Going on holiday leads inevitably to getting a bit sick, which I have duly done. It may have been contracted from my leaf daughter's playgroups, from spending twenty or so hours hiking around chilly Edinburgh over two days, or indeed in the grand total of eighteen hours spent on trains or in train stations over the course of six days. Now the sickness is fading from general ickiness and sleep deprivation to annoying lingering symptoms and a tendency to stop and begin randomly staring into the middle distance, muttering about how the world is not like a great big onion and how the gold is hidden under the third flagstone under the barn. In short things are getting back to normal, apart from the disconcerting idea that Christmas has crept up on us all once again, and it's just as dishevelled as usual.
Oh, Christmas, you are a worrying time for those of us who hover around not believing in anything on principle. Actually, that's not entirely true, as there's a warm spot somewhere in the old broken heart for ideas of self-expression, karma and destiny. But they are just ideas, ones which would be lovely if true and lovely if not. We might all be pre-incarnations of future people, souls slowly edging back to the beginnings of the universe with each death and rebirth instead of the end, becoming ever less wise and ancient with each passing generation. I forgot about preincarnation for ages, but now it's back. What fun!
Apart from being inevitably sick, it was an interesting holiday. Glossing over the private time spent with the leafdaughter and her family, the following trip to Edinburgh was a classic illustration of why cities leave me so regularly cold. Edinburgh is a handsome city, full of interesting buildings, an ancient Old Town, and many attractions. However, it is also just a bit squalid in all the ways I've seen in other cities. The speck of dirt of humanity runs deep, in a way I've seen in every town and city except perhaps for Barcelona. In any case, Edinburgh has fascinating things to go and visit: A castle, a national museum, a national library, some galleries, a camera obscura, many old monuments, Calton Hill, the scenic splendour of somewhat distant Arthur's Seat and lots of lots of pavements to pound. I had the best time at the Vortex Tunnel and Mirror Maze in the camera obscura's associated 'World Of Illusions' but my soul is simple and entertained easily, as many of you are no doubt aware. To be fair, Edinburgh is probably slightly less grubby away from the Christmas season and the endless rounds of festive parties and booze that dominate at this time of the year.
Mirror Mazes are lovely. So far I've found two, one in Longleat and the other in Edinburgh. There might also be another at the prohibitively expensive Wookey Hole but there's never been opportunity to find out. I wonder if there are more vortex tunnels out there too; There must be, yes?
Of course, journeys which were once made better by the travelling are now spoilt by it instead. I miss being able to breathe on trains, to find an openable window and suck in some air. Instead it's cramped, noisy, stuffy, and horrid. Then there are the bad trains, the ones with insufficient seats running on Saturday evenings from Cardiff to Swansea and chock full of people you wouldn't want to meet even if they weren't beered up, sweary and so thoroughly unpleasant as to be barely human. Of course, in all reality they are more human but that's not something to be contemplated happily while maintaining still some shreds of sanity. It's nicer to think about lemon cake and the world of Beatrix Potter and hope everything else is a dream. It was a long, long train ride from Edinburgh to Llanelli, and there the matter shall be laid to rest.
Out of all the current modes of travel, it seems that the ship voyage is the only one to maintain some level of comfort. You can toddle around the ship, go outside, stare at the wake and not feel as if the free world has contracted to a centimetre of space surrounding you. Oceans and seas are vast, after all, and lovely. The next holidays will involve grand sea voyages and probably be stupidly expensive, however they will at least be airy. And if there are still some nice trains out there, then they'll come into action too.
Welcome back to the Quirky Muffin. Service is now resumed. We don't do duvets.
O.
PS Let's celebrate 250 Quirky Muffins in style, by saying nothing about it at all! Next time: Quirky Muffin 251, "The Grand Rutabaga of Bismark".
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