Wishing
Sam and Jade managed to stay up talking to Ravis about communism till something like 3 o'clock. Sam and Ravis, who was on breakfasts, both looking a little worse for wear. Ravis left a pint of water at Sam's place with a straw in it. Generally cheeriness over our varieties of Guernsey breakfasts. Sian arrived this morning and eventually we wall set off to walk down to Moulin Huet. A bit of an overcast day, but the sun peeped out briefly. We spent some time down on the beach, Jade, Sian, Sam and I all having a paddle. The water did make your bones ache, but then I had glowing and refreshed feet for some time afterwards. At one point, Sam stripped down to his boxers and started wading in, but wisely decided against it as his feet were cramping with cold. John and Betty scrambling up rocks, and Lorraine found a rock to sit on and watch the sea creep in and go into a meditation.
A visit Guernsey photoshoot going on the stairs at the top of the beach, which I found a tad annoying that advertising land had managed to find me even here. However we had a cup of tea in the cafe which was open thankfully and then walked up the hill. Then we scrambled up the waterlane to the wishing pool and made wishes in the water. I felt suddenly quite emotional, thinking of a poem I wrote in my twenties called The Next Wish, which ends with the lines:
A wish alters everything, and this poem
—having rewritten the past—
informs me. One day I'll take
my family to the wishing pool
to make tight new rings in the water
and watch with contentment
their inevitable broadening.
This I shall never revoke;
this is the next wish;
this poem is the next wish.
The pool and the poem open time.
Standing over the little stone trough, having walked up the waterlane with Lorraine, I realised that my wish seems to have come true.
Back to La Barbarie for some sandwiches, and Lorraine and Sian sat outside by the pool chatting, the others went off for snoozes. I mooched down to the graveyard, and put some flowers on my grandparents grave, and looked at recent additions, and knew one of them from childhood.
Then I walked down La Rue des Grons, to where La Biche lives, and turned down through the houses and found the little track back to the La Barbarie. This exceedingly muddy. Into the room, where Sian and Lorraine were chatting. I had a long and enjoyable chat with Sian about religion and unexplained phenomena before Lynne came to pick her up. Lynne is going to leave Guernsey this year, and had been telling some of her pals the news, which was a bit sad.
Off in the evening, in the strong rain, to Les Douvres around the corner, where they claim to do the island's best pizzas. My diavolo certainly pretty fine. Then we all sauntered back down the lane to the Barbarie, where we all assembled in our room, to play a card game called Cards Against Humanity, for some time, which was good fun. Below, we grabbed a passerby to snap us all, Beth, John, me (looking wee because I was down the hill a bit and standing next to Sam) Sam, Lorraine, Jade, Sian.
A visit Guernsey photoshoot going on the stairs at the top of the beach, which I found a tad annoying that advertising land had managed to find me even here. However we had a cup of tea in the cafe which was open thankfully and then walked up the hill. Then we scrambled up the waterlane to the wishing pool and made wishes in the water. I felt suddenly quite emotional, thinking of a poem I wrote in my twenties called The Next Wish, which ends with the lines:
A wish alters everything, and this poem
—having rewritten the past—
informs me. One day I'll take
my family to the wishing pool
to make tight new rings in the water
and watch with contentment
their inevitable broadening.
This I shall never revoke;
this is the next wish;
this poem is the next wish.
The pool and the poem open time.
Standing over the little stone trough, having walked up the waterlane with Lorraine, I realised that my wish seems to have come true.
Back to La Barbarie for some sandwiches, and Lorraine and Sian sat outside by the pool chatting, the others went off for snoozes. I mooched down to the graveyard, and put some flowers on my grandparents grave, and looked at recent additions, and knew one of them from childhood.
Then I walked down La Rue des Grons, to where La Biche lives, and turned down through the houses and found the little track back to the La Barbarie. This exceedingly muddy. Into the room, where Sian and Lorraine were chatting. I had a long and enjoyable chat with Sian about religion and unexplained phenomena before Lynne came to pick her up. Lynne is going to leave Guernsey this year, and had been telling some of her pals the news, which was a bit sad.
Off in the evening, in the strong rain, to Les Douvres around the corner, where they claim to do the island's best pizzas. My diavolo certainly pretty fine. Then we all sauntered back down the lane to the Barbarie, where we all assembled in our room, to play a card game called Cards Against Humanity, for some time, which was good fun. Below, we grabbed a passerby to snap us all, Beth, John, me (looking wee because I was down the hill a bit and standing next to Sam) Sam, Lorraine, Jade, Sian.
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