Simple Magic: Hello World

Welcome to another edition of Simple Magic. Lockdown restrictions are lifting, the sun’s shining, and I’m making progress with the first draft of my novel. This is a strange chapter in history, and I think it’s the small, everyday details that shed light on the whole. Time to pause the writing posts for a moment and share a quick tour of my camera roll before the moment slips away forever.

Celebrating the solstice with pals. Fairy lights twinkle against stone and ivy. The playlist cycles through love fools and parasite gods. There’s a pallet ‘snack station’ for each household and the solstice flame keeps us warm. Drinking whisky into the small hours. No hugs, but lots of laughter and looking at the stars.

Walk and a picnic in one of the quietest places, lockdown or not. Leftover birthday cake and flask coffee accompanies reading by the loch. Water laps the shore, clouds dissolve against the blue sky & I’m reluctant to go home.

Dressing up for socially distanced drinks as the pubs reopen. Slipping a mask into my bag before leaving the flat becomes a new habit. I wear my favourite new-old dress - a second hand gem from the 90s. A humid, muggy night. We walk across the bridge on opposite sides.

First cafe visits since March. A flat white breaks up novel writing but we can’t quite switch our brains off. Another day we visit an old favourite. It all feels surprisingly ordinary. The clink of cups, the skoosh of a milk frother. Afterwards we walk up to Balgay Park and tour the gravestones. There’s beauty in the sun-bleached grass, bouncing dandelions and faded flowers. The world expands. It’s almost as if we’re shaking ourselves free of a bad dream.

Hope you enjoyed the camera roll tour. I’ve not taken many photos these past few weeks, and if someone asked ‘What have you been up to?’ I’d be inclined to answer ‘Nothing’. But even the scant photos I have show this isn’t true. Small, everyday moments are easy to brush aside but I think I would’ve gone mad if the past few weeks hadn’t been punctuated with midnight whisky, jokes over coffee and long, long walks far away from it all.