Category: Vague

By: Vague   The storms up here have been increasing in both intensity and length. I awoke the other day ready (and indeed fully washed) to go to Mallaig to pick up a couple of parcels of supplies my sister had kindly ordered, packaged and sent. However, I awoke to heavy rain, winds that shook…

By: Vague   …then I’ll begin. I thought for this blog entry I’d tell a seasonal tale, but first let me set the scene. It has currently been raining for nearly twenty-four hours, more or less non-stop with a break in the morning thankfully, just as I got up to light the fire. As I…

By: Vague   After an unseasonal snow fall and arctic temperatures, I am now enjoying the usual West Highland weather; heavy, constant rain. This got me thinking about what is needed to survive out here, so I thought I’d write something for you to peruse, detailing the three and the four. I have a feeling…

By: Vague   Out here I am surrounded by, immersed in and live and breathe nature. I lose track of the amount of times in the day I pause to watch, listen and experience different threads of this oh-so-rich tapestry. Take today, for example; as I’ve been going about my business, I’ve been recording all…

By: Vague   Where does a day go? In fact, where does time go in general? I’ve been out here for over three weeks now, yet it barely seems any time at all. My days recently have been full of shelter building (more on this later) but a large percentage of any day is given…

By: Vague   I’ve always been inspired by a phrase or two in Raymond Mears’ very first book. In this he says how any fool can act the hard man and eat unnecessarily bland food and goes on to say how there is a real skill in transforming such food into something to make the…

By: Vague   It is nearly ten in the morning. I was just sat idly thinking when it struck me that I would normally have been at work for two hours by now. Instead, what have I done? I’ve laid in my hammock watching the light slowly creep across the glen. I stayed there watching…

By: Vague   As I write this it is Sunday evening, about half past seven. I have had no mobile reception for several days now and intend to walk back around the coast a little way tomorrow (weather permitting) to try and send this and see if anyone has been in touch. It is odd…

By: Vague   The outdoors.  It is an interesting word in itself – carrying connotation and loaded meaning.  Why choose a word that pretty much encompasses the whole world and turn it into “us and them”?  Out of doors.  In other words, not a safe, man-made place.  Something beyond the barrier; frightening, and not to…