GUESTS AND FISH

My parents are leaving after a full week of visiting.  While popular legend has it that “….guests are like fish – they go bad after three days…’ the truth is that children need time to acclimatise to long-lost relatives (like animals, they kind of sniff around and readjust, with building confidence, to the pecking order and the subtle vagaries of interaction.) A full week allows everybody to settle into a bit of a routine and, instead of dropping everything to Have Fun For A Day (in a forced and deliberate way) life continues, shared for a while.

These days, living on a tiny island is not as remote as it once was.  The daily paper (even my father’s cross-word) may be downloaded onto a variety of electronic gadgets; food from around the globe is purchased and shipped across; and information may be accessed through television, radio and internet.    Yet while travel may not be as lengthy in time as it once was, it is just as lengthy as ever, in distance. Of course, this remoteness is what makes Coll so sparsely populated, so little-visited and so undeveloped – aspects that charm visitors and residents alike.

But there’s no getting away from the fact that distance and remoteness do not make for easy, close interaction with family or friends, especially when very small children are involved.  Skype is all very well, but there is nothing like real flesh and blood.

Meal for the day – oops. Ran out of steam.  Tomorrow will be a feast of activity!