Is it really only five years since I was here? No way could I do that boat crossing, or make it up the 87 steps these days.
I see myself there in the early morning with a flask of hibiscus tea in my rucksack, walking round the island. The peace before the day trippers arrive. I delight in the blues of the sky, sea and bluebells. I feel the wind in my hair. Breathe in the taste and smell of the sea. Listen to the calls of the kitty wakes, guillemots and razor bills and then stop to just sit and be with the puffins all around me, their burrows everywhere. They carry on with their puffin business, looking around, wearing those serious looking expressions, creaking and groaning the way they do, preening themselves, yawning, waddling along, ducking in and out of their burrows. Stopping to communicate with each other, then just flying off the cliff edge and diving into the water. What freedom, what purpose. How versatile they are! What zest for life. Living life so fully, innocently and unselfconsciously. They know what they are here for and just get on with it. Maybe that’s why I love watching them so much, because they remind me to do the same. Live like that too.
