring the thermals above me as I wind my way through the heather clad rolling hills and still slightly snow capped mountains. One sound track that sits with me is the ever inspiring one from Fiddler on the Roof.
To Life. To life. L’chaim!
Which got me thinking. These abjectly poor people survived life in a pre-revolutionary Russia. Mankind have survived world wars, plagues and worse. We will survive this. We need to stop looking inward and imagining the worst, life goes on. We are all fiddlers on the roof right now, balancing.
The universe has got tired, so is now forcing us to slow down. Stop this frantic destructive living of instantaneous gratification, take stock of our lives, catch up and take a breath. Mother nature is rejoicing and this slowing down is giving her a chance to heal.
As I am driving I can’t wait to get back and put my thoughts down on paper (or blog) . I have been to Ullapool for my fortnightly shop, with some of the food aisles emptied and the lines at the tills busier than I have ever seen. Everyone surreptitiously eyeing each others’ baskets. All with the same thoughts on their minds. I am hoping I am not being judged for the 4 squares of fudge and Lindt chocolate bars that I have in my basket (my weakness) – no I am not stockpiling, that is what I need to get me through 2 weeks till my next shop.
Sitting here now, with a steaming cup of tea, in the hotel restaurant, which still has patrons. Not everyone is hiding. Off over the loch, the mussel men are out servicing their mussel beds with the weather raging around them. Life goes on. Just at a slower pace – so relax and enjoy.
So to hell with Limbo – I choose Life!
Diary of the peregrinating granny from South Africa 