I arrived in Borrowdale on Monday night after running around Keswick with the football girls. It was the first run I'd done in a long time, and I enjoyed it so much that I've agreed to go nighttime fell running with a friend next week. I'm beginning to think that this was just the endorphins talking - definitely not sense or reason (not that I'm well acquainted with either of those). But despite the fact that I'm probably going to die - I'm really looking forward to it. I wasn't exactly sure where I'd be sleeping when I arrived at the hostel, and as the staff house is full I've been given a camping pod for the first week (which is amazing). Although there is no mobile phone signal here, it's quite a novelty having wifi access. It means I can keep in touch with people more often, and discuss with Rachel writing reviews about blueberry bagels on the Asda website. The first few days here passed in a bit of a blur - information overload. Although both Borrowdale and Eskdale are YHA hostels, they are vastly different in pretty much every way. The first thing you notice it the size of the place, Borrowdale is bigger, has more staff, and the shift patterns are varied and different. It has crossed my mind that I'll still be asking a million questions on my last day here! Although, I do get the impression that some of my questions are not exactly considered 'normal'. One morning I had to ask (very seriously) about vacuum cleaning logistics, and later that afternoon (while sweeping up some leaves) I inquired as to whether we could have a five minute game of Quidditch.
I had a day off on Thursday, and once the rain had mostly stopped, I went out exploring the neighbourhood. I took a wander up to castle crag, where the views were amazing, & I got chatting to a lovely couple who were staying locally. It was good to be outside, in the fresh air, with no talk of elections - only nature. Later that evening, I drove up to Castlerigg stone circle (about 25 minutes away). The skies were clear, stars were bright, and there was a possible chance of seeing the aurora borealis. The really big problem though was the moon - conditions were just not dark enough. I was talking about the moon when I got back to Borrowdale, and Glen started telling me that the moon was going to be really big next week. I asked him what that meant for the world, to which he replied, "well, we will just see a really big moon." But he did reckon that the moon has been unnaturally large all year, and that perhaps it has moved much closer to earth. "Or it could just be my eyesight...it hasn't really got bigger, but I can see far away things more clearly now."
There were a few other people hanging around the stone circle, and although I was slightly worried that they could be Druids (and might be interrupting some sort of ritual) I walked over and started chatting to them. They were in fact just regular human beings (and very nice at that), two from Scotland, & one from York, and we'd all just randomly met there. I stayed for a little while before heading to Tewet tarn. It was at this point that I encountered a slight difficulty - I couldn't seem to get my £7.99 headtorch (from the Spar in Durness) to work. It turned out that I wasn't actually pressing the on button, but thankfully there was no one around to ridicule me.
When I was back in work, I decided it was time to address a very important issue with my new work colleagues. "So.....what are you thoughts on Chris de Burgh?" The response on the whole was more positive than I expected - I'm pretty sure the word 'legend' was even used. That, along with the general enthusiasm at my idea to have a staff pitch and putt game, has made me realise that it's going to be a good few weeks.
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