Reminders, memories of years gone by. When innocence roamed, when the past did not matter. Going through old videos, compiled or taken nearly 20 years ago, when I first came to Stornoway. Of the years, when I went back to Holland for Christmas, and sometimes through the year. Memories it will have to be. I can no longer go back to the way things were. I miss those who have gone on ahead, who believed, who trusted, who did so unconditionally. The world changes each time someone is lost. Just like the nights are beginning to close in again, as they do through July and onwards. The cosy rhythm of the year is the one thing that does not change. Although I love the light nights of midsummer, I am now looking forward again to the dark evenings of autumn and winter. This island does not change, it has been immutable for aeons. Its rocks, beaches, rivers, seas, bogs, and beauty, irrespective of the weather. The calm limpid mornings, or the rambuctious gales rattling the windows, and dancing the bins down the road. I don't mind. There was a time I would not be able to sleep if the wind was not roaring round the house. This is the place of the big skies, and you can see change coming from far away. Change is part of life, and like life itself, it has to be embraced.
The picture is old, it was taken in May 2005. I was walking the 15 miles from Callanish to Stornoway along the Pentland Road. Winter is always late leaving this island, and the grasses and reeds are still yellow and brown in May. But there is a promise of life already stirring around, and like the old Pentland Road, I shall go on.
