Yes, it’s the time of year when everyone tries to remember who their friends are and where they live now. The internet does all that for us but I think it’s nice to spend a few (frantic) hours actually thinking about all the people who matter to us and reflecting on all the good times. That’s what winter is about, essentially, absorbing this year’s experiences, reflecting, being grateful and then ordering priorities for the future. So, here goes…
We ended last year’s letter by saying “As Omicron begins to grip we are pretty much isolating so that nothing messes up our planned Christmas get together but who knows what the future holds.”
Yes, you guessed! We managed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day in Stonehouse, then had to beat a retreat home with a load of food shopping before Emily and Richard received their positive tests (which would have prohibited us from travelling.) John took to bed for a couple of days but I was fortunate to be able to keep doing pretty much as normal in the house and garden.
As things began to open up, I ran two live workshops before the summer, one at Portavadie with my yoga friend Diane and a second at Glenan on World Labyrinth Day. This proved to be a revelation for me – I fell in love with the concept of labyrinth walking and, with another friend, provided one at my annual Tai Chi Caledonia week in Stirling.
As more events became live we attended a Silencers Concert in Glasgow but sadly John had accidentally consumed some gluten and we had to leave. I have to admit I was finding the standing crowd experience uncomfortable. Later in the year, John and Emily braved a Counting Crows concert, we also enjoyed Cirque du Soleil for Emily’s birthday and have just returned from what is becoming our annual Christmas present to Caitlin and Roslyn – panto at the Citizen’s Theatre.
Trips have included a family get together with John’s cousins’ group in Lancashire and a drive to Killarney for a few days of orienteering and catching up with old friends from previous orienteering holidays. In June we went to Sunderland for the christening of nephew Joe’s second child Robbie and another chance to meet up with family. We did a spot of wild camping at Inneans Bay after Richard took a fancy to it while sweeping the Ultra.
The Kintyre Way Ultra, finally ran over the Southern Third from Machrihanish to Campbeltown was pronounced, by the few who turned up, ‘brilliant but brutal!’ July saw Tai Chi Caledonia live again and it was fantastic to see everyone in real life. This was almost immediately followed by orienteering coming to Tarbert thanks to Masterplan Adventure. Three new areas, which proved very demanding and popular, were accompanied by various social events that boosted the local economy. As we had hoped, there is a small amount of local interest which has prompted me (who gave up coaching last century!) to undertake an orienteering coaching qualification to be able to capitalise on the provision of these great mapped areas.
And then in August we celebrated our Golden Wedding, prompted by Jo announcing that they were coming to Scotland. New Lanark Hotel proved the perfect venue with its heritage site and swimming pool to keep people amused. Most people came for two days which made it very relaxed. More about that here. As Johnny is becoming a bit of a football fan, Jo had arranged visits to a number of football stadia while they were ‘over’ and we accompanied them to Barcelona.
With Celtic Connections unable to go fully live this year our volunteering services were not required so I went to Stirling for Bloody Scotland and hoped I might be able to rub some magic from the shoulders of the great and the good of literary crime. No luck so far.
John’s Fynesiders finally called it a day. It seems ironic that they kept going through zoom talks and quizzes during the pandemic but as soon as they attempted in person singing, they realised it wasn’t going to work. The end of an era. Here’s a little reminder. John’s days are now spent ‘doing things in the shed’. The garden also had a makeover when soggy woodchip caused flooding and we extended two of the flower beds and built two more.
There was no mountain marathon this year but a few 10ish ks for John. His ambition is to score 1000 park runs by the end of the year but it’s looking as though he’ll get stuck on 98. Our next challenge will be to collect an alphabet of park runs! Does anyone know where we can get an X???
We said last year we hoped that we would be able to see more people and that has indeed happened, even if only through the internet – there’s no excuse not to is there? but to everyone else, you are still in our thoughts and we wish you health and happiness for 2023.