Lady luck

Wednesday 21st June 2023

Last night I lay in bed thinking about my life and how sometimes I have these weeks where I can't even begin to explain the excitement I feel. It's almost surreal but I'm letting it sink in and trying to stay in the moment.

In 2014 I was still managing the Discovery Athletic Club and plugging away at serving the running community. One weekend after watching Peter Gabriel's concert in London on a DVD, I lamented that out of all my BritPop music idols, he was one I hadn't seen 'live' in concert. Next morning, I get a loud nudge on waking

'Come...'

I knew instinctively who it was but I hadn't formatted the words yet. Next thing I'm booked to leave for Dublin the following day to see his concert. I booked a 3 night stay. 13000km away and I landed in the middle of a brilliant, freezing 'superstorm'. The sun shone because the wind blew it off the green isle to let the Dubliners protest against paying for municipal water. All these strange events just to add to the memories plus I walked to the concert arena and loved every moment of it. He was 65 years old then, so I thought it would be his last concert.

Last year back in SA, I get an email that he's on tour again and going to be in Glasgow. YEY!! I had to buy the tickets then and there and I hadn’t any definite plans of where I would be at that time. Which is going to be tomorrow night!!!!!

I sound recklessly impulsive, but I use these types of events to guide my life. It's the loose plan I base myself on. It works for me now, which is strange in a way because up until my 50s I always needed a certainty of 'place'. A haven, or cocoon to nest in. Voluntary lockdown of a year before the forced lockdown of 14 months made me realise that the planet is my 'place'. Geographically I can connect anywhere via the internet (apart from mid Karoo- or mid forests which is as it should be) so I always have 'company'.

In 1988 I worked as a Chalet girl in Verbier, that is also a strange tale of listening to my 'nudge'. But that's for another blog. In Verbier, my colleagues came from all over Scotland. One of them from Tiree. She then said she surfed and my ears pricked up. 'Surf - in Scotland...?' Fast forward to this Friday which is where I'm flying to, to celebrate my birthday. Last year I travelled to Oban to see the Catalina airplane, this year a tiny island with blue beaches.