29 May 2017 - Scotland Day 10 - Traveling to Orkney
Evening. I write to you from Orkney Island, a very nice little place. It's, ah, 11:46pm as I begin writing this post, and there's still light in the sky, which is incredibly strange. It should be completely dark by now, but I am significantly further north than I'm accustomed to.
Day 94 with escitalopram. I've definitely reached the four-day threshold where I'd normally start feeling symptoms of withdrawal, but I still feel fairly normal. Hopefully this holds; I'll see if I can endure the entirety of the Orkney trip (three days, not including today) without it. That being said, I didn't leave the Lexapro back in Piperdam; should symptoms of withdrawal begin, and get to the point of being completely unbearable, I'd rather have it than not.
Mood: 6.5. I laughed, I teased, I joked, I saw, I drank. I felt light; I felt grounded; I felt connected. Today was a good day.
Today was a day of travel, from the house in Piperdam to the hostel on Orkney. We left at a little past 8am, and reached our destination at a bit past 9pm. Most of that time was spent in what we've loving been calling The Van, and most of that van time was passed with me sleeping, so there's not really a whole lot to talk about for a massive chunk of the day.
A couple hours into the ride, we stopped at this really expensive, really posh little shopping complex for breakfast. I paid entirely too much for a bacon sandwich that wasn't even mind-blowingly amazing.
The only real highlight from the car parts was going by Loch Ness. I got my mom a thistle mug from one of the shops, and a bunch of buttons. Favorite Person suggested that I fill the mug with samples of things from Lush, to round out the gift, and I think that that's a great idea.
There was a whole little Loch Ness center and exhibit, but admission wasn't free. I'd much rather spend eight pounds on gifts (or food, or alcohol) than on admission.
Not much else of note happened between Loch Ness and the end of the car leg of the journey. We stopped someplace to stretch and go to the loo, but that's about it, I think. I'd ask Favorite Person if anything else of note happened on the trip, as I've been doing to make sure I don't forget any lovely details, but she is currently on her way to being very asleep, breathing easing into its nighttime rising and falling. It's a sound that I find calming in its regularity.
Anyway. Point is, she's asleep, and I'm not going to wake her back up just to ask if I'm leaving anything out.
At around 5:30pm, we made it to Scrabster, which is where we boarded the ferry over to the islands. However, the departure time was 7pm, so we ended up killing about an hour in a pub called The Ferry Inn (or Popeye's, for some reason). Everyone but me purchased a drink, and some small action that I can't recall anymore spurred a comparably small swell of annoyance at Favorite Person. It evaporated quickly, I think, but it's hard to tell at times. Annoyance has a tendency to bleed into other things.
I found a dead Andrena sp. bee at the pub, and tucked it into a pocket. I'll take it stateside.
We all piled back into The Van maybe half an hour before departure, and a couple of the other people passed time by filling various vessels with various alcohols. It was kind of fun to watch two people pouring cheap whiskey from a 1.5L bottle into a hip flask with no funnel; the guys in the van behind The Van applauded when the transfer was complete.
The ferry ride was largely uneventful. Favorite Person and I got food on the ship, since a kind of full stomach reduces the effects of motion sickness in us both. Counterintuitive, yes, but it works. Of course, a sample size of n=2 where the number of observations per sample is something like three or four is not nearly enough to be drawing conclusions.
Favorite Person and I stayed on the sun deck for the majority of the ride, to watch the passing landscape. Being outside also probably helped us avoid too much motion sickness. We chatted with Dan, the leader of the trip, for the duration of the stay outside, which was nice. He's an interesting fellow, full of stories and information. It was cold and windy out there, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Once we reached the island, we trundled off the big boat and up the street to where our hostel is. It took two trips to unload the various foods we'd need for the next three days - nine people packed a surprising amount of alcohol. Dinner was chili and potatoes, which I did not eat as I was still kind of full from the mac and cheese and chips I had on the ferry.
Not eating dinner was kind of a mistake. I spent the bulk of the evening slowly drinking - 330mL of Kopparberg cider, a small volume of cheap whiskey - I had it neat; it wasn't great, but didn't burn. Then, we (the six undergrads on this trip) all laughed our way over to one of the three bars on this island. Half of the group was already well on their way to being drunk; they'd been kind of working on bottles of cider or whiskey all afternoon.
At the bar, I ordered a mojito that was okay at best. It took forever to make; it's apparently not a cocktail that gets ordered often, and the bartender wasn't super experienced with it. I would have liked it more if it had been sweeter, with a stronger lime flavor. I tried a little of the dark beer someone else ordered but didn't finish; it tasted like unsalty soy sauce and I wasn't a fan.
Leaving the bar and making our way back to the hostel was interesting. The two guy undergrads both made it as far as the garbage can across the street from the pub before all of the alcohol they'd consumed decided to come back up. Since I don't do vomit - the sight and sound makes me feel very ill - I walked briskly away from them.
I made it back to our little inn before the rest of the group, and a very friendly kitty mewed at me from a bit down the way. I sat on the ground hugging and kissing and generally cuddling her for a good fifteen, twenty minutes...I seriously befriend cats wherever I go. My friends call me the cat whisperer.
