Week 34
Last week of annual leave - again, no work updates.
We arrived in St Andrews on Monday. The place we stayed in was at the east end of North Street, a five minute stroll to the beach at the Castle, and from East Sands. We dropped our bags and headed off to one of what was many visits to Janetta’s Gelateria during our stay.
I noticed quite a contrast between our accommodation in Ayr, and the one in St Andrews. The place in Ayr had been designed to feel sleek and minimalist, but the landlord hadn’t been touching up the decorating or fixing the furniture over the years: the padding in the sofa was so flat you could feel the wooden frame through it; the blinds were all broken; and the walls were all scuffed, or else mottled with polyfiller, where they’d been damaged but not made good. I’m confident it would have looked show-home good for a few years and, absent a little love, has looked cold and scruffy ever since. The place in St Andrews is a home-home. It isn’t minimalist, doesn’t have the “clean lines” and carefully chosen props of the one in Ayr. Everything was functional, clean, well-maintained and comfortable - albeit it in a much smaller (and woodchip-papered) space. It is perfect and modest, with an undeniable coziness that we loved.
The kids spent most of their time on the beach or in the North Sea. They took their wetsuits, found a tide pool the size of a 50 metre swimming pool (part of the castle ruin that gets submerged at high tide), and started swimming. Emily was relieved as she was worrying about strong currents. Zoe stayed in as long as she could before her lips turned purple (about 45 minutes) - then they got changed and walked to East Sands to build very sophisticated sandcastles with deep moats. That’s where she learned about the water table - because she dug deep enough for her moat to fill with water, even though the tide was way out. We’d explained it to her conceptually before, but there’s nothing like seeing it in front of you to crystallise understanding.
Emily enjoyed getting up early and walking with me round the shops. We’ve never lived anywhere you could stroll for 10 minutes and reach a butcher, a baker, a greengrocer, and a deli before. Emily is not a morning person by any means, but she is quite the foodie, so this was a feature of St Andrews that very much appealed to her (to the extent that she’s now thinking of seeking a History degree there).
The early mornings were especially impressive because the girls both persisted in their efforts to see an aurora. They’d subscribed to Aurora Watch - excited because this summer we’re at a Solar Maximum and so the chances of seeing an aurora are much higher than they’d normally be. Of course the two nights earlier this summer they slept through the alerts were clear nights with visible auroras - so they were gutted to be awake for an aurora in St Andrews, only for it to be an overcast night. It could have been a stunner, that far up North.
I’ve reflected a lot on myself. I romanticise aspects of life - digging trenches with the kids on the beach, examining interesting insects with Zoe, Parkrun on Saturday mornings - when given the opportunity I quite clearly choose not to do these things. I like the idea of sandcastles - I don’t want to spent 2 hours (and it was 2 hours) kneeling in damp sand, rebuilding crumbling sand ramparts. I like the idea of examining minibeasts - but creepy-crawlies give me the creepy-crawlies. And I love the idea of having a regular social outdoors exercise habit - but my fallen arches, unstable joints and underwire bras will not thank me for taking up running.
One thing I know I love is reading. I spent really quite a lot of time in bookshops - one a Waterstones, the other a “Topping and Co” - an amazing store with bookcase ladders and hidden corners and free tea and coffee. From the front window alone I can see dozens of books I’m excited to read at some point. It made me realise how my recent reading choices have been very much guided by Kindle recommendations, and the availability on Kindle Unlimited, so I’ve haven’t really seen beyond that book title echo chamber. I started noting down titles and authors for the ones I most liked the look of (I’m not exactly going to buy 30 books on holiday) until I realised how shady that looked to the staff. I bought 5 books. And weirdly left a little sad - reader’s FOMO perhaps - at all the books I’m not going to get to read.