Absence and presence

Hello, friends, it is I, BOB – the happy-go-lucky labrador who lives with Kate, Tom and my unruly brother, Bran. Today I am here to tell you about my interesting experience of absence and presence, which occurred during a recent trip I took to the magical isle of Arran.

I say I took this trip, but really, it was Tom who did the taking. Tom likes many things that I also enjoy very much: BANANAS and POTATOES, for example. Happily, another of those things is a Big Hill of which the isle of Arran has many. Arran is very close to Kintyre – in fact, you can see its distinctive, pointy outline from where we live – but to get there you have to take a boat. Here comes the boat!

The boat is small and noisy, and we met many happy dogs and their humans on board. Despite this, for some strange reason, the welcome notice on the slipway did not include passengers of the four legged variety. Dogs were there on the boat, but not on the sign: this was the first of several curious absences I began to notice on this trip.

The second absence became apparent shortly after our arrival on the island, when Tom told me that we were heading to a mountain called Goatfell. Now, I have met goats before and I like them very much. There are many goats in Kintyre – at Carradale, at Davaar, in the hills above Machrihanish. These goat friends are free spirits in the landscape, wandering about just doing their own thing: they can pop up out of nowhere, and it is always exciting when you meet one (or as is more often than not the case, several – goats tending to materialise in groups). Tom and Kate find meeting a Kintyre goat just as exciting as I do, but unlike me, this excitement seems to have very little to do with the way they smell. This is just one of many inexplicable human weirdnesses, because nothing smells quite like a goat, and, to my mind, few things smell as good. Mmmm . . . . goat . . . I digress. Anyway, it was a lovely day for a run up a hill, and for understandable reasons, the prospect of a goat encounter made this even more appealing. I was happy when we parked the car and brother Bran was excited too.

With us dogs leading the way in leaps and bounds, and our human following somewhat less agilely behind, we all ran up Goatfell. We paid careful attention to our surroundings, and I often paused to sniff the air, but I found no sign of a goat, by either sight or smell.

We eventually arrived at the top of Goatfell. There we encountered several humans – enthusing, as is customary about The View – but there were . . . no goats!

Look over there, Bran – can you see a goat? No? Well, how about down there?

We checked everywhere we could (although Tom stopped us exploring some interesting precipitous crevices), and, though we could hardly believe it, it was true. Goats were there in the name, but not on the hill! Another curious absence!

As we came down from Goatfell, the sun went down and the moon came up. The air began to cool.

Tom said we needed to make camp, so we put up a tent by the seashore. I say we, but as putting up tents involves lots of sticks which, rather than being chewed or played with, must be carefully joined together, Tom took care of this part while Bran and I amused ourselves by the water.

It was about then that I noticed another strange absence. Where was Kate? I remembered that I’d not seen her for a while. Could she be inside the tent? I thought I’d better check.

Just at the sign contained no dogs and the hill contained no goats, the tent contained no Kate. Another absence! The third! I began to be concerned.

Then Tom and Bran came in to hunker in the bunker. As we lay there, I told Tom about the day’s strange absences, and in particular that of Kate. He said that there was nothing for me to worry about, because in fact, Kate was actually there with us in spirit. In spirit! Interesting! It was true that I could picture Kate in the tent – in fact I could even smell her. This was very reassuring, so perhaps she was actually there although I couldn’t really see her? Did the same thing, I wondered, apply to the absent goats of the hill? Were they there “in spirit” too? And what about that sign and its missing dogs? If you were able to imagine or remember a thing did it make it real? This presence and absence stuff was all very confusing. My dog brain was in a whirl! Tom told me to stop worrying and just go to sleep. I dreamt of goats.

I woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. There was no Kate, and no goats, but I definitely think that they were there with us in spirit.

I learned a lot on my trip to Arran!

See you soon, love BOB.