More Connections (of a different sort)

Aberdeen

I have reached Day 55 of a 56 day trip. I have slept in 12 different beds. demystified 12 different showers, made and changed about 20 rail reservations and managed a wardrobe designed to take me from the end of August to the end of October. Did you know that travel is an especially beneficial activity for older adults because it fosters brain plasticity? I'm not joking. 

In Soft-Wired: How the New Science of Brain Plasticity Can Change Your Life, Dr. Michael Merzenich — known as "the father of brain plasticity" — explains the importance of getting outside our comfort zone and embracing the unfamiliar. People who travel to new places, keep learning languages and continue to experience new things into old age, are far less likely to develop cognitive decay, according to Merzenich's weighty body of research.


 

a new dress in Paris

Learning to navigate unfamiliar places and situations strengthens our problem solving abilities.

When I arrived in London, I found that Sterling money that I had purchased at my credit union was no longer current. It was a Bank Holiday. No chance of remedy! Fortunately, credit cards are preferred in post-Covid times. Vancity will reimburse me. No worries!

September was a peaceful month in La Charité.

My month in La Charité provided me with the opportunity to live a peaceful life in a French town. I had lots of time for reading, walking, speaking French and meeting new people. I gained a new appreciation of healthy cooking when I visited the local market to buy my produce. I also discovered that I am a person of much  energy and curiosity and that sometimes, at home, I get weighed down by other people.

 a few of my Shetland family

One of my goals of this 70th birthday trip was to share our family with my daughter. Many of our Shetland relatives have had the opportunity to visit Vancouver but many have not. Unlike when I first visited 35 years ago, no one has known my grandfather. In Canada, I have no living aunts or uncles and each nuclear family is busy with its own affairs. The Shetland people are extraordinarily friendly and hospitable. I feel very much at home. I believe that Christina will carry on the connection.

Three weeks of togetherness with mother is a lot of connection.

Daughter and I have never travelled for 3 weeks together. Twin hotel rooms and ferry cabins do not provide much alone time. I get anxious on transition days and I don't enjoy being busy all day. 

Today is our last day in London and we have chosen some alone time. She has gone to see the Beatles'

crosswalk at Abbey Road and to visit some vintage markets. I'm spending reading/writing time and having my hair done in Chelsea. We'll meet in the afternoon for our last hours in London. Hopefully, we will visit together another time.

one of my favourite views of the trip

Sights to See

 

a Shetland pony

We have ben visiting with family and enjoying our flat in Lerwick. Many narrow lanes 

lead off Commercial Street. The lanes were used to transport goods to and from the harbour. Our flat is just a few steps up a narrow lane.

lots of lanes

 

Yesterday, we had coffee with one set of cousins, a tour of the Mainland of Shetland and dinner with another group of cousins. We passed many sites that have been used in the Shetland TV series.

Eshaness is often used for cliffhanger scenes.

Daughter is getting to meet family members of different generations:my mother' cousins, their children and grandchildren. We hope to keep those family ties intact. Today, we will travel to Whalsay where my grandfather grew up. It's a very busy visit after my quiet time in France.

lots of lovely knitwear in shop windows

Arriving in Shetland

berth on the Northlink Ferry

My grandfather left Shetland more than 100 years ago by sea. I'm certain that his Merchant Navy accommodation was not as comfortable as our was on the Northlink Ferry. I have never sailed to Shetland before but I thought it would be an experience for Daughter. Our relatives advised us to take a motion sickness tablet in preparation for the 12 hour crossing. Boarding at 5:00pm, we shared and order of haddock and chips, downed a Scapa Scotch whiskey and retired early to our beds. 

Shetland is a very welcoming place.

My cousin and her husband generously offered to pick us up at the ferry terminal and to take us to our rental flat which is located on Park Lane which is a narrow passageway that leads from Commercial Street,  the central market street of Lerwick. Many of the buildings in this area date from the 1700's.

My cousin has a shop on Commercial Streetthat has been operating since 1894.

a display of hand-knit sweaters from Wool Week.

The shop has been in operation since 1894.

My cousin, whose late father had the shop before her, showed us some murals that she had helped to select. Artists from Scotland and other countries applied to paint the murals in Lerwick.

one of the Lerwick murals

Ever since Ann Cleeves wrote the Shetland mystery series which has been made even more popular by the BBC television series, the Lodberry, a seaside house dating from 1772, has been known as Jimmy Perez's

house. A lodberry is a seaside house with facilities for loading goods from different sides according to the tides. This lodberry was built by a merchant nam James Linklater. The lodberry housed a marine store, a fish shop and  storage area for masts and sails. 

Shetland lodberry

We are settled in our peerie flat and today we will visit with some family and explore the town of Lerwick.