Hi all,
I guess you have been wondering what happened to me or where did I go ?
Have I given up on my blog ? Am I still having adventures ? Let me explain....
My blog is a little more that just a collection of some my adventures on the seas or the hills of Scotland. Between the lines.... it is also the ever evolving story of my life, at the age of 58, trying to discover myself.
Im sure that my love of nature and the solitude of wild places comes through in my adventures, but what is probably not so obvious, is the changes I make in my life to try and make life long dreams come true.
Those of you who have followed my blog for a while will know that, because of my disillusionment with the industry that I have worked in since leaving school, I left to try my hand as an artist. It was always a dream of mine. I was happy, even though I was following the life of the “classic starving artist”. I painted what I wanted to paint and did what I wanted to do... within the tight restrictions of my budget.
However, old capitalist thoughts started entering my head again as I bought my four wheel drive car, and upgraded to a more sea worthy boat. I went back to my old industry for a while. I was happy in a junior role doing the office work. It was a long boring week but I made the most of my free time with new boating adventures, sleeping in my car and walking the hills of the north. In fact..this year was one of my best adventure years yet.
My camping spot for a long weeking hillwalking last spring
Unfortunately, I was that busy having adventures and working, (I even went back to old hobbies from my past) I got a little more serious with my sea fishing.. expanding my species list from mackerel .. to also include herring, codling, pollock, poor cod, gurnard saith and a couple os spicies of dog fish... that I had little time left for blogging, which was the reason my silence.
A spur dog from Loch Etive.. I didnt notice its lethal spur near its dorsal fin when I caught it. Fortunately it neither bust my inflatable boat or my flesh before I returned it unharmed into the loch to fight another day.
My hillwalking adventures also became a little bolder. I wouldn't say that I have gone back to mountaineering yet..but I enjoyed a summer and autumn of scrambling routes as my head started to accept the exposure of scrambling
However..my adventuresome mind could not cope with the tedium of repetative office work.. and my watercolour painting fingers could not cope with the constant typing of filling in spreadsheets, eventually I suffered repetative strain arthritus in my typing digit. So when the opportunity came along to do full time outside work in my industry again ... I jumped at the chance.... Especially as the work is in the north of Scotland. During quieter spells in my new job.. I am surveying future launch sites for my boat... like this one at South Kessock in Inverness.
The work is high pressure work but it also pays well. My idea is to see if I would like to retire "up north" which has always been another dream of mine.. or whether to stay south in the central belt of Scotland. To ease the stresses and strains of conference calls to my employers and their customers. I use my mobile phone to call in from "calming surroundings" like the Clava Cairns.
So my blog ..has been silent for a while as I adjust to new changes in my life..but it has certainly not stopped.
Its still a bit hectic in my new work..but I hope to start blogging again..either by backdating my years adventures.. or by posting about new ones. Just bare with me as I adjust..its a bit harder to do at my age :-D
Thanks for looking in
