I know I am lucky and I don’t take it for granted that I have had my flat in Cannonmills for nearly 10years but have often thought of selling it. When I walk along the beach in North Berwick, Cannonmills seems such a long way away and yet every time I come here I find something else that puts a smile on my face.
I am waiting for guests to arrive – a mum, dad and daughter. Already there is a story: the parents have flown over from Australia to stay with their daughter who has been living in London for the last 2years, and they are experiencing the joys of the British roads by undertaking a road trip round Scotland. I have already had a text to say that the traffic is awful, so who knows when they might arrive.
There was a time when I would have fretted and worried about delayed guests, now I just tune the radio, switch on my trusty Macbook and idle away the hours. I did actually Log on to do some work this afternoon having been at an Epilepsy Awareness training day today, delivered by our wonderful School Nurse who kept the information relevant and interesting and used a multi-sensory approach: text, video and chat .
There is no TV here and I find that incredibly liberating. In fact I rarely watch TV these days, preferring instead to read or watch The Good Wife on Netflix – currently on Series 3, episode 9, and loving it.
We all need a quiet place from time to time – time away from noise, people, shops, cars, social media and TV. For some that is a luxury which seems so out of reach due to family pressures, illness, workload and money problems. For some there just isn’t the option to leave it all behind, and sadly the only option seems to be in a bottle, a pipe, a pill or a needle.
I hope that raising Mental Awareness isn’t just for this week. Having participated in today’s course, the impact of Epilepsy can be devastating and I know of more that one young person who has committed suicide when they couldn’t cope with their condition. What I didn’t know is that any one of us could develop epilepsy at any time; that 1:20 people will have an epileptic seizure at some time in their lives and that 1:131 people have been diagnosed as having Epilepsy.
Don’t judge. Don’t assume. Offer a helping hand and be informed.
A Quiet Place – a poem
Thump, crash, “What the f**k?’
It’s Them again, making a noise.
Shouting, screaming, TV turned to max.
The dogs bark through the night,
hungry, dirty and ignored.
The needle breaks the skin –
pulling back noises fading fast.
Oblivion. Too much today.
It’s all going away. It’s gone.
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