It’s taken me three days to recover from this weekend. It’s not a complaint, I loved it. Despite being anxious about commencing my second quarter century, it began with style - or at least “Stomper Style”. Good things come with age - great chances and privileges like you never seem to get as a child. I intend to smile each day of this year and find at least one good thing per day that I will tweet to the world, so that if you ever struggle to find something to make you smile, you can have a read of what helped turn up the corners of my mouth.
Saturday saw my youngest sister coming of age. By way of celebration we trekked south to the Highland Wildlife Park. We had visited once before and were bought sponsorship of the red pandas by Charles Edward, a very important puppet, for our Christmas present. It didn’t disappoint. The polar bear splashed down into the water as if on cue and my only real gripe was that the bison have been put behind an extra fence, making it impossible to talk to them. I don’t believe in reincarnation, but if I did, I think I might have been a bovine in my last life.
The highlight for me was, once again, feeding time in the tiger compound, although maybe not so fun for staunch vegetarians. I love big cats, they are just so spectacular and graceful. I did feel rather annoyed at the manners of some of the people barging around while the tiger-keeper was giving his short talk, and in spite of the fact it was pointed out to me that if he could handle tigers - and in truth, he did look like he could give them a run for their money - he probably didn’t mind the rude, ignorant people for whom “excuse me” seemed to be an alien phrase.
Although I love the tigers, in actual fact, I am probably more like the red pandas with such a slow metabolism. They are very cute, and performed perfectly for my little sister, coming down from the trees and eating just the other side of the glass from where we were standing. Charles Edward, our own red panda, had to stay in the car.
Clemency loves animals, it was a perfect thing to do on her birthday and, armed with her new digital camera, she really loved the day. Most of the people there were trailing children behind them, which struck me as something of a shame - does it mean that most adults feel they can no longer enjoy things like this or justify seeing these animals without having children to hide behind? I really hope not, as each one of the seven of us were adults and we all had a fantastic day.
The wildcat kittens were so sweet, just like little balls of sleepy cat-ness. It’s hoped that they might, one day, be released into the wild and Scotland’s own little tiger can excel in its natural habitat. I am fully in support of animals in captivity like this. It is the breeding programs of these places that might turn around the tide against the poaching to death of certain species. Besides which, I would never have seen any of the creatures that are there if it were not for parks like this.
So Clemency, my youngest sister, turned 18 and became an adult. It’s a very odd feeling, that both baby sisters I remember being born so clearly are now 21 and 18 respectively. Looking back, I don’t know where the past 10 years have vanished off to. Perhaps that is the fate of our busy world. Writing these blogs is almost a way of keeping tabs on my life, so I can look back and remind myself of how much I have done and thought over the next section of my life. I think it’s all about the journey we are making. Clichéd I know, but I’m beginning to see it more and more. It’s like doing a picture (or it would be if I had the patience to actually do a decent job on any of them!), each year adds extra detail.
And so, as Sunday dawned, I added a 26th detail to the picture of my life’s journey…
I spent it as I wish I could all my birthdays, by the seaside, playing on the sand, surrounded by my family. I built castles and played volleyball and behaved like I was dictated more by my character and less by my age. Being comfortable with who you are is more important than fitting in to society’s mould. I got fried in the sun and turned a little bit like a lobster, but I had so much fun picnicking and paddling it really didn't matter.
I’m so glad that we live in Caithness - Scotland’s undiscovered gem. On Monday, I returned to Orkney for a day, reminiscing those formative ten years of my life before we headed south. For echoes of childhood and memories of precious times and friends, I could not love a place more than Orkney, but for the sheer sense of belonging and a love of the sandy beaches and high rising cliffs, of captivating smells of wild flower perfume, the song that I hear day-in-day-out of birds more varied in size and species than anywhere else I’ve ever been, but most of all for giving me my niche: I love Caithness just as much.
…Although, my only criticism of the Highland Wildlife Park was that it took 4 hours to travel to, but if that’s my only complaint against Caithness that’s not so bad.
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