Today started with a warm calm feel to it. When it’s like this I will go onto my balcony and take in the view.

Silence is never really silent. We don’t get much traffic noise up here, I guess it depends on which way the wind is blowing.

Do you ever see a clip of a film from space there is a hissing, rumbling sound of nothingness. It sounds like that here of an evening when everything’s quiet. So silent isn’t really silent after all.

I thought I’d try out a couple of seconds video on my new camera. I could hear the silent noise. When I play it back though, it’s almost deafening. Not at all like I heard when I filmed it.

My day was a typical one but this evening I started thinking back over the last decade (well the last 8 years), and I lamented that I hadn’t really achieved anything.

My daughter chipped in that I’d kept the family going and that I’d got at least one (the other won’t be long hopefully) through university. For me that’s normal that I should keep my family going doing my best, but I didn’t really feel that I’d achieved anything.

Hang on though, since coming here I’ve done some things that I know I would never have got around to if I’d stayed in my native country. I’ve learned to ride a horse, I passed my motorcycle test for the highest classification of motorbike, I’ve learned to paint, I spin my own wool. I’ve built a drystone wall in my garden and almost single handedly transformed it from an overgrown mass of brambles and nettles above my height, into a pleasant place which gave my birthday guests a “pinch me” moment, according to them.

Yes I’ve achieved quite a lot. So achievements don’t have to be in financial or employment terms, they can be personal fears conquered. I never thought I’d have the opportunity to pass a motorcycle test after wanting to do so at age 19. I have now and you know? It gives me a smug feeling.