Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Lost

Bank Holiday rain. In torrents.

Undaunted on Sunday S drives over in her trusty white van and we head off towards the border with the general idea of visiting the Knights Templar Church at Garway, a first for us both. We never made it. It would have been helpful if I'd thought to bring the Ordnance Survey map. Even more helpful if the local signposting were less eccentric. The skies are heavy, the hills shrouded in rain and mist and the windscreen wipers work overtime.

Once off the main road we navigate narrow lanes bordered by high hedges and crane our necks at T-junctions. Occasionally we pass an isolated farm. No churches. Now and again we get out of the van briefly to look around. Nothing but fields, dripping trees, pure air and ecstatic birdsong.

I think of the documentary of the life of Annie Liebovitz, the photographer, I'd caught a few days previously. She describes her childhood as an airforce brat, the driving from one air base to to a new one by car. How for her the landscape became an endless series of pictures, all framed by the car window. It's a bit like that.

Some of the things S and I talk about during our search:

Friendship; a mutual friend; living alone; gardening; maps; directions; vitamin supplements; pyramid selling; cults; loneliness; a weekend away we've planned in September; men; money; peak oil; electric bicycles; hybrid cars; my latent codependency in relationships; her irritability; my mother; therapy; Mars conjunct Mercury in Scorpio; the place I work; her boss; a former boss; the place we used to work; vegetarianism; where we might get a meal.

We end up in an old pub for Sunday lunch with no vegetarian options and hunting prints and stuffed animals on the walls. Still raining but neither of us are bothered, we're just enjoying each other's company. She's buying, I leave the tip.

I value my friends, now more than ever.



A sign on the wall of a house, passed en route.

9 comments:

Dale said...

It sounds quite wonderful, really.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes being lost means finding something better than if you'd been where you were meant to be. Maybe this trip is one of those betters... :-) It all sounds lovely, anyway.

I smiled at the lack of vegetarian food in the pub. I've been in many such pubs. At least in Ireland you can get Irish soda bread and a nice cup of tea! (Which I miss, over here in the land of coffee and Wonderbread)

leslee said...

Glad you got to see the sun. ;-) It does sounds wonderful, despite the rain.

herhimnbryn said...

Sounds like a glorious serendipity of a day.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh, sounds like just my sort of jaunt. The photo of the Galway church - just the thing I myself love to both photograph and explore. Perhaps you will get there another day.
And yes, friends are everything - the long conversations, the sharing of experience - worth more than gold.
(Mars/Merc in Scorpio sounds like a handful.)
Stella

Sky said...

this made me miss my girlfriends on the east coast. most of my friends here on this coast are so casual it is difficult to have an intimate conversation. sounds like a lovely day. :)

Anonymous said...

Happy Mercury Retrograde, mm... *sigh*...

Everydaythings said...

I read the atroy of A. Liebowitz last year in the guardina when i n the UK - they had a huge article of her, and susan sontag. I found her photos of that time v confronting, but she is a great photographer.
Torrential rain..hmm...now why doesnt that suprise me!! lool...what happened to all that warm weather? hope it returns for you all soon!

mm said...

Thanks everyone. It was a good day.