Dear X

I’m on a small island, 5 miles by 3 miles. I’m by myself, living in a caravan, on a croft. When you look at a caravan, you realize a fundamental thing: it’s a caravan.  There’s no running water or electricity. It’s a tiny, one-room deal, and a tall person couldn’t stand up straight (fortunately, that’s not a problem for me). When I first got here I kind of went into shock. I’ve never been so isolated; I totally underestimated the internet/cell phones and how much they surrounded me with this bubble of connectedness all the time. But I got over it, and now I’m okay. I mean, there are people here, but they live here and we don’t really talk. The Isle of Eigg is really a place to go with friends. I wish I had a dog – it’d make me feel so much better. Instead of walking alone on the beach, I can walk with a dog. There are a lot of chickens that hang around my little stoop. I get my water from an outside sink. There’s a compost toilet. Showering costs $4, so I haven’t showered. I snuck into a neighboring cabin to send this to you, no joke.

The island is really beautiful, though. Everywhere I go is beautiful. I have a little red bicycle that gets me around the island. There’s a bay that I swim in, in the morning. You can see right across to the neighboring isle, which is a nature preserve for the most part. It’s a breathtaking swim (literally; the water is very cold). The sand shimmers in the afternoon. Today I took a two hour hike to one of the peaks, and I could see everything. The bay, the ocean, the neighboring island, the cliffs, the pasture, the rolling hills blanketed in these fern-like bushes. Absolutely beautiful shades of green. Also, from the top I could see all the way down to the beach, and some of the sound floated up to reach me. Laughing kids, and that sort of thing. and I could see them (like ants) splashing around, and of course they had a dog running around with them. I do wish you were here. I’m sure this is the kind of place you’d like. It’s not tropical – so it’s not hot and humid. The temperature is lovely; it’s a non-tropical, Hebridean paradise.