village social life

We are working non-stop on the house and getting tired. There are just not enough hours in the day but this weekend I found time to socialise. A strange thing happens in our Highland village. As daylight gradually disappears and tourists largely disappear for the winter our social calendar suddenly fills up. It is our attempt to make the winter bearable and to prevent isolation setting in but it is also the time of year when many people have more free time to reconnect with their friends and their community. 

I joined my girl friends for a steak in the local hotel. Various locals joined us at different points in the evening and the craic was good. One of my friends is hilarious in her storytelling and had us all roaring with laughter. An estate manager joined us and periodically roared like a stag. Literally. It has just been rutting season when the roar of stags reverberated around the hills enclosing us. 

After several drinks we hatched a plan to go back to C's house and meet her visitors, including a childhood friend of her husbands. He had never met C before so we decided it would be funny to go into the house one by one and greet her husband with a familiar kiss on the cheek and say to the friend, "Hi, you must be S, I'm C, pleased to meet you." The poor guy was very confused but decided that I was definitely the real C. So I poured drinks and pretended to know how to work the stereo! Then we put on the music and started dancing. "Is it normally like this on a Friday?" he asked. "Oh yes," we lied. He must have thought he'd landed in a very strange land.

The next evening I went out with my husband to a wedding dance. It was great. The band was fantastic and everyone could ceilidh dance. There is nothing like a highland wedding with men in kilts, pipes and dancing. We saw old friends we hadn't seen in ages. 

I don't think I have the stamina for two nights out in a row. It is no use when the kids are bouncing on you at 7am and you only got in at 3am. Next weekend there are two halloween parties and a shed warming. Might manage 1 out of 3.