Switzerland has so many wonderful adventures to offer. Such a small country offering so much.
Yet there is one thing that Yorkshire has over that LANDLOCKED Alpine Paradise.
SEASIDE
If your thing is bleak, windswept sprawling beaches and a frigid North Sea, followed by Fish, Chips and Mushy Peas, then it’s the Yorkshire Coast for you. Case in point…..
On a typically tropical Easter Day, donned in a million woolly layers, we bravely ventured to just North of Whitby. To Sandsend Beach.
So far it’s kept my feet dry this season but has provided a few too many wobbly moments.
Work had a few too many wobbly moments today as well.
This morning was an important work Teams call. I was up and raring to go. Ok not so much raring as rusty, but at least I had a coffee at hand. Sat at my home old desk, just logging on when POWER CUT. PANTS.
Ok no panic, I will access Teams on my mobile. But clearly the wind is in the wrong direction. No 5G, no 4G, not even 3G, only 2G. PANTS, mobile internet is going to be really slow. Not much will load up.
Even bigger PANTS. I don’t have the access to my emails, I don’t have the Teams link.
Ok, text a colleague for the link.
Eventually a slightly blurry photo of the huge hieroglyphic looking link came through. But can’t get anything to load.
A brainwave, drive to down the hill to the next village where I know there will be strong WIFI in the cafe but no mobile coverage. Even more ginormous PANTS. I can’t find my car keys, where on earth are they. Clocks ticking and still no keys.
Needs must, I’m going to put on my running shoes and run to the cafe. 15 minutes later, breathless, sweating, sat in the cafe with another cup of coffee. Internet working on my mobile, I’m only going to be 20 minutes late on the meeting. I carefully type in the million character long link code.
Infeasibly Big Godzilla size PANTS. My thoughtful colleague has copied the wrong code. I’m not looking at a Teams Call Screen, rather a screen to rebook a DHL delivery.
I have a friend from university who has steadfastly shunned as much new technology as possible. He has no home computer, still uses video and vinyl, has no cd or dvd player. Doesn’t own a mobile phone. Actually he doesn’t really like any phones. The result is any communication is handwritten letters, it’s like a blast from the past.
During one protracted letter exchange, a conversation which would now normally take seconds was played out over almost a full year.
Remember that climbing trip to Glen Coe…
Oh yes, that one…
How on earth did you fall into that stream….
Effects of gravity probably, wow it was smelly, but you found that cowpat to fall into….
That was the biggest cowpat ever, covered head to toe….
That was not produced by a cow, size of that thing, it was a dinosaur….
We looked a right state sitting in that cafe that evening….
We did, but it was a great climb….
Happy Days….
It’s been a while since we have climbed….
It is, life happened….
How long is it now, must be 10 years….
I’ve just checked my photos, I think our last climb was 21 years ago….
We were watching an old James Bond movie with a long scene filmed in Switzerland.
“Dad, even James Bond stuff looks better in Switzerland….”
I couldn’t disagree. That set me off again thinking about how amazing a life in that beautiful country would be.
Fast forward to early this morning. Sat outside with a coffee trying to cool down after more exercise torture. Yorkshire was grey, misty but at least almost dry. Did I mention that Yorkshire is great for COOL DOWNS, no need for ice baths here, just hot drinks…. Then a thought hit me, even the coffee tastes better in Switzerland.
It’s now been over two decades walking down the village back LANE. Actually it’s really about navigating the dangers, dodging the potholes. The many many many potholes, mile after mile of them.
In places it’s more hole than tarmac. During the day it can be bad enough but at night, on those late dog walk. Yet, over the years the myriad ankle breakers have become ingrained on my mind, almost subconsciously I now know which way to step, hop, jump and sidestep. Without thinking, without looking, I flow through the pothole dangers. Who would have thought it, on that LANE, I almost become a cross between Ethan Hunt and Neo. On that LANE I could be Mission Impossible, could be The Matrix.
Just on that one LANE, no where else. Which unfortunately rather cuts down on my movie superhero stardom chances. That would be one dull thriller…. THE LANE.
But then in other places, there can be more movie potential.
The kitchen destroyed another item today. Its third Glass Coffee Press. That’s on top of countless plates, cups, glasses, jars, bottles and yes even spectacles. You name it, the kitchen floor has destroyed them. Who in their right mind puts a stone floor in a kitchen. Such a defect, such a negligent act, that’s Towering Inferno incompetence. Maybe that’s the second, more marketable thriller….THE KITCHEN FLOOR.
As bizarre as it may seem, but we did have trips which didn’t involve Switzerland. And as hard as it seems to me, trips that happened before Hawklad. A time before I had digital, so it’s been time to try out the scanner.
France about twenty years ago, a hot summer in the Loire Valley.
The Loire if I remember right is known as something like the Garden of France, a perfect description. In our experience, it’s also ‘if you want to see a glorious Chateau, Loire is the place to be.’
