Some Other Where

My late father was a stickler for correct grammar and for consulting the dictionary, if in any doubt. Given all this, it was a source of fascination to me that he never used the phrase ‘somewhere else.’ Instead, he would say ‘some other where.’

Some other where has deep meanings for me (and I think I can see now why Dad used it.)

The time that some other where comes into play for me most is around sunset when  it’s dark and I’m pushing out the boundaries in terms of not being home. You know that extra half an hour or three quarters of an hour when they’d be expecting you back and have just started to wonder if the car has conked out or if Puppy Stan has gone missing or … It’s not quite time to start trying to phone but they know that the phone is probably on Silent anyway!

Well, the some other where is invariably on a beach wave-gazing; or high up on the cliffs cloud-gazing. Some other where is a timeless place; a place of oneness with nature; a place  where the air is salty. It’s also a place where you lose yourself; you move so far into reality that you are experiencing rather than rationalising. Some other where is intensely peaceful; it loves shapes, shadows and silhouettes and it can see right through darkness to a where that’s neither here not there, just beyond or in-between.

This is how my some other where has been looking in the last little while:

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Do you have a ‘some other where?’

It’s Not the Same Way Everyone Goes Mad!

I had serious reason to celebrate today as I got the all-clear on a routine mammogram. These are things I’ve learned never, ever to take for granted.

Instinct screamed: Let’s go for a swim, so I jumped into the car and headed out to the beach not even noticing that it was dark, dismal, freezing cold and very windy.

Let me just put it this way, the sea turned out to be far warmer than walking on the beach.

One or two people (all muffled up in hats, scarves, gloves, fur-lined boots, layers of jackets) were out walking their dogs and I could see that they had serious doubts about me.

As I found myself racing along the beach after my air borne jeans, I couldn’t but laugh and think of my late mother’s saying: It’s not the same way everyone goes mad. Must say, I could also hear her laughing with me and saying: Go on, you mad eejit!

Here’s some of the beauty that there was to behold and it was pure, pure beauty!

Have a Sit Down!

 

I’ve been passing this seat on the side of the road a few miles from Tramore for years now and have long meant to take a photo of it.

I’d love to know what its history is, and indeed, what purpose it’s serving now.

It reminds me of a wreck of a HUGE trampoline in our back garden that anyone in their right senses would wonder about.

The trampoline had glory days and was a birthday present for son (19) when he was twelve. He got endless hours of trampolining on it and half the kids in the neighbourhood would be in jumping on it  ’til after dark. When it started to fall to pieces, it became a place where son would lie in the sun or jump with great gingerliness while chatting to pals on the phone.

You wouldn’t hardly know now that it was ever a trampoline but I can’t bring myself to dump it as the dogs have made it their own. They lie on the untorn bits in the sun and sort of bob up and down. Or,  they take shelter beneath when they’re too hot or if it’s raining. So how, could I possibly remove such a useful eyesore that has a whole new life now?

So, to come back to the chair on the side of the road, I’ve no doubt that it had glory days, too, doing what these kinds of chairs are meant to do and probably saw afternoon tea in the garden with homemade cakes and doilies. But what does it do now?

PS. To ‘have a sit down’ about something is a term that I’ve only heard from one person over the years. In her house, it meant to have a family confab about something that was deemed important ~ be it an everyday thing like what to do about a leaky pipe or a more substantial question like whether or not to get a dog.