Not-blogging: What I did on my holidays

 

View from our holiday cottage,

Friends! Hello again.

I have been on holiday in delightful Kent, visiting many of the same attractions I visited last year, and a few new ones.

I have also been busy not-blogging.

Blogging about a topic forces me to clarify my thoughts.

And similarly not-blogging allows me to avoid clarifying my thoughts. Which has been a relief.

I did notice the extreme weather events world-wide and the pandemical nihilism in the UK, but it has been a blessing to not have to focus on these events too closely.

While away I…

• Enjoyed the kindness of strangers and reflected on how steadfast this was in even the most difficult of times.
• Noticed how tough the pandemic has been for small businesses, and reflected on my own good fortune.
• Required no cash at all not even once in even the smallest of establishments and reflected that cash will soon become extinct.
• Gazed in wonder at Canterbury Cathedral and reflected on the enduring power of martyrdom.
• Visited the Brogdale National Fruit Collection and reflected on how hard it is to buy British Fruit even in the Garden of England.
• Discovered an airfield unmarked on the OS map and reflected on the pleasure of discovery.
• Saw many beautiful flowers and plants and reflected on their resilience and perfection.
• Noticed how different country foxes were from from their town cousins: country foxes have beautiful coats and run like the wind when they spot you.
• Visited Leeds Castle and reflected on the unimaginable wealth of Lady Bailey – an heiress of an ESSO founder who used the vast estate as her weekend retreat. And I thought about the storms my children will endure as a result of that companies success.
• Visited Rochester Castle and was astounded by this carcass of a skyscraper with astonishing views.
• Visited Chatham Dockyard and reflected on how different the world was now from my father’s world which transported him to North Africa and Burma.
• Visited Teapot Island Museum and reflected on the way in which this non-native plant (tea was apparently smuggled from China and planted in India) had led to (amongst other things) a bizarre form of cultural expression.
• Spent time with my children and reflected on my great good fortune.
• Realised that after 96,000 miles and 20 years of neglect, our car was about to die. The stench of burning oil highlighted my appreciation that its carbon-based effluents were polluting the planet.
• Walked through wheat fields and reflected on wonder of my daily bread.
• Ate fish and chips on the beach in the rain and reflected on how English I feel while still not disliking other cultures.
• Saw wind ‘farms’ at sea and solar ‘farms’ on land and reflected on the sheer wonder of their engineering and the hope for a non-polluting future that they embody.

And I let all this and more wash over me.

And after returning to a heatwave that I believe may have extended beyond Teddington, I enjoyed solar-powered air conditioning at home – even as I slept – and allowed these memories and reflections to ferment in my dreams.

I have put some pictures below and after my non-blogging indulgence, I will be back blogging very shortly

I hope you too can have a holiday of sorts.

Pictures

Click the images for larger versions.

Canterbury Cathedral

Canterbury Cathedral

Solar Farm

Wheat

Barley

Barley

Breathtakingly perfect natural forms

Memorial to sailors at Chatham

Secret Airfield

Teapot Island Teapot Collection

Brogdale National Fruit Collection

Brogdale National Fruit Collection

Leeds Castle

Inside Rochester Castle

The view from Rochester Castle

Family in the rain by the sea

Wind Farm

Beatle Teapots

Brodgale cherries

Solar Farm

Tags: Kent