After losing both my parents, I realised what I needed: the total isolation of a Hebridean island | Graham Snowdon
Complete solitude may not be for everyone, but walking the windswept Harris hills by myself gave me the space to contemplate a difficult year Sitting
Complete solitude may not be for everyone, but walking the windswept Harris hills by myself gave me the space to contemplate a difficult year Sitting in a remote cabin earlier this year on the Hebridean isle of Harris, watching the fishing boats come and go in the little harbour, I felt the fog of the previous months finally beginning to clear.
I kept thinking back to a cold November night, returning from Leeds to south London, when I finally admitted to myself that something needed to change. I was exhausted from the long, frequent and often unrewarding round trips to visit my mum.
At her care home in Leeds that autumn day, I had tried the usual tricks to summon a reaction from her – news of the grandkids, or re-reading poems and songs she’d written in her days as a primary school headteacher.
But for the most part, she remained still and silent. Graham Snowdon is the editor of Guardian Weekly Continue reading...
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