Wednesday 13th December 2023
Since 1st July 2021 I have been writing this daily blog. I'm quite surprised by the perseverance in a way, but it has also become part of my ritual and routine. It's partly a diary, partly correspondence but it started out as a log of my experience of living nomadically. I wasn't sure that I would last a year but my original intention was to live at the sea. Dad was there, the weather was there, the palm trees... and I had almost 3 months of great seaside life.
Almost 30 months later I'm still surprised by how I'm managing my nomadic lifestyle. Yes I'm fortunate to have piles of personal belongings dotted over the globe but my old adage of 'needing my own bed and bathroom' disappeared and I'm still surprised by that. My sister remarked on how strange it seems to her, to be living like this and I laughed because there's a tiny part of me that agrees with her. Although I'm living a scattered life, I no longer feel scattered and that is the best thing ever.
Feeling displaced as a 5 year old on arrival in South Africa 52 years ago ( today, in fact) is a young memory that I can honestly remember well. I was an extremely sensitive youngster and somehow I struggled to settle in my new home country. Perhaps it had something to do with also being 'displaced' as the baby of 6 kids, with the arrival of the 7th two months after we got here. But I do remember praying and pleading to wake up in Scotland. Nothing traumatic happened to me to hate the country that I recall, we even got a dog for the first time! But I always felt uprooted in a clumsy, childlike way.
After I returned from my UK gap year as a 21 year old, (the first time) I realised that I needed to settle because going back and forth wasn't plausible. Especially because I loved my TV job so I put down roots. It's in a way, very amusing that I've become a tumbleweed when I'm close to 60.
Connection is crucial for me and the internet is my life saver. My daily writing is helpful for me, but I'm very conscious that I have you, dear reader, casting your eyes over my antics and late night typos. I'm aware that some people read this daily and I feel so honoured to be a small part of your day wherever in the world you are. My ramblings can be long winded and yet, you show up. I love it.
I love words, I love being able to connect through words and my love letters get sent into the ether every night and you pick them up. Hopefully there's a smile or three and know that in some strange way, when I get a 'read message' from your particular area, I might not know who you are, but I feel the connection.
So thank you for reading and thank you for your invisible support...
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