Apart from my times in New Zealand when I posted on my other blog this is, I'm pretty sure, the longest period between posts since i started this blog in 2007.
I've been very busy helping my son get his house finished. It's nearly there. I've also been working on my own house in my 'spare' time.
Yesterday was the turning point.
I'm in Glasgow for a few days and yesterday was one of the most emotionally charged days I can recall for a long time.
The first thing I did was take my beloved Nighthawk to be sold. As she sat there all valeted and gleaming at the Car Auction I steeled myself to walk away. Writing this (after the rest of the day) I want to go back and bid for her, ask for her forgiveness, and take her back to Lewis for a long and happy retirement. As it is I can only hope that her new owner gets as much enjoyment and is as happy with her and as good to her as I have been.
In the afternoon a couple of friends and I travelled over by train to Edinburgh (an impossible place in which to park a car) to see an exhibition of Joan Eardley's paintings at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern Two).
Then we went to the Edinburgh Festival Theatre to see Matthew Bourne's ballet company perform his production of The Red Shoes. I love ballet and have done ever since I saw a production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake at the Royal Court in Liverpool as part of the Commonwealth Arts Festival in 1965. In New Zealand we used to go to (and I have blogged about) several productions each season at the Napier or Hastings theatres. I've been to far too few productions in the UK.
Even if one does not like ballet I challenge anyone to go and see yesterday's production and not be moved. For me it was one of the most magnificent, dramatic and emotionally challenging ballet production I have ever seen. The standing ovation was well deserved.
We all arrived back at Anna's in the hour before midnight. Cheese and wine appeared as if by magic and disappeared down grateful throats as we reminisced on a wonderful afternoon and evening. We eventually made way to our beds and slept....and slept.
Welcome back, we missed you, and sorry to see Nighthawk go... I hope she has been replaced with something just as special.
ReplyDeleteThank you Fiona. I'm hoping that now that I'm back home normal service will be resumed. I'll blog on the replacement. So far, so good.....I think.
DeleteNighthawk is a nice looking car!
ReplyDeleteThe sleep after those emotionally charged days is the sweetest sleep in the world
Kylie, I admired the looks of the Nighthawk when I bought her 13 years ago and my views haven't changed. I'm glad that you think she looks nice too. You're right about the sleep being so sweet.
DeleteA potpourri of events is what you experienced - I think ?
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed Heron: a very large bowl!
DeleteSorry to hear that you and the Nighthawk have parted company.
ReplyDeleteWell done with nearly finishing the house.
Helen, I'm still in the 'head ruled heart' phase. I hoping that the new car will eventually capture my heart too.
DeleteGood to see you post again. You don't say but is this the end of driving for you?
ReplyDeleteAnything but Red. I've replaced her with a newer model of a different make. I'll blog soon.
DeleteHaving spent a week which, when I look back in time I'm sure will feature as a highlight of my life, being chauffeured around your beautiful island and the highlands in the luxury of Nighthawk, I feel a bit shocked, as if you should have softened the blow before the announcement. That must have been an awfully hard decision to make, Graham but I'm sure your reasoning would be sound. I hope your trip to the theatre made the farewell easier for you.
ReplyDeletePauline, It was a very hard decision indeed. It was definitely head over heart. I just hope that my head was right. I'll probably never know of course. The trip to the theatre was unforgettable (in a pleasant way).
DeleteIt sounds as though you had a wonderful time, Graham. Commiserations about the car!
ReplyDeleteThanks Frances. Have I made the correct decision? 27 May might be a telling day.
DeleteI had a Honda Civic, a really posh one and left it with my ex. She has swapped it for a cheaper version. They will go for ever if looked after. Much better than German equivalents. The 2005 Civic R was expensive and ripped through tyres but was fun and fast. I love Honda and am hoping to pick up a bike again. There is a cheapish one locally.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are not going to change make. The Jaz is pretty good for old man transport.
Adrian, Honda haven't sold the Accord in the UK for many years but I was invited to view the latest Honda Civic launch in Inverness. However I'd already seen one and it just wasn't my cup of tea even though mechanically it's undoubtedly brilliant. The Jaz is also a brilliant car but I can't convince myself that I'm an old man.
DeleteFarewell to the famous Night Hawk. It's as if James Bond has just traded in his Aston Martin. Like Adrian, I am intrigued to discover what your new vehicle will be. My money's on a vintage bubble car (lime green).
ReplyDeleteA lime green vintage bubble car YP?! The Messerschmitt and the BMW Isetta were wonderful cars and I'd love one but they have disadvantages when travelling between Lewis and Glasgow and The Wirral on a regular basis. On Lewis they'd get blown off the road. But lime green? Hell no!
Deleteyes it sounds like you have had a busy time, sorry about the car :-(
ReplyDeleteThanks Amy. I'm trying not to be sorry!
DeleteOoh, I love Mathew Bournes work !
ReplyDeleteSo do I Andrea. I would go a long way to see another.
DeleteMany happy memories of you driving me all over the place in the Nighthawk. I trust your name for your new vehicle will be equally imaginative.
