Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Knickers on their heads...

Brother Tobias had me thinking about the time when I stayed at Balgowan House in the Isle of Skye. A very old house pitched on a hill (with sheep and buzzards circling in the sky) which apparently used to be an old monastery. I always wondered what a monk would have thought of a lassie, nymph or SA girl having a bath in one of their upstairs bathrooms...

His mother (Brother T’s) was not very well at the time, but she could talk for hours - it seems that she was very lonely after her husband Kenneth had passed away approximately 3 years earlier.

Brother T and his wife (the SS) went to a launch in London last week, to do with a DVD in which his mom had talked about WW II shortly before she got ill and passed away. There was also mention of pieces out of her diary...

I think the only ones missing at the launch were his mother and dad who used to be famous for his charm with the girls & carrying cocktails to everyone. In a way Brother T reminds me of what I think his father was like, except that the younger version perhaps shows affection much easier and seem to sometimes carry one during dinners and Christmas. Such as the time when he and Mike had put knickers given by their respective wives, on their heads (each one's eyes sticking through two holes) while lounging around the table. Too full of vino to even get up and take a break...

I also think Brother Tobias and his extremely well-written blog had caused me to be extremely unproductive at work today. My mind wandering. I must give credit here as it seemed to lift me out of the lower blues of zero-ideas to write a Blog.

But what I really want to say is the following: Sitting by the little fireplace with Moira in her lovely big Balgowan bedroom, I once wondered aloud why things such as WW I and II happened.

She replied: "Well, at that point of time they did what they thought was the best thing to do."

I am so grateful for learning such wisdom from someone who had driven ambulances across France, fleeing before the enemy. And those words spoken by Moira are one of the very few things that make sense in my life.

And then, for the wisdom of putting knickers over one's head...

1 comment:

Brother Tobias said...

Sheep circling in the sky? The cocktails were strong, Extra Virgin, but not that strong! (getting my own back!).