Chateau de Villandry is almost 500 years old and in those years they have been working on the gardens. Really really really working. We came here twice and I’m sure with more years, we would have come again and again.
You know those meetings, the meetings where TIME becomes irrelevant. In fact everything seems irrelevant. Everything goes into slow motion. You do that neat shark trick, where they switch off half the brain but still manage to swim. I had switched off more than half my brain and was still able to hold a pen, randomly nod and prevent gravity pulling me off my chair. The words just drifted by. Then like a half sleeping shark smelling blood in the water, I was jolted awake.
Did he just say ‘you need a HUG’.
Panic setting in, this was the oddest looking kind soul, this was a bad tempered, grumpy, ex rugby player who looked like the only thing he had tackled in 20 years, was copious amounts of FAST FOOD. In his own words – a man who looks like a garden shed.
Two emergency escape options open to me, sprint through the fire door (but that went way too close the the garden shed) or dive through the window.
But I stayed put and quietly whispered ‘yes I probably do, the last one was probably 7 years ago’.
This produced a puzzled look from my colleague.
‘Are you saying the van is 7 years old, I thought the van was that older. Well anyway I know a garage which could probably fit a replacement Wheel HUB way cheaper than the main garage,’
HUB not HUG.
Good job I didn’t crash through the window.
Really Good job I didn’t act on impulse and take him up on his initial HUG offer.😂😂😂
Twenty odd years of living in rural parts kinda makes you accustomed to power cuts. The other night seemed no different. The flickering of lights like a Hollywood Ghost Movie, then everything goes off. Usually the lights come back on within a couple of hours.
But not this night.
This night, the lights flickered and then a huge explosion from somewhere across the fields. Then blackness.
A recent innovation is that the Power Company now sends out text messages to say when the power is likely to be restored.
This night, the first text was as expected.
“Specialist Teams are on their way”
Then
“Specialist Teams are on site, power is likely to be restored by 11-30pm”
11-30pm and no lights….
“The work is taking longer than expected, power likely to be restored 12-30pm”
12-30 became 1-30 became 2-30 became 3-30.
“A large equipment failure has resulted in serious infrastructure damage….further updates to follow as soon as we have more information.”
The only lights apart from the house candles are the work team head torches and vehicles zigzagging across the muddy farm fields.
Morning breaks, more activity along the power lines.
7-30, 8-30, 9-30, 10-30, 11-30.
Finally in the afternoon the lights flicker back on. Lights not quite as bright as usual. A huge temporary generator has been dropped into the village. It’s a noisy village for the next few weeks.
The dog walk reveals what’s happened to the poor farmers field.
Apparently technologically speaking the local infrastructure failed. In normal speak, a local sub generator EXPLODED. It was old and didn’t like getting flooded repeatedly.
Well at least the sheep still have the field to themselves. No sign of the previous nights mayhem.
In the quiet my mind wandered. Watching and listening to the latest rain storm to crash into our little bungalow, sat on a little Yorkshire Hill.
How can I get Hawklad for a holiday somewhere. How to do it without ramping up his anxieties, how to fund it, where to go. I kept going back to previous holidays, holidays before our little world changed. Coming to the same phrase in my head.
Can never be the same again.
The logical approach is to go back to our former Swiss trip base, Spiez. I know how to get there, the ways that would work and not work for Hawklad. Ways to avoid queues, and crowds and anxieties. Familiarity is important to him, reassuring. Spiez would offer that.
Plus it is a wonderful base to explore the rest of Switzerland and even Northern Italy .
Plus it is one of Europe’s most beautiful bays.
BUT
Things have changed. It’s not 3 or maybe more now. It’s just 2 of us. So many memories there. Maybe so many ghosts round every corner…
Much to ponder, but it is one stunning place. Always will be a special place for us.
The weather isn’t playing ball but the flowers have had enough, they are starting to bloom.
Just need the sun now….
It might be a bit of a wait for that ….
Excessive handwashing,
Excessive clothes changing,
Excessive need for reassurance,
Excessive need to order and arrange things,
Excessive need to check and recheck things,
Excessive hoarding.
I was told by a Paediatrician that OCD was one of the potential anxieties that we should look out for with Hawklad. As a toddler he was obsessed with lining toy animals and cars in increasingly long straight lines. Apparently that can be a forewarning of later life OCD and an early flag of Autism. The Paediatrician said for unknown reasons there is a link. I think he said that 2% of the population can experience severe OCD, for Autism the percentage jumps to 20%.
Whatever the reasons, whatever the numbers, OCD has a huge impact on daily life, it ramps up anxiety and stress levels. It does with Hawklad. If anything the OCD grows. Sadly up to now the advice and support with OCD can be best described by the phrase
Best of luck with that….
It’s often down to individuals and families to try to chart a path through these never ending storms. Trying to find ideas, anything to try.
A Dad trying to cope with the loss of his Partner and becoming a single parent. 