Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The best-laid schemes

Rabbie Burns was right! We mere mortals can plan things to our heart’s content and then along comes the randomness of human existence and all our careful arrangements are overturned. Having comfortably settled in for what was meant to be a six weeks’ stay up here in the Highlands, DH and I now find we have to go south again by the end of the week.

So it’s back to the packing and the farewells, almost before the last echo of “Hello, how are you?” has died away. In addition, we have to find some way of piling all the furniture in the middle of each room, so that in our absence the local decorator can at last do the long-delayed repainting of our very shabby walls and woodwork. Wish us luck!

This song is only vaguely linked with the above, but it takes me right back to my university days, when I was young and supple and bits of me didn't creak when I bend and lift. 

 

44 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your early departure. Hoping that "bad news" is not the cause. Good luck with the packing!

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    1. Thanks, Sian. More a case of needing to be somewhere more accessible. As you well know, the far north is a very long way from most places. :-)

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  2. Hello Perpetua:
    We do so hope that nothing is seriously amiss and that all is well with you.

    For our part we leave, once more, for Venice at the end of this week and then, following our stay there, to the UK for, literally, a flying visit with the result that we shall in all probability be 'off air' for a while.

    Take care and a safe journey.

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    1. We're both fine, thanks, Jane and Lance. As I said to Sian, we just need to be much closer to things for the time being.

      Ooo, Venice again. I do hope you've packed your wellingtons and your water-wings, judging by the images I've been seeing in the media. Safe travelling and I look forward to your photos in due course.

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    2. We are finding we've reached a phase of not being certain who, what or where for the foreseeable future -- hope all goes well for you and safe journey back to the land of the living!!

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    3. I bet, Broad! It's bad enough when the grandsons just come to stay for a week, but indefinitely must be a whole new universe. Lovely to see you back in the land of blog, even if only intermittently. :-)

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  3. I wish you well on your move back south. Thanks for sharing Simon and Garfunkel. Take care.

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    1. Thanks, Bonnie. It's fun to revisit songs from our youth from time to time. :-)

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  4. That's a shame, good luck and have a safe trip !!

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    1. Thanks, Jean. These things happen, but we'd just nicely settled in. :-)

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  5. I'm sorry your Highland Idyll has been cut short, hope all goes well with the South bound journey.
    Thanks for the chance to hear this song. I love Simon and Garfunkle but didn't know this one. Had forgotten how very close their harmony was.
    Blessings.

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    1. Thanks,Ray, so are we. Mind you, looking out of the window at the rain and mist it isn't looking very idyllic at the moment. Let's hope it brightens up before we hit the road.

      I'm glad you enjoyed the song. It's an old favourite of mine, so it was nice to have a tenuous justification for posting it. :-)

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  6. Well, I suppose the positive is that the decorators can move in....
    Wishing you a safe trip, where you can recover from the creaks and groans of moving furniture....singing along to S and G.

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    1. Thanks, Fly. As it happens, that won't be happening before December in any case, as he's booked solid for November.

      The bit I'm not looking forward to is arriving next time to find all the furniture waiting to be moved back into place. More creaks and groans in store.....:-)

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  7. I seem to recall various stories about which Lancashire railway station Paul Simon was sitting in, thinking of home, when he wrote this.... so entirely appropriate for a Lancashire lass.
    What a shame, when you have just got settled...hopefully all is well when you get back down south, and after all, the Highlands will be there waiting for you, next time. J.

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    1. You're quite right, Janice. The Highlands aren't going anywhere, which is a reassuring fact. :-)

      Your mention of the railway station sent me to Google, where Wikipedia says the most likely location was Widnes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeward_Bound_(song)

      If I were to be stuck on Widnes station for a long time, I too would need to do something to pass the time. :-)

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  8. Simon and Garfunkel always bring back good memories for me. For one thing they weren't so "troubled" as many of the popular bands in those days.
    I'm sorry you're having to go back after having just settled in, but sometimes other things call and need our presence. Be safe.

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    1. I so agree, Rubye. Young and rather innocent and so good to listen to.

      Yes, sometimes life gets in the way of our plans and we have to rearrange, but thankfully packing to go home is just a case of making sure we empty all the drawers and shelves. :-) At least there's no sign of the snow we sometimes have to cope with in the Highlands at this time of year.

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  9. Sorry your Highland break has had to be curtailed. Travel safely on your way south - it is so mizzley today in the Central Belt, it feels you may be escaping some grotty weather and ludicrously few hours of daylight!

    I have sat on Widnes railway station and pondered how it might propt such a song... it is (or was abck then) a pretty grim place to sit and wait for a train!

