‘Noi’s Destiny –Part 2

Hi everyone, it’s only me again and I can’t wait to give you the next instalment of ‘Noi's Destiny', who knows as it may even perhaps cheer us up as we are now in the 9th Month of the Coronavirus Pandemic, but then again it may not .

You may recall from where I last left off in December 2004, I was experiencing my first Scottish Christmas all alone as Brendan had gone back to work offshore. The following day on Boxing Day, 26th December 2004, I was then shocked to hear that a terrible Tsunami had hit Thailand and that it had claimed almost 230,000 lives. I was so sad for the people in my homeland.

Well sadly, after spending New Year alone, things were to get much worse for me a few days later on the 4th of January 2005.

Feeling very low by a combination of being all alone in a strange country and then hearing about the terrible Boxing Day disaster, a few days later on the 4th of January 2005, I received a telephone call from my brother telling me that my mother had suddenly passed away in Thailand. I was absolutely devastated by this news and I thought that the world was collapsing around me.

It is difficult for me to explain exactly how sad that I felt but it made it even worse as I was alone and didn’t have anyone to talk to. I called Brendan and told him the news about my mother and thankfully he decided to come home to be with me.

The last time that I saw my mother, I had told her about my plans when I arrived in Scotland to help her to clear her debts, as she had been forced to borrow money just to help her to make ends meet after my father had died. I had also promised to her that I would arrange a large village wedding celebration when we were to return to Thailand; early the following year and the realisation that she would not be there made me feel so sad and lonely.

Even worse than that, I was not able to go back home to Thailand for her funeral, as I was frightened that I may not manage to get a Visa to return to Scotland.

It took me a long time for me to get over losing my mother but having Brendan home helped me for a while although soon it was time for him to return to work again and I was left in the same position of feeling lonely and sad.

I had hoped that I would be able to work but I found it extremely difficult to get a job due to my poor English. This together with the fact that I was living in a small rural village with relatively poor public transport links and that I could not drive made everything difficult.

Of course it was much better when Brendan came home from being offshore but this was only for 2 weeks at a time until he then had to return to work again. Life was not easy for me at this time .

However, things were to change for the better when a few months later, Brendan took me on a touring holiday to see the north of Scotland and I was able to see at first hand exactly how beautiful Scotland was.

We visited Torridon in the North West Highlands and the scenery there was spectacular. We were touring in Brendan’s car and I naturally expected that we would be staying in pre-arranged Bed & Breakfast’s or Hotels but I was very surprised to say the least about the first place that he had arranged for us to stay.

Considering that as a married couple we were still fairly new in our relationship, I was surprised when we stopped at a Hostel that was primarily designed to cater for backpacking young people. When we arrived, I was ushered in one direction to sleep in the shared ladies bunk bed accommodation while Brendan was shown into the men’s shared room. L And the say that Scotsmen are not romantic !!!

After that rather strange first night and having been separated from each other I hoped that better would come and we moved on to visit Glencoe. Again the scenery was stunning with the beautiful rugged mountains and valleys. During our journey we stopped at the magnificent, historic and beautiful Eileen Donan Castle.

I was really enjoying seeing and visiting the beautiful sights but soon it was time to stop at our second nights accommodation and to my shock, yes you are correct, it was yet another Hostel with the same sleeping arrangements!!!

After that night we had a long and 'frank' talk about the arrangements for the rest of our holiday and I am delighted to say after that the accommodation arrangements improved dramatically.

I really enjoyed our touring holiday of the North of Scotland and I loved the stunning and beautiful scenery there, J….if not all of the accommodation that Brendan chose!!! L

When back home, we continued exploring the local scenery and we went on many beautiful local walks over the hills including to the nearby Screel and Criffel near to New Abbey.

One day we set of to climb Criffel which is a fairly long and at times difficult route for a comparatively newcomer to hill walking. Brendan of course was properly dressed and was wearing good quality walking boots and gaiters while I was stupidly wearing trainers and certainly was not appropriately dressed for the climb and terrain.

Having eaten practically nothing for breakfast before we left home that day, as I can’t really cope with porridge L we started to climb at Brendan’s usual fast pace up the hill. Not too long after we started, I felt that my feet and legs were getting very cold as the trainers that I was wearing were soaking wet.

Soon, I started to feel weak and very faint and I thought that I was about to collapse if we went any further. I became very worried and frightened about what was happening to me but eventually Brendan helped me to get back down off the hill where I could get warm and of course have something to eat, no not porridge!

That terrifying experience taught me a valuable lesson that I will never forget and I will always eat properly before going walking and of course I will always ensure that I am appropriately dressed for the conditions, as the weather in Scotland can change so quickly, especially on the hills and mountains.

Being still relatively new to Scotland, I couldn’t really get into the pattern of cooking and eating properly here, as the food was so different. When at home in Thailand, my diet was primarily rice based, with vegetables, chicken and fish but here in Scotland, it was normal to start the day off with things like porridge and that was not for me, certainly every day! L

Very early on in our relationship Brendan had shown me a bottle of a very rare and expensive bottle of ‘McCallan' whisky. He explained very carefully that it was only to be drunk on special very occasions and even then in very small measures.

Well…… on one occasion when he was working offshore I thought that I would sample some of this treasured bottle. Was that bad of me, or !???

I must say that it was really smooth and lovely and over the next week or so I imagine that I must have not properly secured the top because a few days before he was to return I noticed that the contents had evaporated and the bottle was empty!

Initially I didn't know what to do and I knew that if had been so expensive that I certainly couldn’t afford to replace it. So I used my initiative. Yes, you are right! I got another bottle of seriously inferior whisky and poured it into the empty ‘McCallan' bottle and placed it back on the shelf and hoped that he wouldn’t notice.

Now was that a crime?

I think that on that note of admission to you that is, not to Brendan so please don’t tell him, I should call it a day and leave you again.

This chapter in my life has been a mixture of emotions with the loss of my mother, the terrible Boxing Day Tsunami in Thailand and then the romantic holiday revelations in Scotland, not to mention the tiny indiscretion with the McCallan Whisky !

I will leave you again for now and will pray to my Buddha asking him to bless and look after my mother. I miss her so much

I really hope that you have enjoyed this stage of my destiny and it has been my privilege to be able to share it with you. See you soon with Part 3.