Swansea – Travel stories

(Butterfly enjoying the sun)

The last stop on our Round the United Kingdom, Short Motorbike Tour was Swansea. We went there to attend our daughter’s end of year exhibition. Twelve movies in one evening… don’t worry they were short, about five minutes each. Ciara wrote and directed her movie and she also had an acting role. She played a lesbian. The evening before one of her friends asked her if she was afraid that people would think she was gay. She said she had worried about that for the previous six months…. it was too late now. It was more important to get her message out there, afraid or not, other people’s judgements or not.

(Butterfly enjoying some lavender)

When you want to follow your dream, and live your life with purpose, there are sometimes scary things you’ll need to do. And you’ll wonder if this is a good idea…. this sharing of your dream, your wishes, your message, your contribution to healing the world. What will people think? What will they say? How will they treat you? Will they be different? Will they ever speak to you again? Will they understand? Will their judgement resonate with your own judgement of yourself… and make it impossible for you to continue….. when they think you’re not good enough?

(Mosaic butterfly in garden at Bloom)

I will include a link so you can watch Ciara’s movie, if you choose. If you do watch you may hear her message. You may understand her message. Or you may miss her message. You may think she is brave. You may think she’s foolhardy. You may get stuck in wondering if she’s gay or not. Whatever you get from the watching, one thing I have learned from my judgement of others is that my thoughts and words say more about me than they do about the one I judge. That’s what I got from watching movies on a warm Friday night in Swansea.

What are you saying about yourself? Mairead.

Love Letters, a movie by Ciara Hennessy.

Hotel Patio

(View from hotel patio)

It’s been a busy day here in Swansea and the temperature is in the high twenties…. I’m too hot. I really don’t want to complain but unfortunately my thinking space is filled with the heat. You already know there’s very little room on the motorbike for clothes, right? Well, I seemed to have erred on the side of warm clothes. So I’m wearing jeans, heavy boots and a long-sleeved cardigan. It takes a balance of sun versus air-conditioned rooms to keep me functioning.

Wales Bridge

(Bridging England and Wales)

So I started the day with a nice breakfast in the air-conditioned dining room. Then walked for ten minutes into the centre of town and went into an air-conditioned coffee shop to have a nice bottle of cold water. Out in the sun again to meet Ciara at her college and then back inside for a nice air-conditioned lunch. After lunch walked back to the hotel and I’m now enjoying a nice orange juice in the air-conditioned lobby. Weirdly a few minutes ago I felt too cold in the air-conditioned lobby (I know what you’re thinking… ) so I went outside to the hotel patio. The sun was shining and the wind was blowing in from the sea. It was perfect and as soon as I got warmed up again I came back in.

Two Trees

(Two trees in Oxford Castle)

It seems to me this is exactly the same (in reverse) of the blinding cold a few days ago. At that time it took a balance of cold wind versus warm tea and real fires to keep me functioning. And that got me thinking about balance and functioning. Too little heat, too much heat, too little cold, too much cold, too little sleep, too much sleep, too little food too much food are all unbalanced and have an impact on functioning.

Finding balance, Mairead