Today’s post is a bit of a different one, and I hope to make the rambling series a more common part of what I’m doing. I find writing so therapeutic, and these ramblings give me a way to just write down my random thoughts and opinions about an array of ideas and topics without pressure to talk about a specific thing for a specific need, and hopefully it helps you to connect with me as a person and feel like we have this growing friendship. I find sometimes that things are 100 miles a minute and before you realise it you’re two thirds of the way through the year and it feels like yesterday you had a cup of hot chocolate in your hands and a blanket over you watching movies.
The last couple of weeks have been particularly tough, with myself feeling poorly after my first Covid jab, then Blake having a very bad upset tummy, and then me having a funny belly myself -I’ll spare you details on that one.
What I have had the time to appreciate though is just how good a good cup of tea is. I’m normally a milk and one sugar kind of guy chucked into a brew of PG Tips or Typhoo, but the last two days in particular I’ve really been enjoying different kinds of ‘tea’. My wife’s mum is very earthy and natural, and swears by home remedies and natural ways to treat things, and I have to say, they’re actually working really well. Switching between peppermint tea and a lemon and ginger tea I’m feeling really great. It’s helped my stomach aches and cramps a lot, and it’s been a really nice change of pace. I don’t know what it is about tea, but it just has this ability to slow the world down for half hour whilst you clutch on to that warm mug (especially if it’s a nice mug).
I remember I was going through a tough time a few years back, and I have two escapes; one being writing which I found only a couple years ago, and the other being that I would throw my camera gear in the car and just disappear to somewhere I’d never been before. I found that seeing new things, places and people really helped me to reset. I was on my way to North Wales, and I stopped off on a detour to St David’s. For those that don’t know about St David’s, it’s the UK’s smallest city and sits nestled in the western countryside of Pembrokeshire. It’s the home of St David’s Cathedral, built by the patron Saint of Wales, and has all sorts of amazing stories and legends, as does the rest of Pembrokeshire.
I was strolling through the village when I found a little café just tucked away down one of the streets. It seemed like it had a calming atmosphere and wasn’t too busy so I popped in for a spot of lunch. I was looking through the menu when I found this huge list of tea that they served. I’d heard about Earl Grey so thought now would be a good time to try it. It blew my mind. No milk or sugar, just this delicate, deep flavour of the tea was like that of nothing I’d ever experienced. Until this point I’d just had tea as I’m sure we’ve all had it on a regular basis, but this one cup just opened my eyes to the huge array of flavours and blends that were out there. I can only compare it to what it must be like when a wine expert tastes a new vintage for the first time.
That was the first time my mood flipped on the spot from just tasting something, and honestly it’s been a sort of mini-hobby ever since. With Covid keeping everyone pretty much locked to their home towns, we’ve not done a lot in the way of exploring but hopefully that will change shortly. We want to go camping now that Blake’s a little bit older, and we think he’ll enjoy wandering around the fields and looking at all of the flowers and bugs. He’s a proper little adventurer.
Blake’s not had the most exciting of upbringings so far being that we’ve on and off had all of these restrictions for the best part of 18 months of his life – and he’s only 2 and a half – so I really want to make sure he gets to explore and go on adventures before he starts school and all of the expectations and commitments to attend that come with that. My real hope is that he grows up loving the outdoors and isn’t sat in front of a screen all day. Some of my best memories as a child were when we were out and about, walking through forests and catching bugs, or making daisy chains in the fields and climbing trees to collect conkers and pine cones. I feel like it gives you an appreciation of what’s around you and helps you to appreciate the bigger picture of just how small of a part you are of a much, much bigger world and that it needs to be taken care of. If he grows up being kind of everyone and everything, and with a purpose to make people’s lives better, I’ve done my job.
Right, I don’t know about you but I’ve got to the bottom of my tea so it’s time for a refill. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my ramblings and got something out of it if that’s even possible. If you did enjoy it though and want to read more of these types of articles make sure you hit that little heart below for me. Take care of yourself, and be the reason someone smiles today. I’ll catch you again next time.
Nate