A HAPPY LONER'S DIARY

I WOKE UP WELL BEFORE SUNRISE and peeked out of the window. It was as if a cloud had descended – the thick white fog had filled every gap among the trees. These were the last days of summer and the earth was cooling off. My whole body was instantly alert and ready. Yes, I’m going to that clearing in the wood where a moose family lives. I saw them a few times, and often discovered their beds. This was just across my pasture, beyond a small wood and across a neighbour‘s field. I dressed up speedily, gathered my gear and made coffee in the flask – I would take my first cup of morning coffee while waiting for the animals to appear on the scene. A few minutes later I was out in the dusk, ‚rowing‘

THAT AFTERNOON I headed in a new direction. I had always wanted to explore that part of our parish. A friend took me there some ten years ago and I was so struck by the undulating scenery – green fields with tightly packed gentle hills - that I kept reminding myself again and again that I must see the place. The dusty road, familiar from the ten year old trip, took me up and down the slopes, past the empty pastures where the cattle had grazed the previous month, and past a little farm with an old wooden cottage, a cowshed and a barn. A young dog barked fiercely, tugging at its chain. I knew the man, the owner of the cottage. He was my age, an historian, who had failed to make a life for hims

EVEN HAPPY LONERS have sad thoughts sometimes. During those spells of sadness you have to persevere on your journey to happiness, in search of the meaning of life. Such is the wisdom of those who’ve been on that journey. They know. And I believe them. Since the end of April I’ve been studying for a diploma in counselling skills. Psychology is an entirely new field to me (not to count the life experience gained during the five decades). But I’m used to wading into new waters every now and then, to studying something completely unknown to me: like parks and gardens at one time, or sheep farming, or photography to mention just a few. While psychology is such an exciting area! True, it does brin