Categories: uncategorized, glasgow, home, family
Tags: music, Brockley, friends, move, family
Date: 13 September 2005 23:47:42
Not for ever, obviously, but for a while - tomorrow, after months and months and months of planning this move I finally cross the border into Scotland. I'm really excited - I'm ready for a bit of a new life - though I must admit I'm not thinking too much about leaving down here because I get a bit emotional sometimes. I did shed a tear as I drove out of Brockley for the last time, along Brockley Road and Wickham Road, as they're all so familiar and I'm moving to the basically totally unfamiliar and so I'm feeling a bit unsure about this "unknown" business. I decided to go the long way round on the way to the Blackwall Tunnel and drive past the surgery where I worked until recently to have one last look at the place - and the next thing I knew I realised I was at the bottom of the hill, I'd driven past it without even noticing, and I had no memory at all of just driving that particular stretch of the A20, I could have run over a couple of old ladies for all I knew. Oh well.
Had a nice couple of days at my parents', including last night going to the monthly folk club that my dad goes to. He used to play in a folk band in the 60s, so is quite handy at this sort of thing, and his friend let me play one of his recorders (just quietly, playing along with everyone else, I wasn't brave enough to do anything more!) which brought back all of my dreams of buying a set of whistles and joining a folk band. One day. Maybe. After I've got my PhD and saved the world.
What was also lovely was my aunt gave my dad a really old family photo to scan and produce copies for whoever in the family wants one. It includes my grandmother, who can't have been older than 5 at the time (so this would have been just before World War One), plus 7 siblings (3 more were born later) and her parents. I don't know all that much about my family, so it was great to hear my aunt and dad talking about the aunts and uncles in the photo (and the family skeleton in the cupboard too - previously I thought I came from the only family in the world without a skeleton in the cupboard, but apparently not).
And now here I am in the North-East (staying with friends from SoF), where they've put me in a bedroom which also houses their computer. So I'm getting my "fix" for the time being, and hopefully blogging will be a bit more regular soon.
I've had the theme song to "Take the High Road" in my head all day. You'd think with all the great music that's come from Scotland over the years I could do better than that.