The final ten days

Well, I’m VERY glad I came to Arles. The idea was ten days on my own in a place where I didn’t know anyone, to reflect on what’s been going on for the last six months and to make sure that I don’t return to the way that I was at when I set off - addicted to work emails, letting my two part time jobs take over my whole life (and thinking I enjoyed that), never doing anything new or looking outwards because I already had Quite Enough Things On thank you very much. 

The reality is that over the past two weeks before I set off to France, I have been in England and Scotland partly for my wonderful mum’s 92nd birthday   

(here is a link to a video of her playing the piano, absolutely beautifully, on the day of her birthday)

and partly meeting up with the five brilliant Glasgow Uni interns who are working full-on to help to promote the forthcoming art exhibition of my late aunt Hannah Frank.

this is a poster done by one of the interns - good, eh! 

I’ve probably put in  about three or four hours a day on the Art Exhibition, supporting the interns in contacting schools and other groups to run creative workshops at the exhibition, learning about access to art for people with impaired vision, thinking about curatorial decision making, and coordinating with two different archives, three lunchtime speakers and at least four different calendars. 

by the way while i'm here... you  are invited to join us at the Opening Reception on Sunday 18th November at 7.30 p.m. at Glasgow University Chapel!  book your free place, includes a kosher buffet, showing of the film Hannah Frank, The Spark Divine (Sarah Thomas 2008), an introduction to Hannah Frank's work by Alice Strang, Senior Curator at Scottish National Galeries, and klezmer music from Glasgow's The Bunch of Klezmer.  Book your free place at trybooking.co.uk/4398 

We’ve been invited to resubmit a bid to Creative Scotland to fund  some of this work, and in order to get a response before the Christmas break I had to submit that this week.... which meant spending a whole day at the lovely La Meunerie coworking space on Wednesday.

I could write a whole article just about the lovely coworking spaces I've been to on this trip - in Prague, Preston, and now Arles....

And tied up with all this I’ve been working with a lovely designer in the US on the finishing touches to the Book of my PhD which will be launched in February (if you can't come to the launch of the Hannah Frank exhibition, please consider joining me for the WHOLE WEEKEND 1-3 February, i've booked a lovely big airbnb for the weekend; the launch is the Sunday evening but we're having a BURNS SUPPER for the Friday evening shabbat meal (!!) with vegan and meaty kosher haggis - it's on the last weekend of the exhibition so you'd get to see the exhibition AND meet the fab Scots language activist Billy Kay who's speaking at my booklaunch.. 

And publicising a wonderful Klezmer Dance Workshop and Klezmer Ceilidh with Michael Alpert which will take place in Lancaster on 17 November

So there hasn’t been any meditation and mindfulness since I’ve been in Arles, you might think - but you may be wrong! 

Instead of having ten days trying to be someone I’m not (ie someone who meditates all the time and has Zen calmness) I’m making sure I ring the changes EVERY day. So on Thursday afternoon after 3 hours admin I went off on a trip to Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, and saw  gorgeous white horses, bulls and flamingos 

the tiny specs are flamingos!

... and wrote the first part of this blog in an Irish pub with great music going on ... on my first evening I did a particularly energetic and wonderful yoga class at Arles Yoga with an American teacher called Harriet Spalding who was fabulous - so I went back the next day...  I could absolutely imagine living here in Arles.

My Airbnb landlady had originally said she'd be away this week, but it was a mistake - at first I was a bit sad cos I thought I wanted a place on my own. But it turns out that she's LOVELY, and her partner is LOVELY - and he is the coordinator of Incredible Edible Arles (incroyable comestible Arles) - i have done an interview with him (in French!) which will eventually end up as a podcast (with English interpreting due to the help of a lovely guy I met on the Podcasters' Support Group). 

Arles is absolutely full of reminders of the war. Apart from the railway bridge across the river still not having been replaced, there are so many streets and buildings named after or dedicated to men who were killed in the war - and with something I hadn't seen before - under their name on the street sign, or on the plaque on the building, there's a detailed note of how they died and their bravery. 

I have a ticket which will get me in to four monuments and two museums this week before I leave...and I would quite like to get the bus back to Les Saintes Maries de la Mer on Sunday -  but I've got a crappy cold so I think I may be sitting in the house for the whole weekend packing to go home. I've just made a rather nice looking Challah (four strands, see pic) and am cooking for my landlady and family shortly.    I think this is the best one I've made in the entire six months - I gave it a longer initial kneading time and it really paid off. Also maybe French flour works well.  We'll see in the eating, of course....


