No sound, but plenty of vision and down in Dundee.

 This is turning into a lovely summer as per usual, even if the weather has turned bad. I have had my annual outing to the proms, with school chum, I have run up to Scotland and back, (blurb to follow - I am all out of sync) and I am shattered after just coming back from my annual trip to the Cambridge Folk Festival.  

I go up every year to Cambridge in memory of JG, who was right after all when he said he was a sickly child as 12 years ago he died. We had long since broken up as an item but he was always a friend and so going to Cambridge with Graham has always been important for that reason alone, but of course it is also a great chance to dance and chat and have fun basically.  

This year there was more to it too. Unusually rather than booking for the short Thursday, I booked for the full length Sunday to see that force of nature Angelique Kidjo and was then rewarded by discovering that not only was Angeline Morrison, on the bill, who I had heard talking on Radio 4 about her Black British Folk Songs experience, but the legendary Judy Collins.    Listening to Angeline Morrison is beautiful and yet painful.   Folk songs are often about the terrible things in life, but songs capturing the experience of slaves, must be amongst the most bleak, even when wrapped up in her beautiful voice.   Later on in the day Angelique Kidjo had the audience both in the palms of her hands and singing we are all Africans.   The woman is an extraordinary force of nature and it is hard to stay sad in her presence,  but first Judy Collins took the audience down memory lane. Most of the audience being in their late 60s, remembered their teenage encounters with her music which she was revisiting with a little orchestra There is a slight catch in her voice, but at 84 that seems allowable, apart from that Clouds and other songs were as hauntingly wonderful now as they were when I first fell in love with them so I am gutted my recordings turn out to have no sound on them. She also told great stories about Mick and Leonard and Joni.  :).    No sooner had she mentioned the rain, which had held off for the others for the whole of the weekend, than it started to fall down soaking us all and so after that I went in search of music to dry clothes to and discovered The Chair,  traditional Orkney fiddle music, and even more wild, electro fiddle music,  Elephant Sessions, who were completely fantastic and I even ended the day with some Dub music.  Cambridge folk music and audience is increasingly diverse.  

Earlier in the summer, I took a break from marking I attended an honorary second cousin's wedding in Glasgow and then headed up to Dundee, both to see the V and A and a friend's daughter.  Unfortunately she was down south however, but there was plenty to see in Dundee in the sunshine including Scott's Discovery and the Jute factory (as explained in the recent BBC documentary Brian Cox's Jute Journey) and I even bumped into a couple of people I vaguely knew from Hertfordshire.   The new V and A is curious, I was not a fan of the interior, but did enjoy the workshop I did and the food and the view down over the Discovery and the fabulous Tay river. 

Oh, Phuket.

 Despite the rain, which had been promised all week, and was now lashing down on the plane, the islands below looked enticing and I felt excited when I got to Phuket for the last bit of my journey. This was always going to be the most alone bit of the journey as I would not have any formal trips or support in theory and I would be with families and couples lying on the beach or swimming together, but knowing it was going to be like that meant it was okay. Indeed I was looking forward to lying on the beach and just dipping into the beautiful sea.  However, all week the internet was warning that the weather was going to be terrible and the continuous rain en route to the hotel confirmed that the storms had arrived.    It took so long to get from the airport to my hotel it was too dark to venture forth to see the sea, and I had really hit tourist Thailand, so I ate at the my hotel restaurant and just had soup.  But what was odd was that the restaurant was not in the hotel it was out front in the car park area and much of the restaurant was taken over by a fun corporate event with karaoke and games.  It made for an entertaining end to the day.  

 My hotel was very much in the mode of other tourist destinations much bigger and more impersonal than some of the places visited elsewhere and they immediately asked for my debit card and warned how everything and anything misplaced, or destroyed would be charged for. They have clearly had some charming visitors but my big room had a balcony and little gate opening onto a path straight for the pool so was passable.  I woke early on the Saturday morning and decided as the sun was out to head for the beach and was rewarded with stunning cloud formations rising above the sea.  I probably should have gone for a swim then, as it was both quiet and calm out to sea, but my happy reveries were interrupted by the first shower of the day and whilst some surfers stayed out all day virtually  no one was out swimming in the dangerous waters for the rest of the day as holiday makers dodged swirling showers, or made the most of the warmth when the sun appeared.   After a swim in the pool I walked to the next beach but could not find anywhere for coffee so walked back again and found a lovely place, very modern and instead of ordering coffee found myself tucking into avocado on toast with feta and pomegranate seeds whilst watching the American Indian family next door have an intense conversation about something.    Perhaps they thought I could hear as they asked if I was enjoying watching!  I explained I loved their animatedness, but perhaps should have reassured them that I could not follow what they were saying.   Sometimes hearing in restaurants is very impossible.    It was all very north London reallly rather than Phuket where the majority of the restaurants had huge menus in Russian and Thai and English which did not really appeal.  Luckily I enjoyed having Thai food for breakfast so I was still eating local style food. 

Phuket in the rain. 

It was raining again on the Sunday but luckily I had a fall back position so took the bus into Phuket Town.  It rained almost continuously whilst there but that made a good excuse to pop in for very good coffee in two places and to enjoy the little shops in the colonial style buildings the town is famous for.   I contemplated running down to the beach for a final attempt at a dip in the sea once back by the sea, but the rain fell even harder than ever to put me off.  I had a rather desolate final meal and finished my book at a local cafe.   Before going to bed early in readiness for my early flight.  However, at about 3 a piercing noise shook me immediately awake. Could it be a tsumami warning. My head said it does not sound like it should be but what else could it be, so I ran around the hotel trying to see if anyone else was up or panicking I went to the top of the building and interestingly the sound was much weaker but I could hear loads of frog sounds emanating from the next door hotel. Back in my room the sound was almost deafening, so I looked up deafening sounds at night in Thailand and the Tsumami warning sound and could not really find anything that matched the sound that was still going on,b ut in the end I had to conclude it was probably the frogs delighted that the rains had stopped and because I was in the base of the building, their noises were echoing around most alarmingly.  I fell back to sleep for about another hour and then flew home!.                   

Elephants, never forget, but sadly I do.

 I have completely failed to write up about the trip, but as no one reads this account that is fine, however, I still write as maybe one day someone will read it (N) and it helps me remember what I have done and to reflect on how incredibly lucky I am 

Last night as displacement activity I re-watched The Railway Man with Colin Firth, which was set in Kanchanaburi and even filmed I now know in some of the places we visited.   It is not an easy watch but has a joyful end, and is based on a true story. 

I know when I was in Thailand I kept telling myself to enjoy it more and what an amazing opportunity it was and one I was unlikely to have again, but the mind sometimes has other ideas.  However, the day visiting the elephants was just wonderful. It did take longer than expected to get there and I was a bit alarmed when they said we would have to walk through the jungle to find the elephants but the young couple and young Dutchman, who had also booked on the trip helped me when necessary and on the whole I was fine.  And then we found the elephants and were entranced all day basically, only stopping for a delicious and much needed veggie meal midday.   The setting was beautiful up in the mountains.  The place I went to does not allow physical contact with the elephants, but we were allowed to get very close, to the four beautiful beasts. All had been working elephants for example one pair were a mother and daughter who had been separated during their working lives, but who were happy to be back together again in later life.