Friday 11 June 2010

The Inadequacy of Words

After the last Airstream Gathering we moved on to a small site on a farm just outside Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, where we stayed for two weeks. We have started to notice a pattern now that we have held three of these gatherings, and it is that we experience a sort of post-rally slump, a deep feeling of 'what now?' And that wasn't helped much for those few days when we couldn't connect to the internet. We felt a bit cut off.

There are times when not being connected is appropriate, and even positively therapeutic. For example, last summer which we spent in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and the Hebrides. We rarely had a phone or internet signal. But being out of touch and unreachable went hand in hand with the feeling of remoteness and wildness of some of the places we found ourselves in. In a way, not being able to tell what it was like, as we were experiencing it, added to the sense of a special and personal journey. We were cut off for much of the time and we had no choice but to be where we were one hundred percent, without diluting the uniqueness of our experiences. Words couldn't have expressed how I felt at the time, and I was happy not to have to confine the spaciousness of where we were and what we felt with words.



One year on it seems a shame not to have shared. We have posted about the Outer Hebrides and received some appreciative comments, so we're going to at least post some photos from last summer, from time to time.


T

3 comments:

Andrew said...

I know what you mean about the inadequacy of words. Similarly, I find that photos can't really do the place justice. You really have to BE there!

Although things are a little different for the lone traveller. There is nobody with whom to share the moment and the beauty. I found I was uploading a picture and a comment a day to Facebook on my recent trip to share the moments with my friends, which is subtly different to blogging. For my personal situation, I think an inability to share would have introduced a degree of sadness and frustration. Real-time 'sharing' for me actually helped me be there and be completely 'in the moment'.

Looking forward to seeing some more of your pix! :-)

Anonymous said...

Greetings from Luxembourg ! We continue to enjoy your blog & yes, it will be great to see your pics of the Hebridies & Skye. We were on Skye last June (the "new" caravan & camping club site)& it was glorious ...as they say, when the sun is shining, there is nowhere better in this world & when it it wet & windy, there is nowhere worse ! We were in Onich (Caravan club site Bunree)early April & there was an Airstream 684 there, all set up & looking terrific. It moved on before we had a chance to talk to the owners tho. Keep up the blog...its great. Alistair & Margaret.

Tracey said...

Thank you for your lovely comments A&M. We had a lot of brilliant weather. However, I am a fan of bleak landscapes so I don't mind getting blown around a bit.