Week 2 Notes / Reconnection Season

From solitude to sisterhood and beyond

Friends made: 9 (50:50 verbal v non-verbal relationships)
ABBA streams: 9,373,393 (pls send help or new playlist)
Books read: Wide Sargasso Sea, Still Life, Ex-Wife (hermit book club coming soon)
Freckle Count: 924 (hopefully will turn into one mega freckle ie tan?!)

No, surely not, Greek gods above, please tell me this isn’t the halfway point?!

If week one was about softening and slowing then week two has morphed into a week long exercise in re-connection.

On the one hand, inwardly, with me, myself and I. Emotions, feelings, thoughts - all the good stuff. Dissecting the past 24 months (who am I kidding, 29 years) and starting to piece everything back together.

But also externally in the form of suncream samaritans. New (and nude) beach friends. Mastiha bearing waiters.

Reconnecting

This week, I’ve found myself repeatedly struck by the joy of small human interactions. The quiet ones. The absurd ones. The non-verbal ones.

It’s easy, in London, to be surrounded by people all day. Shoved into a stranger’s armpit on the tube. Going through your sun salutations in a studio full of 30 yoga girlies. Waiting in the queue for the self-service check-outs.

And yet should someone smile, or (heaven forbid!!) attempt to start a conversation, we look away. Become instantly distracted in the v v important message that needs replying to ASAP on our phone.

It’s easy to forget how good it feels to be part of a shared social ecosystem, even if only fleetingly.

Out here, I’ve remembered.

Remembered just how nice people are. How good it feels to learn a stranger’s name. To smile with people you don’t know and probably won’t see again. Remembered just how touching a seemingly simple act of kindness can be.

And maybe that’s what’s surprised me most. I came here craving solitude which I’ve had in spades. But I’ve also found something else.

Community. A fleeting little hermit community of island dwellers, expats and fellow off-grid explorers. It’s kinda weird but completely lovely.

So in honour of this (v accidental) social renaissance, here are this week’s Hermit Highlights:

• Flower picking my way to childhood wonder

• Watching two Americans go from boardshorts to beach bums (Ian and Bridgid, welcome to la famiglia)

• The solo date night of dreams

• Pure running bliss (until ankle incident)

• Collecting shells and emotional clarity

• The unexpected joy of reading deprivation

• Making birthday suit friends

• Surprise mastiha bearing visitors

• Seeing the stars at night

• Enjoying eating with no distractions, just savouring

• Writing love letters to the girls who are there every step of the way

• Maybe, just maybe, becoming a hat person

• The pink colour of the sky post-tempest

So here’s to week two, the week I realised you can be a hermit and a bit of a social butterfly too. Hmm, well maybe moth would be more apt. But you get the picture.

Week three, much more of the same please. Just preferably with fewer running injuries and storms.