Questions

 Jan made us a cup of tea which I took outside while George phoned home. There was a little pier out in to the loch so I had a walk on to it and enjoyed the sound of the lapping water and the beauty of my surroundings, a far cry from Coventry that's for sure. It was a biting cold wind though and I had no coat so soon returned to the van.

From here we moved to a place down the road called Scourie. It was only a small village but it had quite a lot going on for it's size. There is a shop, petrol station, cafe, campsite and a hotel. I remember stopping here on my way up on the bus, this is were the four walkers got off and went up to the hotel, what a different day that was. What a different person I was back then, hardly but a child it seems looking back on it.

George was interested in the campsite though so we drove straight to it and got a place to stay. In the afternoon I managed to get my first shower in a month, I'd been having to make do with washes in freezing cold water from the bathroom sink. My hair had been in a plaited pony tail for all that time so goodness knows what was living in it by now. On the way to the showers I helped Jan across with the washing, she undid my hair for me before I left her for the shower. 

Later we left George having a snooze and we went to the little shop for a few supplies, it was very expensive though so we didn't get much. Whenever I'm alone with Jan she is always asking me stuff, like she needs to know more about me. It's okay, I don't mind, it's just that people don't usually bother to find stuff out about me. Mostly they assume stuff and then make their judgment about me based on their own idea's. I like it that she is interested in what I have to say.

One of the things she asked me when on the way to the shop was,"Did you ever consider moving in with that guy you were seeing when your parents kicked you out?"

She meant Dirty Dave.

"No, not at all, I didn't have that sort of relationship with him, it was just like a fun thing or something, I didn't have any real feelings for him. I didn't even like him that much to be honest, I just enjoyed what he did at the time. Although to be honest he was on the list of options when I was looking for a way out of my little room but even then he was way down the list, not that the list was ever very big," I replied.

"So if he came knocking on your door sometime you wouldn't go running back to Coventry with him then?"

"Oh my goodness no, I don't want anything to do with him, Coventry or anyone from Coventry ever again. In fact I'd rather go back to grandfather, he might be Mr Grumpy living in isolation but at least it's a nice place to be isolated - apart from the midge's."

That made her laugh.

"So, have you never been in touch with your parents since you left?" was the next question she asked.

"No, I haven't heard a word from my mother from about six weeks before I left and I haven't heard from father since the day he saw me off. I did think about calling him at Christmas but grandfather said he didn't think that there was any point so I never bothered."

"So you don't miss them then?"

I had to think about this because when she asked the question I felt my heart miss a beat, "I don't miss my mum, she never was a loving person, I only ever remember getting one hug from her. My dad was okay but I never saw much of him really, as he always seemed to be off out doing something. No I don't miss them, what I miss about them is the home they provided. I miss having somewhere to call home. Homeless is not nice and being homeless and penniless is even worse. It's like a trap you can't break free from". Was my reply to that.

Then as we approached the cafe by the campsite we came upon some Highland cattle in a field so I tried to make friends over the fence, so then the subject moved on to whether I like animals and was I afraid of the cows at all with me being a city girl.

"I like animals better than most humans, they don't have these crazy mood swings all the time so I know where I am with them. Even if they are nasty, at least you know they will be nasty every time you see them, so either keep away or be prepared. My fav place to visit when I was young was to go to Umberslade Farm for lunch, which is an open farm. I used to get in trouble all the time for not eating my lunch, I was too excited as I just wanted to get to the animals" was my reply.

"Did you have pets at home?"

"No, not really, they said we weren't home enough to look after them properly. I had a rabbit for a while, until it suddenly disappeared when it got let out in to the garden, and I used to walk the neighbours dog sometimes if they were away." 

So that's very much how our little walk to the shop went. The good thing for me was that I was able to go there and back and didn't have any reoccurrence of yesterdays problems of feeling like I was going to pass out.  I think Jan's big breakfast filled my legs up.

That night in the camper van was much the same as the night before except I wasn't spaced out, also at one point Jan said that her feet ached so I left my cuddle with George and went to rub her feet for her. George said I deserved a medal, saying I wouldn't catch him touching them things.

"No, but if it was one of your bloomin'' old cows feet you'd be fussing over it for ever and a day, he'd even pay the vet to come out and take a look!" was Jan's reply.

It was all just a bit of fun between them. I love it.

Oh yes, another thing different was that I got to sleep in the bunk instead of Georges bed.