Not really joined together in my thoughts of them.

The photos from the underwater camera:

(Write-up and further plotting to follow separately.)

Memory Tourism.

Saturday went pretty well. It wasn't as sombre an occasion as I thought it might be. Most of the interior photographs here are from a disc that the couple who live there now gave me, of photos they took before renovating. The rest of the photos aren't in any particular order, but the sketchbook pages are, and it is those where I have written down my thoughts on the trip, so I shan't say much here now.

As for the muses, they have as much of an idea of a rhinoceros as of a poet.

Some pre-departure research:

• Possible explanation for the placing of a rhinoceros on top of a bus stop in Dumfries, as suggested by my father.
• Actual explanation of the placing of a rhinoceros, (not actually on top of the bus stop, as it turns out, but nearby,) in Dumfries, as suggested by Google.

"You've not thought out this trip have you?"

Apparently I should take some sort of gift to the people whose house I'm going to. This hadn't really occurred to me, but makes sense I suppose. Also, I need to take lunch with me but I didn't think to make sure I had something... I'm not sure if the bread in the freezer will continue to go mouldy if I take it out of the freezer to defrost overnight.. (It seems most of the thought I've put into this has been more conceptual than practical.)

Three wise monkeys on the windowsill.

The other day, I thought I'd start off by just writing down quite briefly a description of the house, before doing a few drawings. (Because it's y'know, an art project.) This ended up being two sides of writing, done a bit at a time over a few days... It was quite tiring trying to write everything down, which I hadn't really anticipated.

I don't think this means everything I can remember can be contained within two sides of my handwriting - it was more of an orientation exercise, something to help me work out exactly what I could remember and which bits I had forgotten. I was quite surprised that I managed to turn memories of each separate room into an almost-complete plan of the house. (At this point, it might be relevant to admit that although my attempts to remember on purpose everything exactly are perhaps one of the most poignant aspects of this project, I do realise that I can remember some parts better than others just because I spent more time in them.) The image of a page of writing maybe illustrates something about the process, and the difficulty, of remembering.

I'm going to take the plan with me, and see how accurate I was.

The two polaroids are from one of the last summers we visited, when my dad had just got a polaroid camera from work - so there's the back garden at my grandparents' and then me around the age I was when I last went inside the house there. They're on the bookshelf in my room.
Right now, I need to make sure I know where to get the bus from...

Only we can go there.

In full bloom at the moment.

Today I got this email:

Timothea,

Sorry to hear about your Grandfather George....he was such a lovely man. His snowdrops are in full bloom at the moment.
I would love you to come and look around the house...however I find it inappropriate for you to take photographs of the inside of the house....I don't mind you taking photographs of the outside....as not much has really changed.
The kitchen is still as George and Alice left it in December 2001....however we aim to change it this year.
You may find the village has changed since your last visit....we now have an 0rganic Tea Room, a Craft Shop and even a Chocolaterie. The Craigdarroch Hotel is closed for the season but The George has a new restarurant and we have an Italian restaurant "The Three Glens" between the two.
The supermarket is still here but at the opposite side of the road....it even has a wood burning stove.
Can you give me a rough time as to when you are likely to arrive this Saturday.
Hope you get a good day for your walk down memory lane.

Maggie Nocher

So this project takes on a slightly less theoretical and more empirical aspect... I replied saying I'd probably get there about half twelve on Saturday. (I was starting to think I'd get no reply, so this is something of a turn-around.)