Man in full flow

In my private write up for today (not every day gets written up, so it's not a diary, but a notebook with occasional diary characteristics), I said that it was a "good day". It was certainly a full one.

Mr A and I both got up at 6am to go down to Shandwick Beach for a sunrise swim. [Two extras] Glorious. Golden. Bronze. Just enough breakers to keep you honest (I got completely wiped out twice when I was coming out of the sea, but only in an exhilarating way).

Home for breakfast, and a hot water bottle to warm up properly, and a solid morning on my laptop, before we headed out just before noon to catch J doing his thing in a walking tour of Tain. J is the local historian...runs the museum and its social media; does tours for diasporic Ross family members from across the world (whose generosity helps to keep the whole enterprise going); does research into notable historical figures connected to the locality and writes about it. I noticed that there are lots of copies of his new pamphlet about Dr Elizabeth MacBean Ross about the place, including in the pop up book shop. He entertained a group of people, mainly locals I think, for an hour with stories, many of which focused on the gruesome and the supernatural. He was so animated in his presentation that I couldn't resist the temptation to try to get a picture.

Back home with a cheeky Harry Gow for lunch, I had another solid session on the laptop, before stopping for a beer and a chilli courtesy of Mr A. Around 7pm, we headed down to the Bowling Club for an event featuring Alistair Moffat, who was talking about his latest book. I resisted the temptation to add it immediately to my reading pile, but I certainly do want to read it. (I read one of his previous books, Hidden Ways). Another excellent raconteur, although he was a bit off putting about Q&A at the end, when he had overrun his time by talking for too long.... It didn't feel special in the way that the reception for, and engagement of, Jen Stout on Wednesday evening felt. It felt like just another stop in his constant whirlwind tour of Scotland, doing stuff and knowing everyone. There also weren't quite as many people there as there were for Jen Stout, which I thought was interesting.

A group of us gathered afterwards at the house of N and A, for a couple of drinks. It was great to meet their friend K, up from Bristol. She's going to join the sea swimming on Sunday. Elmer, as ever, was in good voice.