Pain Diary Entry: 30 March 2023

Fingers feel it first. Rain dripping from my deformed finger nails onto the soaked ground below. Droplets running off the saturated ground into streams and creeks that flow into waterfalls destined for the Atlantic. My fingers curling for warmth as the wind bites into the skin, the knuckles become tight as the cold grips me.
My body covered in modern fashion attempting to protect me from the wild weather, toes gripping the insides of my shoes as I search for purchase on the cliff edge as the wind and rain challenges my stability. Trousers soaked with the fresh rain driving sideways into me. Touching my beard i feel the heat of my breath fighting its way out before drawing in another gasp of air that's travelled across the ocean to feed me life.
The tree in front of me talks to me, not in audible words but through it's accomplishment. Holding on to the cliff edge It moves with the weather, not fighting it but embracing it. It's been there a long time. Choosing to continue growing in such challenging conditions. soft wet ground regularly attacked by storms, bringing snow, rain, lighting and wind. It endures it all, surviving alone. It waits, year after year, for the world to rotate itself such that the sun warms the earth around it enough to sprout leaves and absorb all it needs to grow stronger and stronger. Spending the rest of the year holding on, prepared for anything. It will not give up, only external forces can change its trajectory, left to itself it will last forever.

This pic taken a few miles north of Portree on the isle of Skye, where i Just had the most amazing experience, a taster of what Scotland has to offer to me. Inspiration.The guide was a wonderful Storyteller which allowed me to get lost in different worlds from different times, escaping myself whilst finding myself. I love the wild, its where i belong.