Living by the seaside: A writer’s diary 4

Best-selling author and actress Kate Thompson tries solitary seaside living in the interests of writing. Would it work? Read Kate’s column over the next few weeks on the Country channel

The first time I took myself off to the coast on my own, my friends all thought I'd turn tail and come running back to the city within 24 hours. Secretly, so did I. I really wasn't sure that I could hack the isolation. But what happened was - I actually enjoyed it. I wasn't lonely, I was solitary, and there's a huge difference. Loneliness is scary and unwelcome, solitude can be a state to be devoutly wished for. Here I can disconnect the land line and turn off my mobile and refuse to access email. I can sit and gaze at the sea view from my window, I can put out bread for the birds and observe their antics (the belligerent robin is my favourite), I can curl up with a book in front of the fire. I can make myself cheese on toast at two o'clock in the morning, then wander outside to lie on the sea wall and look up at the stars. 

 

Last century WH Davies penned a remarkable poem called ‘Leisure'. The opening line goes like this: ‘What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.'

 

We don't have leisure any more. We have ‘leisure activities' - which would seem to me to be to be a complete contradiction in terms. We go to ‘leisure centres' sporting ‘leisure wear', to run on treadmills and row on machines. I read something recently about some Vietnamese fishermen who, when shown a picture of a rowing machine, had crowed in disbelief. A machine that you row, but that doesn't take you anywhere? A machine that doesn't earn you money by transporting you to where you can catch fish? A machine that you work indoors - not out in the open air with nature's beauty all around you? So what was the point? I have real empathy for those fishermen. I hate the rowing machine in my gym.

 

Our lives have become so pressurised that it seems we are no longer capable of just stopping and staring. The capacity to be alone, to have the courage to confront demons, to question yourself and maybe come up with answers, or simply to have the pleasure of your own company all to yourself, is something we should maybe re-learn.

 

Another benefit of solitude is, of course, that it stimulates creativity as we reflect on ideas and experiences. That's why I get so much work done in the winter months, when I stay in this tiny village in Connemara. However, as in all things, a balance is desirable. Too much activity and socialising and we can lose our sense of self, too much solitude and we can become isolated and depressed.

 

I discovered this for myself recently when a spell of bad weather meant that I became a prisoner in my Roundstone apartment. I felt so stir crazy that one afternoon I braved the elements and went for a walk in wild wind and rain to blow away the cobwebs. And when I came home I opened a bottle of wine and yacked on the phone to girlfriends in Dublin for hours, running up a humungous bill. And do you know what? That did the trick - for then. But the very next day I disconnected the phone again.

 

Read part five of Kate's column on Solitary Seaside Living next week - and if you missed the earlier columns, catch up here

 

About the author

 

Kate Thompson is a bestselling author and professional actress whose latest book The Kinsella Sisters, her 12^th, is set on the west coast of Ireland and follows the lives and loves of two very different sisters. Find out more here

Described as ‘Ireland's Joanna Lumley', she has acted alongside the likes of Gabriel Byrne, Brendan Gleeson and Liam Neeson. Visit Kate's website at www.kate-thomspon.com

 

 

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