A little holiday blog post

We’re off on holiday to Scotland for a week and I’ve deleted the Instagram app from my phone. This has left me with a restless energy that I normally send into the void of social media, so here I am, writing a blog post.

I’m technically not writing a blog post, just a note in my phone, but maybe it’ll end up on one of my websites at some point. Hopefully it will just help me to channel this urge to shout mundane thoughts into the void when I’m craving comfort and connection.

What a weird urge to have in the age of AI as well. Let’s not get into that ramble though.

So! A week in Scotland. We’re not going very far north this time, but it’s still out of the way of a lot of places. It’ll take at least 2 hours to get to either Glasgow or Edinburgh if we want to go to a big city, or the nearest big town (Hawick) is 30 minutes drive away.

Packing for the trip was a slog because I’m feeling really spaced out at the moment, possibly thanks to hormones and a potential cold I’ve picked up. I’ve packed far too many art supplies, as I always do for these September trips with Mark’s family. I’m hoping since I’ve been making more art lately I’ll actually be more inclined to use them this time. Usually Mark gets FOMO and we end up out and about every day though.

We took the scenic Southport route on the drive up, stopping a few times on the way. Mark’s also feeling like he’s on the edge of an illness, so driving was difficult for him too. At least he didn’t crush the side of the car on a lamppost like I did yesterday.

Our stop at Tebay was a quick one. I’m proud of myself for not buying everything in sight as I usually do there. I just stuck to the two cakes and told myself to save my money for TK Maxx if we end up there. Last time I splashed out on some fancy shortbread biscuits for the lovely looking tins and then found them for 70% less at TK Maxx in Aintree. I’m not doing that again. I did buy far too many snacks at Tesco in Carlisle though.

We eventually arrived at our destination at around 7pm, having left home at maybe 2pm.

The house we’re staying in is a confusing maze of rooms that smells a bit like an old church and is in need of a deep clean. Once we’re settled I’ll feel fine and I am feeling optimistic, but putting food into a dirty freezer isn’t a pleasant way to start the holiday. I’m still trying not to spend money on food if I don’t have to, so I basically filled the freezer here with all sorts of ready meals and batch cooked meals from home.

There are two sitting rooms here, so Mark and I raided the DVD shelf and picked a few things we might want to watch. We selected After Hours as our film for the night, which neither of us had even heard of before and probably never would have chosen otherwise. It was an odd film that I wasn’t sure I was going to enjoy, but I’m actually glad we did pick it in the end. Nice to watch something with different pacing than I’m used to these days.

I ended my day like I usually do, with an audiobook and sudoku. Mark was asleep before midnight too, which is very rare for him, so I’m hoping he can swiftly get over whatever bug is taking over our brains with some decent sleep.

I know from experience that it takes about 2-3 days for me to settle into a holiday, so I’m not expecting to be fully relaxed until Monday, but I’m really looking forward to having nothing demanded of me for the next week.