Sometime in January, I was slurping coffee in my study with Jane – no doubt discussing the more unpleasant habits of small children – when the Peatbog Faeries came on the stereo. Now I first heard the Faeries on the juke box in my Scottish local, and in an instant I was there, drinking fine ale and soaking up the craic. I couldn't help it: I started yammering on to Jane about the pub, the beer, my mates...
Jane's eyes began to glaze.
"Why don't you come with me?" I exclaimed. "I'm always thinking, 'Jane'd like this' when I'm there. We could drive up in a day (s'only 600 miles), have a couple of days there, and drive back. Crazy, I know, but hell, life's too short..."
Jane (and others), after much deliberation, declined; but my ace blogmate, Womagwriter, whom I have long bored witless regaled with tales of Scotland, was more than game. Lovely woman. But mad, obv.
So last week we hit the road, drove for ten hours, had two fab days walking (see right), met with friends gu leòr. And drove home again. 1,316 miles.All because of the Peatbog Faeries.
There's a Will Young song I'll forever associate with a roundabout on the A27. The smell of dry earth has me rolling down an M1 embankment in a red Ford Cortina estate. The taste of mushroom soup always takes me to Knebworth International Guide & Scout camp, 1981. And after last week, I'll never hear another Snow Patrol track without thinking of the M6...
What takes you back, and where does it take you?
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11 comments:
Oh yes, Snow Patrol and the M6! We did have a marvellous few days and I don't think I have stopped talking about it yet.
OK, associations - Johnson's Baby Lotion and a hotel on the Costa Brava. Wine from a decanter and Paris street cafes. New Order's Blue Monday and my 18th birthday party, the cool kids dancing up near the DJ. Mango juice and Delhi.
Excellent. I take prattling as a sign of a good time! And Baby lotion on the Costa Brava?!! I will be asking more about this later!
Mekong whisky, M&S knickers and the South China Sea...
Oh, all those miles we drove, and the stories I missed out on!!
Discovered Dire Straits in a little Renault 5 on a VERY late night trip to Brighton and back via Victoria Coach station in London, accompanied by a lady I would have loved given the right circumstances :(
Vanilla body spray and horseback riding. Natural Ice beer and laying in a field under the stars. The smell of leather and a school bus in an Arizona summer.
Great post! That was fun!
How fantastic - wish I was that spontaneous!
Wimbledon always takes me back to playing tennis in the street with my brother, during summers spent at my gran's!
... naturally I used a ball and a racquet. I didn't ACTUALLY play tennis with my brother!!
Body shop tea rose spray takes me back to my youth in South Africa. The smell of freshly baked bread takes me back to 4am(ish) swimming in Cannes (again, years ago). Pimms reminds me of summer and laughing with my friend Andrea (present day).
On a mission is playing on the radio as i read this!!!
Hello Nigel! Didn't know you were on Blogger :o)
Gina - Vanilla body spray and horse riding? There's another one to make me wonder!
Karen - There wasn't that much spontaneous about the trip (two months planning), but the idea was a true inspiration! ;o)
Debs - Ah, pimms... reminds me of school fetes, and wishing I'd left my car at home. Didn't know you spent time in SA.
Casdok - And won't you confess what it reminds you of?!!
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