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    1. Thanks, Catriona. It's been pretty grey and mizzly up here too and hasn't really got properly light all day. All this and still more than a month to go to the shortest day. Sigh....

      Never having been to Widnes station I have to take your word about its grimness, but so many stations were very rundown and drab back then. It probably made him really, really wish to be back home!

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  10. But it seems you just got there! Hope you're both okay. Have a safe trip back and best wishes for a quick and satisfactory resolution to whatever is beckoning you back.

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    1. That's certainly how it feels, Kathy. Packing again only two weeks after we arrived seems very odd. Thanks for the good wishes. Things are always easier to deal with from the place that is truly home.

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  11. Oh no! What a shame you have to cut your holiday short. The only compensation is that the weather has been dry and sunny today. Love that S & G song.

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    1. Thanks, Molly. That's one of the nice things about not thinking of this as a conventional holiday, but instead being at home elsewhere - we can always look forward to next time instead of feeling disappointed about this one. The song is lovely - one of my favourites of theirs.

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  12. All I can do is echo all the sentiments above. Enjoying listening to Simon and Garfunkel.

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    1. Thanks, Susan. Glad you're enjoying the song. It's ages since I heard it, but it's as good as ever.

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  13. What a shame you have to go back down south so soon. Have a safe journey and look forward to the decorating being finished when you next go back.

    Thanks for the S & G video..one of my favourites!

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    1. Thanks, Ayak. That's a very positive slant to put on things and certainly the house should look much lighter and brighter when we see it next. Thankfully the weather forecast is for nothing worse than rain, so the journey should be fine.

      Glad you enjoyed the S&G - seeing it made me feel young again! :-)

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  14. Dear Perpetua - We never know what it is round the corner, but I am sure you will be taking the high road again before too long. It will be lovely when you return and find all of the painting done, you will miss out on all the inconvenience. Take care on your travels.

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    1. Thanks you, Rosemary, you're so right. We hope to be back in the spring and will then have to put all the furniture back in its place. To be honest the house is so small that there wouldn't have been room for the furniture, the decorator and us at the same time. :-) This way he won't be hindered.

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  15. Lovely song - but Perpetua, you are always homeward bound...are you not? I'm also pleased to learn it was written in Widnes - I would never have known this if you didn't have to pack up and go home again. Hope all is well wherever you are. Have a safe journey. Axxx

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    1. LOL, Annie! I'd honestly never thought of it like that, but you're quite right. :-) You'll have to thank Janice for the tip about a Lancashire station. I'd never heard this story, but it seems so appropriate somehow. As you say a lovely song and it will now be running through my mind as we drive south.....

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  16. I can only echo what everyone else has said. Safe journey x

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    1. Thanks, Annie. The packing is going well and I'm now off to knit and natter for the last time this visit. :D

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  17. I was thinking of this very same Simon and Garfunkel song last night as we headed down from Minnesota, glad to have been there, equally glad to be heading home. Simon and Garfunkel are favorites of ours and bring me back to my college days as well: five of us packed into a small Corvair, driving down from Normal, Illinois to St. Louis to hear them in concert and their introduction of Bridge Over Troubled Waters. Good memories.

    Safe travel, Perpetual. I'm just starting to catch up as you're taking off.

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    1. Thanks, Penny, and glad you're safely home again. My choice was obviously a nice piece of serendipity for you as a Simon and Garfunkel fan. I never saw them live but still enjoy listening to them and feeling nostalgic for those far=-off days. :-)

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  18. Trusting you will have a peaceful time 'down south'.

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    1. Thanks, Linda. At least w will be home again in plenty of time to prepare for Christmas. :-)

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  19. Safe Journey - Hope you have your music planned for the drive down.

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    1. Thanks, BtoB. Sadly the very small campervan doesn't run to a CD player and we're not iPod people, so it's the radio or conversation for us. :-)

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  20. Dear Perpetua, I hope that all is well and that your going south isn't because something dire has happened. Take care. Peace.

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    1. Thanks, Dee. We arrived home safe but tired late yesterday afternoon and have now unpacked. Nothing dire, but we need to be down in Wales for the time being. It's a lovely autumn day and I have washing drying in the sun.

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  21. Wishing both you & DH a safe journey south. Yes - still just over a month to go to the shortest day and it was dark at 4.30pm here in Prague this afternoon. And it's been cold & foggy all day!

    Like others, I enjoyed the Simon & Garfunkel. We are of a similar era :-)

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    1. Indeed we are, Ricky, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.:-)

      We had a good journey home, rainy on Friday, but bright and dry yesterday, thank goodness. The day is noticeably longer down here than on the north coast, especially when it's clear and sunny as it is today.

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