travels with an unlikely aunt

I am in Hawaii. Kauai to be exact.

Now just a couple of housekeeping things…..

Nobody, especially unfit men over 50 should wear T-shirts that are cut off at the shoulders. Why would you do that? Why would you trot out to dinner in a T shirt that has this draping armhole that shows underarm hair and your less than firm chest? We women are better at this. We search out things that are longer at the back than the front. We love elbow length.

And, everyone, at least once a year, must be in a place that when they look up at night they see that heavenly mantle of stars.

Those of us that live in cities, awash with street lights and other nonsense like air contamination, we see an occasional sighting of Venus.

But this is what we all need to remind ourselves of being children when anything was possible.

A blanket of pin pricks. Light years away.

I feel like Burt Lancaster in Local Hero on that beach in Scotland.

But I’m not. I’m Wendy in Kaua’i.

I was a bit flat. Like a plug with a red button that you had to reset in order to connect to the power. Had a week to throw to the Gods. Could have stayed at home and made a start on my taxes. Got lovely Rey to come in and install a new cupboard in my kitchen. Had Lovely Scott come round and clean my rugs.

But instead, I bought a flight to Hawaii .

Then I had to find somewhere to stay which was a little harder than I had envisaged.

But I am here. At a resort. Hanalei Bay Resort. With a lot of people who play golf. And sit in the swimming pool and drink cocktails. And sit in the Ukulele Bar and listen to someone singing “ Feelings”, and, oh yes, they wear T shirts that show creases that should be kept private.

This is not a resort that would want me as a member

But I am here. And I am also not here. I have been driving around. To a lighthouse. To a botanical garden. To a beach where the road truly ends.