SO what have I learned while I've been away?

One thing that won't change - i still carry 'myself' with me.  The person who loves to run projects, follow through ideas, set and respond to challenges, make connections with everything I do and everyone I meet... I'll never be that zen, meditative person. 

BUT - 

I know that the least that I have planned in a day, the better that day goes; and the more I get outside, the happier I feel.

It's been amazing to be able to spontaneously go to a concert, a safari, a walk around Old Arles, a yoga class...I've done all those things this week which normally I would never have had the inclination or time for.  The concert was award winning string players, playing Handel, Arensky and Mendelssohn - the Arensky has been a wonderful revelation, I've been listening to it solidly ever since (String quartet no 2 in A minor) - it has a really gorgeous repeating motif that plays a bit in the opening bars then comes back throughout all the other movements.  Who knew I liked classical music!  Not me! 


It's the final weekend of my six months travelling adventure - but I now feel it's only a beginning, which is rather wonderful. I'll go back to my part time jobs but they'll change a bit; I have rented a tiny space at Halton Mill that i'm going to turn into a sound studio to edit all the many recordings I've made while i've been travelling... and I have two new wonderful (unpaid but who cares) projects - I'm going to be mentoring someone I met in Cork who's writing a musical - all very exciting - and I'm calling a Klezmer dance night at a Hertford Art Club in December, for a woman I met at a Klezmer night I lucked on in London while I was passing through at the beginning of October.   I love my life! 

The themes have been goats, boats, and notes (for music) and votes (for politics)
and also bikes, hikes and mics (for recordings) and I want to keep them ALL going. 

You are all welcome any Friday night when I will be sitting around relaxedly eating and drinking with anyone who's around, usually at home in Halton.  I've had LOVELY Friday evenings over the last six months, having made or bought Challot in most of the places I've been, and done Friday night candles with most of the people I've been with.... 

Thanks so much for being with me through these months

I think there'll be more blogs at least until I've edited all my podcasts - I think that's another year's project!  Here's to 'work life balance' for the rest of our lives.  (And also, and I don't think I even need to say it, #stopbrexit - a constant theme while I've been travelling. Especially in Ireland)

lots of love and luck to you all 

Fiona x


ps 'Product Endorsements' : (which is what I hate about other travel blogs, but I'm not getting paid for these!)  and Lasting Memories

the most useful things have been

a four-time battery charger for my iphone (perfect for long bus journeys)
accoustic sheep wireless headphones "pyjamas for the ears" - brilliant for late night music in hostels! 

reusable veggie and fruit bags from Migros in Switzerland - fabulous


and - having my OWN PILLOW with me. A big fag to carry but definitely paid off..

AND, looking back over highlights of the six months/lasting memories.... 

the view from the farm at Cape Clear island

Lying on the boat deck in northern Sardinia looking up at the mast after the hard work of putting the sail away and feeling amazing

Snorkelling in the clearest sea imaginable in Sardinia, where the sea bed looked just like another beach in a different dimension

The co-op cafe in Cork, where I had difficulty getting up the stairs for all the notices of things going on, ALL of which I wanted to join, do, go to, be part of....

  

All the music sessions in Cape Clear

The Klezmer night in Paris and the Klezmer night in London

Spending quiet time in the OMA (Other Music Association) house after the Yiddish Summer Weimar festival was over, cooking for the other stragglers, and taking up spontaneous yoga classes 

Cycling in the middle of nowhere near Bielefeld, invited by a dancer from the Yiddish Summer Weimar

Beautiful multi-fruit salads for breakfast with Jo and Kate in Geneva

And I'll finish with the desperately sad but amazing memory of the entire staff of Preston Town Hall standing outside the building - where the flag flew at half mast - for the passing by of the funeral cortege for my brother in law, Peter Rankin, immediate past leader of Preston City Council, and only the 30th Honorary Alderman of the City ever. There's an interview he did on Preston FM a few years ago here, showing what a fabulous all round good person he was.

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And that's it .  Till the next time.  I'll be travelling home to Preston on Monday 29 and will be arriving in Halton on Wednesday 31st October.  (Anyone want to meet me with a bike at Lancaster station at teatime and cycle back to Halton with me on Wednesday?).... 

and then it's the start of my NEXT adventures. 



all my love to you
Fiona x   (email me on fionaistravelling at gmail dot com with any comments)