Writing Day
The long walk the day before was very tiring, but luckily Rum’s weather gave me a break on Friday. With a more rainy and gloomy forecast, it was the perfect time to stick close to town and settle in for some writing.
To be honest though, I was definitely experiencing a bit of a scarcity mindset — here I was in a new place, why wasn’t I out and exploring every inch of the island? I was anxious even before opening my laptop. But not rushing off right after breakfast meant that I could chat a bit with the other guests and with Fliss, the owner of the BnB I was staying at. She had a wealth of knowledge about the island, including some really interesting insights about community ownership (Kinloch is governed by the Isle of Rum Community Trust, which is made of the townspeople themselves). Not only did I learn a bit about how they worked to get Dark Sky Sanctuary status, but also about how the island is powered (hydro) and what the IRCT’s plans for the future might be.
It was the perfect reminder for me to slow down a bit — after all, talking with people was just as important as seeing the island itself. I spent the rest of the afternoon in the solarium writing (with a cat buddy for supervision, of course) then got a chance to chat with more locals at the store. One of those was Thom, who explained how he came to island to camp for two days and had ended up staying for two years. He also had a recent lucky break: During storm Floris, he left his camper to help a neighboor catch a loose goose, which saved him from the tree that fell and crushed it!
Overall, Friday was about slowing down and being open to whatever the day would bring. A hard lesson for this go-go-go New Yorker to take in!
