A CERTAIN OBSCURITY

My days here seem to start later than previous days. Every morning I plan to get up before the sun to go jogging but end up leaving the flat as people are hurrying off to class or their place of work. This morning I simply stayed in bed as my body ached from yesterday's flour quest.

With two days left before my flight to Ireland, I realise I have done little compared to my previous trips to Edinburgh. I am well aware every trip is unique but I would have liked to have seen and done more.

Perhaps it is because I am distracted. Perhaps I had high expectations. Or it is due to my having already been here. Maybe it is simply my knowing that he is there and I am here and we are not able to see this place together. Then again, I doubt he would want to do as much walking as I have done thus far.

Maybe it is nothing else than the need to simplify my life and slow down, not thinking I need to be doing everything everyone thinks I should be doing. Regardless, solo travel has its ups and downs but this time is different than my first trip to Edinburgh. That was a different time in my life and circumstances have greatly changed since then.

I had plans of seeing and doing a list of things during my week here but realise that I have already done more than I would have had I stayed home. Sometimes doing nothing is more difficult than always finding something to keep us busy.

I look forward to my daily walk to lovecrumbs each morning for coffee and whatever cake sounds interesting. Today it was hazelnut plum rosemary cake with a cappuccino. I would have stayed longer had I remembered to include my travel journal and reading glasses in my camera bag. But tomorrow is another chance to return and stay longer.

On my way back to the flat, the fog had already started to envelope the city. Whereas the castle was in clear view against a blue sky on my way to the coffeehouse, an hour and a half later it was an obscure object hidden behind a curtain of fog.

I read three pages of The Girl on the Train before tiring of that. My thoughts were elsewhere and I simply could not focus. So, I slept for close to two hours and awoke in time to find a sunset to photograph.

There was no sunset visible today as well but I was able to preserve the memory of the fog over the city obscuring everything in sight.