I'm not sure what we're going to be doing tomorrow, just that I need to be at The Van by 10am.
I'll listen to Favorite Person murmur in her sleep until I fall asleep myself.
Until then.
Day 94 with escitalopram. I've definitely reached the four-day threshold where I'd normally start feeling symptoms of withdrawal, but I still feel fairly normal. Hopefully this holds; I'll see if I can endure the entirety of the Orkney trip (three days, not including today) without it. That being said, I didn't leave the Lexapro back in Piperdam; should symptoms of withdrawal begin, and get to the point of being completely unbearable, I'd rather have it than not.
Mood: 6.5. I laughed, I teased, I joked, I saw, I drank. I felt light; I felt grounded; I felt connected. Today was a good day.
Today was a day of travel, from the house in Piperdam to the hostel on Orkney. We left at a little past 8am, and reached our destination at a bit past 9pm. Most of that time was spent in what we've loving been calling The Van, and most of that van time was passed with me sleeping, so there's not really a whole lot to talk about for a massive chunk of the day.
A couple hours into the ride, we stopped at this really expensive, really posh little shopping complex for breakfast. I paid entirely too much for a bacon sandwich that wasn't even mind-blowingly amazing.
The only real highlight from the car parts was going by Loch Ness. I got my mom a thistle mug from one of the shops, and a bunch of buttons. Favorite Person suggested that I fill the mug with samples of things from Lush, to round out the gift, and I think that that's a great idea.
There was a whole little Loch Ness center and exhibit, but admission wasn't free. I'd much rather spend eight pounds on gifts (or food, or alcohol) than on admission.
Not much else of note happened between Loch Ness and the end of the car leg of the journey. We stopped someplace to stretch and go to the loo, but that's about it, I think. I'd ask Favorite Person if anything else of note happened on the trip, as I've been doing to make sure I don't forget any lovely details, but she is currently on her way to being very asleep, breathing easing into its nighttime rising and falling. It's a sound that I find calming in its regularity.
Anyway. Point is, she's asleep, and I'm not going to wake her back up just to ask if I'm leaving anything out.
At around 5:30pm, we made it to Scrabster, which is where we boarded the ferry over to the islands. However, the departure time was 7pm, so we ended up killing about an hour in a pub called The Ferry Inn (or Popeye's, for some reason). Everyone but me purchased a drink, and some small action that I can't recall anymore spurred a comparably small swell of annoyance at Favorite Person. It evaporated quickly, I think, but it's hard to tell at times. Annoyance has a tendency to bleed into other things.
I found a dead Andrena sp. bee at the pub, and tucked it into a pocket. I'll take it stateside.
We all piled back into The Van maybe half an hour before departure, and a couple of the other people passed time by filling various vessels with various alcohols. It was kind of fun to watch two people pouring cheap whiskey from a 1.5L bottle into a hip flask with no funnel; the guys in the van behind The Van applauded when the transfer was complete.
The ferry ride was largely uneventful. Favorite Person and I got food on the ship, since a kind of full stomach reduces the effects of motion sickness in us both. Counterintuitive, yes, but it works. Of course, a sample size of n=2 where the number of observations per sample is something like three or four is not nearly enough to be drawing conclusions.
Favorite Person and I stayed on the sun deck for the majority of the ride, to watch the passing landscape. Being outside also probably helped us avoid too much motion sickness. We chatted with Dan, the leader of the trip, for the duration of the stay outside, which was nice. He's an interesting fellow, full of stories and information. It was cold and windy out there, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Once we reached the island, we trundled off the big boat and up the street to where our hostel is. It took two trips to unload the various foods we'd need for the next three days - nine people packed a surprising amount of alcohol. Dinner was chili and potatoes, which I did not eat as I was still kind of full from the mac and cheese and chips I had on the ferry.
Not eating dinner was kind of a mistake. I spent the bulk of the evening slowly drinking - 330mL of Kopparberg cider, a small volume of cheap whiskey - I had it neat; it wasn't great, but didn't burn. Then, we (the six undergrads on this trip) all laughed our way over to one of the three bars on this island. Half of the group was already well on their way to being drunk; they'd been kind of working on bottles of cider or whiskey all afternoon.
At the bar, I ordered a mojito that was okay at best. It took forever to make; it's apparently not a cocktail that gets ordered often, and the bartender wasn't super experienced with it. I would have liked it more if it had been sweeter, with a stronger lime flavor. I tried a little of the dark beer someone else ordered but didn't finish; it tasted like unsalty soy sauce and I wasn't a fan.
Leaving the bar and making our way back to the hostel was interesting. The two guy undergrads both made it as far as the garbage can across the street from the pub before all of the alcohol they'd consumed decided to come back up. Since I don't do vomit - the sight and sound makes me feel very ill - I walked briskly away from them.
I made it back to our little inn before the rest of the group, and a very friendly kitty mewed at me from a bit down the way. I sat on the ground hugging and kissing and generally cuddling her for a good fifteen, twenty minutes...I seriously befriend cats wherever I go. My friends call me the cat whisperer.
I'm not sure what we're going to be doing tomorrow, just that I need to be at The Van by 10am.
I'll listen to Favorite Person murmur in her sleep until I fall asleep myself.
Until then.
Comments
Post a Comment