ReplyDeleteCJ as you know 'imaginative' is not one of my strong points. I'll try not to let you down.
DeleteOh, Nighthawk! I am sad it's gone! I remember leaving my little orange pickup truck at the shop after she was totalled in an accident. I cried like a baby. Yes, I love Squat Betty, the big black Jeep I now drive, but leaving my trusty little truck that served me so well all those years was like leaving a friend.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you had an enjoyable ballet performance to take your mind off of it!
Mrs S I'm getting used to the fact that The Nighthawk has gone and I'm just hoping that whoever is driving her now loves her as much as I did. I never thought I'd ever say that about a car.
DeleteYep its sad to say goodbye to a loved car.
ReplyDeleteIt is much harder than I ever thought it would be Diane.
DeleteI'm not Robinson Crusoe after all! I thought I was the only one who got upset over a car. When I sold and left my MG Magnette behind when I left Noosa to head north to Hinchinbrook Island I felt I was losing a loved one. I asked the fellow who bought it to come and collect it after I'd left. I couldn't bear the thought of seeing him drive it away.
ReplyDeleteThree years ago when I saw my trusty little Ford Festiva that I'd had from new for such a long time being put on the back of a truck to be taken away, I had to turn my back...to hide my tears.
Lee you had an MG Magnette!! The one like the Riley Pathfinder? What a fabulous car to have owned. I've had a few cars that I've really enjoyed but the Nighthawk had just become part of my life and I hadn't realised how emotionally attached I had become.
Delete"Remy" as I named my Magnette was a great car...as solid as a brick. High-gloss black and grey...wood-panelled dashboard, leather seats. It was a 1959 Varitone.
DeleteIt had been a one-owner car when I bought it from a friend. The friend, an elderly gentleman, had ownership of it after his sister (or sister-in-law) had passed away, and he didn't have the heart to sell it...other than to me, after I'd shown interest in it.
Ah Lee I think that 1959 was the changeover year from the ZB to the Mk III. I assume yours was the old classic ZB. I know that was called the Varitone when in two colours but I'm not sure if the Mk III was called that or Two-Tone even though the two colours were popular.
Deletehttps://www.flickr.com/photos/44381054@N05/7061037129
DeleteMine was similar to the one shown in the site above, Graham. :)
Lee in my humble opinion that and the Riley Pathfinder were two of the most beautiful cars of the era.
DeleteBack in the Sixties, a young teacher came to town (we were all young in those days...in our teens and early 20s)...and he had a Riley...and I think it could very well have been a Pathfinder. For a while he dated a girlfriend of mine. He caused quite a stir when he turned up in Gympie in the Riley.
DeleteBack in the Sixties when we were in our teens and early 20s, a fellow came to town in his Riley Pathfinder (it was in good nick). I think it was the first ever of its kind in Gympie...to my knowledge, anyway.
DeleteHe was a tall, brash, good-looking, young high school teacher, eager to start the local girls' hearts a-fluttering. He became part of our "crowd". And for a time he dated a girlfriend of mine.
Ahhhh....I've doubled up my comment here. I thought I'd written one and then when I didn't see it, I figured I must not have clicked the "publish". I couldn't recall if you applied the "after approval". Sorry, Graham. :)
DeleteSorry about that Lee. I've always had comment moderation for comments made after a couple of weeks but it seems now to be less than that for some reason. Oddly I can't get into the page to check but I'll do so as soon as I can. I hate it when I have to re-type a comment (or anything really) because I can rarely remember what I wrote two minutes previously.
DeleteWhat started as a sad day ended on a beautiful note. You picked a good day to sell your car.
ReplyDeleteI did indeed Lynda.
DeleteHello Graham,
ReplyDeleteJust to say that I really enjoy reading your blog. I only found it yesterday, as was trying to research Eagleton, as was looking at houses there last month. I love the older posts with the photos of the bay at various times.
All my photos of it are of calm seas, and sunshine.
Best wishes
Craig
Hello Craig. You've obviously come at good times. There are many of them but there are, as you've seen, days when the weather is very wild indeed. It's always beautiful though.
DeleteGood to see you back- even if I am not around much myself I do check your blog to see what you are up to. I know the feeling of abandoning a certain car. I was in tears when I had to get rid of my Datsun Sunny, the first car I ever bought with my own money, which had become quite a companion. I am glad that you had some good experiences to give you something else to think about so the day ended up overall a good one. And I suspect the new car will become a good friend too.
ReplyDeleteJenny I think we'll get along okay but whether we'll be together for 13 years remains to be seen.
DeleteThis is a sad topic for me and I know the feeling of being emotionally drained especially after selling your beloved Nighthawk.
ReplyDeleteI never thought you two would part....makes me a bit teary eyed.
I hope that the new owner will love and care for her just as much or even more than you....is that possible?
I am still holding on to my Beast...I don't think I could ever let him go.
Virginia I was (am) sad to have lost The Nighthawk but most of my journeys are long distance and through the wilds of the Scottish Highlands and I decided something newer would be appropriate. I hope that I'm correct. I also hope that The Nighthawk went to a good home.
Delete