When people who rarely ever blog are trumping me with regular updates I really need to pull my finger out!
It’s lovely having Julie & co here. We have the kids, well mostly Maisie here every night while the others dip in and out. It’s almost like they live here really, joining in as and when and having their own space to retreat to aswell.
It’s a funny time here just now, fully into tourist central with the feeling of being slightly invaded by incommers. Makes us realise how much it feels like home to us now. There is the added oddness of having Sandy fall rather spectacularly off the wagon and spiral into full on drunkenness with some very bad behaviour. Ady and I have found this really testing to witness for lots of reasons, not least the complete transformance of him from someone we thought we knew into someone we have no idea of the measure of. It’s been really hard watching Fliss try and deal with it, their three daughters be around it and seeing the really quite offensive reactions of fellow islanders sit back with a mix of scorn, amusement and pretending not to notice. I have been very vocal in certain company about just what a community is and should be. Fliss said today that everyone had commented when we arrived at just how different the vibe was here with people turning out to offer support and help and be friends, I have been staggered at how little of that has existed for Fliss and Sandy this week.
Sandy has stopped drinking again for now and our relationship with Fliss has certainly had a very speedy fast forward into more intimate and close. I don’t yet know quite what to make of what happens next but I know that Ady and I are taking the stance of friends in need being friends indeed, showing our support for what in my opinion is an illness rather than a lifestyle choice or something to be judged or ridiculed for and I am hoping that in the same way we have been key in rallying support for Dave & Sylvia and their cancer we can help lead a movement towards seeing Sandy’s problems as our problems and seeing what we as a community can do to help them.
In other news we had a croft warming barbecue yesterday and for once Rum didn’t help us out with glorious weather but rained and was windy all day to the point we expected no one to come when it was still pouring down at 3pm and we’d set a start time of 4pm. In the event the sun did put in an appearance and we had a fairly good turn out of people climbing the hill laden with sausages and beers to celebrate finally getting onto the croft with us. We finished at about 2am I think sitting round a campfire singing. All very reminiscent of the best days camping with friends over the years in a field but then wobbling up the front steps into our own home and remember it’s not just a field, it’s our field 🙂 Looking foward to hosting a Rum fest for friends sometime soon
Think that brings me about up to date. We’re about to order a compost loo and we have plans for both water to the static and a solar power scheme which will certainly meet our energy needs at this time of year. We have our first WWOOFers booked in for later in the year and next week two lots of people are coming to look at Croft 2 so we are hopeful of having neighbhours in the not too distant future.
Poor family- wretched illness. But the likelihood of him ever making a full recovery living on a small island where drinking happens in most social meetings and where he has no opportunity to create a new social circle of non-drinkers is ridiculously small. Maybe the rest of the islanders have seen the cycle too many times to feel the compassion you do. Horrible, wicked disease. I agree it’s important to see it as a disease because if you see it as the other alternative- as personal weakness/ character failing- what chance is there for recovery or onus on society or community or health services to help?
I pretty much don’t drink (as you know) in part because I think it’s such wicked stuff having known two people struggle with alcoholism from a young age. One was the smartest guy I’ve ever known who was already a drunk at college (A levels!!!) and remains a drunk with a life that has literally gone nowhere. The other alienated his family to the extent it fell apart and he eventually died in a RTA where his vehicle was the only one involved.
But why aren’t you blogging much? I thought you had internet on the croft now? It’s winter here in NZ and I’ve got a full on semester and need plenty of distractions!
Comment by Heather — 19 July 2012 @ 10:36 pm