THE PATIENT PROGRESSION OF A YELLOW HARD HAT

THE PATIENT PROGRESSION OF A YELLOW HARD HAT 

THE PEACE PARK CATS part 7

For weeks the old professor cooked lots of food for the Peace Park Cats and Mr. and Mrs. Butcher were busy every day chopping up beef cubes at 11 a.m.  The old professor was going away for one whole month and she worried a lot about the Peace Park Cats (and kittens) hoping they would survive well without her.

The old professor packed her Yellow Hard Hat, her field equipment for measuring, her field clothes and a dress as she was going to Scotland to measure some old houses for A Project.

Early in the morning she dressed and put on her boots and took two bags to the airport at Trieste and caught a plane, first to London and then to Glasgow where she had a very interesting weekend with the Given Family.  They went to the forest Park through tree tunnels and the old professor went to church on Sunday where the music was most beautiful, and to a special Tea House for lunch and it was all very relaxing.

Then she caught a train to Fort William and a bus to Strontian which had to go on a ferry (the old professor had not been in a bus on a ferry before so it was an exciting experience), then the bus drove off the ferry and around the long loch to a very beautiful village called Strontian where the old professor was going to stay some days in the Hotel.  While she waited for the Hotel to open the old professor went to the Post Office to ask if there was someone in the village who knew about History. Immediately the Postmistress wrote down Mr. George Fox’s telephone number and gave it to the old professor who was so happy she purchased several post cards and stamps.

At four o’clock the Hotel opened and the old professor asked James, the proprietor, about phoning Mr. Fox. James laughed and said Mr. Fox came to the Hotel every evening and she could meet him then.

So the old professor moved into her room that had a nice view of the oak wood at the back, she had a shower and something to eat and went to wait for Mr. Fox.  They had a very long conversation and Mr. Fox said he would call his friend Mr. Kirby and let James know the result. “Goodness” thought the old professor, “how helpful and kind everyone is”.

At breakfast time James told the old professor that Mr. Jim Kirby would come at 10 a.m. this morning. And he did.  The old professor showed him photos of the saltings and he showed her his book of names and some archaeological reports.  They talked nearly all morning but it was most interesting.

The old professor went to the Tourist Office and bought two new maps and then started to walk to Ariundle Oakwood National Nature Reserve where there were old croft houses.  And she walked and walked, and cross a small river that had a sign about fish – brown trout, sea trout and salmon were in the stream which flowed into Loch Sunart which is a sea loch.  On and on walked the old professor and she eventually found a lot of stone cairns with bracken growing on top. Nearby there was a burn and across the flat land she could clearly see long rigs where crops had been grown in the past.

By now her field bag felt very heavy so she left it by the track and walked further only taking her camera.  High on a small hill she found what looked very like several old cottages, but it was late in the day, no one knew where she was and the ground was very rough.  Sadly the old professor walked back and picked up her bag.  When the path divided she took the left hand track called “Fairy Road” thinking she might see something else useful to measure, but Fairy Road went uphill and down hill, across wee burns and the old professor thought the fairies were putting rocks in her field bag.

At the top of one hill she decided to stop for a short rest and it was beginning to rain. There on the path by a stone were two small field mice trying to find shelter.  The old professor could see they were very young and she should not touch them or frighten them.  Carefully she looked around and found a broken branch from a birch tree. She broke it into two short pieces and carefully covered the infant mice so they were protected from the rain and predators, and she was hopeful that their parents might find them very soon.

The old professor was very tired indeed when she reached the Hotel. “I do hope tomorrow is more successful” she thought.

In the morning the old professor went to the Library to photocopy all the papers Mr. Kirby had lent her.  Then she set off for Ranachan Stor (which was the hilly bit).  On the way she stopped at the homestead to introduce herself and was told which gate to go through.  The hill wasn’t very high and the old professor could see the croft clearly (sometimes) but the bracken was taller than she was. Anyone passing in a car would only see a yellow hard hat bobbing slowing up the hill in a sea of bracken.  But eventually the old professor arrived and the view was very good indeed. Then she measured the inside wall, and how thick the walls were, and wrote down all the different plants growing inside the old house and found some violets by the doorway which made her a little sad for the lady who once lived high up on the hill with the little burn nearby and the beautiful view of the loch.  Then back to the Hotel she went for a shower and dinner.

The next day the old professor went to Ranachan Mor with Mr. Kirby’s map and she found a lot of creel platforms that he had talked of but nothing to measure.  The Mor was also very marshy and the old professor encountered Midges for the first time.  They seemed to enjoy munching her arms and neck, face, ears and eyes very much.

All day the old professor walked Ranachan Mor without finding a croft to record. She was very disappointed on the walk back.

The next morning while in the Library she talked to Helen who suggested Aoineadh Mor in the forest.  It was sign posted for tourists and the old professor thought that might make it unsuitable but she would think about it.

During the day she moved from the Hotel to the Ben View, and wrote a lot of notes and thought a lot about what to do next.

Early the next morning she set out for Ranachan one last time.  She found the cottage hidden by trees but not how to get there. Down the long straight section of road she walked until there was a hole in the fence where a gate had been lost.  Gradually she found that through the marsh and the bracken there ran a fox path and she followed it carefully until she fell into a dry burn full of dead brambles. “Ouch!” said the old professor but she was nearly at the cottage so she went on.  What a Midge, tick ridden place it was but she needed to record it carefully so for an hour she measured and photographed and wrote notes. Then, how to get back?  The old professor could see a telegraph pole by the road side but between her and the telegraph pole there were many brambles and tall bracken.  Using her field bag as a weight she pushed the brambles down and slowly, very slowly indeed reached the telegraph pole and the road. What a mess the old professor looked, scratched and bug bitten but happier than for a little while.

After lunch Helen drove her to Loch Arienas where there was a car park and from there she walked “Mary’s Path” to site of Aoineadh Mor.  It was perfect for recording, so she began busily.  Helen said she would pick her up in the car park at 6.30.

All afternoon the old professor measured the houses, took photographs and wrote notes.  At last she had discovered exactly the right place for her research.  At 5.50 she packed up her field bag and walked slowly down Mary’s Path to the car park and had a little rest while she waited for Helen.

That night she had a long, long soak in a hot bath but in the morning she didn’t feel very well so she had another before breakfast. And Goodness, she found she had very many ticks on her body.  In her sponge bag she had packed some disinfectant and she splashed it over the places where the ticks were (and she made a mess in the bathroom which took a while to clean up).  After breakfast she was able to dig most of the ticks out but she still didn’t feel very well. So that day she had a rest day and tried to find a taxi to take her to Aoineadh Mor tomorrow.

In the evening a kind man phoned to say he could take her at 9 o’clock the next day. And that is what happened.  The yellow hard hat went down Mary’s Path again and all the houses with two adjacent walls and a doorway were recorded.  The old professor was very happy indeed because the next day she would leave the friendly village of Strontian.

One Monday not long after a familiar basket came back to the Peace Park.  Buttercup noticed first, then Shadow and a very thin Tansy.  The old professor put two bowls of food under the May bushes.

The next day all the cats came, even Misty and the old professor was very glad indeed that the Peace Park summer had been kind to her feline friends.  In her heart the old professor was very happy to be back home.