Corsock. Scottish Borders

2023/06/13

Leaving our babies behind as we departed Bridge of Earn was the proverbial double emotion. Happy to be on the road again but concerned about our baby’s capacity to cope without her Mum.
We headed south to Lanark, sort of south of a point between Edinburgh and Glasgow, where our friend Iain’s parents live. Angus and Patricia. We felt like a couple of stray cats he bought home, hoping mum might let him keep them but we did have a great time there.
Their 350 year old home home perches adjacent the River Clyde with a four hundred year old bridge for a backdrop. They have a Koi fish pond with no fish – because the otters keep eating them! Wow! Yes! Otters. Kinda like northern platypus. No, we didn’t see any. Also like platypus.
We had two relaxing days here. We visited New Lanark, a restored and UNESCO listed cotton and woolen mill. Really well done and the history is nothing short of visionary. Loved it. We visited a couple of castle ruins, both closed and an ancient church – also closed.
On the Thursday we headed down the the university city of Dumfries to see the Peter Pan exhibit and have a night alone before taking on our next Pet Sit in Corsock.
Corsock is MILES – 25 miles – away from anything and we have a parrot named Percy and a three legged cat called Pippin (Tripod) to care for. The house was originally two houses but the dividing wall has been broken through to allow for it to become a four bedroom home.
So peaceful. So remote and perfectly isolated. Just calm and soothing. Except for the nut-bag parrot who is like having an hard-biting, aggressive, arsehole toddler hanging around just screaming at you. For his own amusement. But at least he sleeps till midday.
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We’re now on our fifth day here and Lyn has finished work for the day. She works remotely, listening to whining people from all over the globe, telling her how miserably life is treating them. Great gig, I guess, except for the listening part. It’s been raining most of the past 20 hours.
Oh, the serenity. Can’t you just feel the serenity? And there doesn’t seem to be a Bonnie Doone here in the UK (reference is ‘The Castle’, an Aussie movie from a distant past.)
Tomorrow I have to drive to Edinburgh to see an old friend. 3.5 hours each way. It’s a long haul but it’ll be great to see him after all these years. We went to college together in 1993-4. The hard part is leaving Lyn behind. I’ve grown accustomed to her face and her company.