Today I am, off to Moray via Reading Station and Gatwick Airport, with winter coat and a spring jacket, all pockets stuffed to get the better of EasyJet. Last time I came up here was just after two big life changing events. These were retirement and the rather sudden loss of my lovely Mum. Last Sunday I went to a memorial service for her and others at the local parish church where her ashes are interned. That was a miserable experience. It struck me that I am in denial. I have not faced the sadness properly, not cried, not grieved. I decided to go through those things of hers which I have kept in my drawer. I have been putting this off but will do it when I get back. Maybe this will unleash it all, but it feels impossible to navigate these emotions. Anyway, I need a break!
On the standing room only black hole of Calcutta that is the train to Reading, I realize the bloke behind me who sounds like my chum, J, is in fact my chum J. How nice. We chit chat for the rest of the time.
On the marginally quieter train to the airport I send a text to my lovely daughter complaining about people who eat hamburgers on trains. I wish I could experience peace and tranquility despite these irritations. The scenery is great, clear sky and optimistic early summer greenery.
The airport experience is brief and tolerable though not tranquil. I send my daughter a text about people who apply nail varnish in confined places. I am in dhukka. ( an important Buddhist concept, loosely translated as "suffering", "pain" or "unsatisfactoriness". It refers to the fundamental unsatisfactoriness and painfulness of mundane life, and inspires the doctrines of Buddhism).
The flight is short (one hour twenty mins) and smooth. The captain is cheery and chatty. I sit with a couple of other ladies of a certain age and by the end of the flight two of us have persuaded the undecided lady to Remain in the EU.
The airport is having alterations and heaving. My friends quickly whisk me off to the cheese shop at Connage Highland Dairy. http://www.connage.co.uk/Home.aspx
This has an extensive cheese range, all produced on site, and a lovely cafe, and is five minutes drive from the airport.
Wester Hardmuir Fruit Farm is situated approximately 5 miles east of Nairn adjacent to the A96 trunk road which we take towards Elgin. Here we buy some strawberries to have later. (First of the year and truly delicious). http://www.hardmuir.com/
A small detour off this road at Forres takes us to the Speyside Brewery. http://speysidecraftbrewery.com/
The head brewer, Adam, gives us a tour. Like the Brewdog guys he trained at Herriot Watt University in Edinburgh, gained a BSc in Brewing and Distilling, following it up with a postgrad qualification from the same place. He is from Michigan and has developed an accent which is impossible to place. He certainly knows his stuff and takes plenty of time to educate us. It is a shame he is leaving, but nice that this is to get married. Caitlin is a new PR brand manager who is on an induction week.
It is lovely to be re-united with the pride and joy! By this I mean the garden at my friends' house near Elgin.
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