Of....

There are several benches along Golspie's short waterfront, some provided by Highland Council, others by private citizens, usually in memory of someone held dear who enjoyed....

....the views of sunrises, or watching the antics of birds, seals and dolphins out in the Moray Firth, or playing with their family on the sandy beach.

I have remarked on this particular inscription several times. I do not know who Carol Collings was but, as I read it, I envied the words 'of Achindour'.

Carol belonged somewhere. Her somewhere was Achindour, and the 'of' suggests that she was born there, lived there, loved there, brought up her children there, welcomed her grandchildren there and, finally died there, all very happily. And it makes me wonder whether I, as I approach the latter years of my life, would have been happier if....

....I had spent my whole life in one place: 'Jon Haylett of Dar-es-Salaam'.

But then I would never have lived in the other places I so loved, like the house in Mombasa which had this incomparable view, or the Hoey house at Nyali that lay right beside a palm-fringed beach, or the happy homes we made in Rhodesia, Maldon, Kilchoan, and more.

We have lived in places where the people who felt they 'belonged' there told us quite bluntly that theirs was an exclusive club, that, however long we stayed, we could never be 'of' that place. In a strange way, it hurt, because it was true.

So I have to reconcile myself to being 'of nowhere', a nomad, rootless - but perhaps a man with a compensating richness in life from the interesting but transient places we experienced and the many lovely people we've known.