Decommissioned

No, this is not all about me, however decommissioned I may feel at this time. But how to approach a day at once so threatening and so uneventful? Writing this before I make dinner, I think of Americans going to the polls, or waiting, having cast their vote already, to see what is going to happen. I think of friends of mine who voted Trump last time - surely they will have changed their minds? And of others, equally good friends, lifelong fighters for racial equality. We stayed with both of them on one epic trip, but they never met. And I think of the terror that is once more rising in Europe, not only in France with its wonderful insistence on freedom of thought and of expression, but, potentially, here in these islands where the threat level has just been raised. 

Maybe "decommissioned" is right as far as our existence is concerned, here in Argyll. The view in the photo is of the old pier in Kilmun, on the Holy Loch, where we walked this afternoon to avoid the rain that was all too obviously pouring down in the glen we'd intended to walk in. Thirty odd years ago that view would have included a glimpse of the American nuclear base mother ship, with maybe a Poseidon submarine moored alongside. Instead of the silence broken only by a random seabird there would be the continuous hum of engines and the sudden tannoy-magnified command. When I moved here in the 70s, I felt I'd inadvertently strayed into a war zone, or at least occupied territory. Now the loch too is returned to civilian life, the base decommissioned.

We'd left the car below the historic Kilmun Parish church, St Munn's, described in Wikipedia as follows: Kilmun Parish Church and Argyll Mausoleum in Kilmun, Argyll and Bute, Scotland, consists of St Munn's Church, as well as the adjacent mausoleum of the Dukes of Argyll and a historically significant churchyard. But it too has been, as it were, decommissioned by the Church of Scotland, who chose, in their wisdom, to join the congregation with the adjoining Strone church - and worship in the Strone building, much less distinguished, because it has its hall nearby. Kilmun church is extraordinary because it still has a working water-powered organ; there's a rather good video featuring a friend of ours on YouTube. I had thought of using one of my remaining extras on the church, but the video does that job for me.

I was distracted there by the sight of the moon rising above the Firth of Clyde. As I dashed off to the next room to hang out of the window and photograph it, I'm putting it as the extra instead. Here's to the rise of better things, starting tomorrow!