ecriture et reecriture

              Now, Girnigoe is called “Sinclair Girnigoe” and there is a good path to reach the place. You can even get informations and illustrations. Civilisation seems to have come to the old and wild area and to understand how much beauty and deepness there is inside.

             At Easter 2005, considering that I had proved enough my passion for Caithness and the all Sinclair area, I asked the Sinclair clan to become a member and to wear the tartan in Halkirk games on summer 2008.

            That was a great distinction and I got the chance to get in touch with Ian Sinclair who is now a friend : his wide culture concerning history and various holy places in Britain, his detailed memory of the all castle have been most precious to me. As he told me, and I do believe that, many things are still to come about the knowledge of the castle, while diggings are going on in the main area.

              There was never anybody in the area by that time, reaching the castle being a muddy and wild adventure ! I spent long hours there, watching the cliffs, the sea, the majestic ruins, going around the rocks, the walls, the dungeon, desperately looking for a ghost. There was a rope and it was possible to climb up, to check up  just in case !  By that time, I had pretended to my friends I was a “ghost hunter”! I wanted to know everything about the story of John Sinclair “starved to death” in the dungeon.

               I got into contact with a farmer called Miller (from old Stirkoke I think) who nicely told me about the story. I started to organize “tours” around the castle with my few visitors. We even camped there with my young brother who also grew fascinated by the all area.

               Then my wife and then my children who, once again this summer, have been very keen on the castle.  Girnigoe is really “the family legend” and an entranced parcel of my memory.

         Mille excuses à mes lecteurs et lectrices qui ne maîtrisent pas l’anglais, mais je vais publier dans les jours à venir l’article que le responsable de la revue Sinclair m’a demandé d’écrire en hommage au clan Sinclair et à son château (auquel est consacré mon livre « le Ceilidh »). J’y explique à quel point le Caithness a joué un rôle important depuis 1979, date de ma première « intrusion » dans cette région si éloignée du Royaume Uni...

   Wandering about Sinclair Girnigoe since the time I was the local “French assistant”

The first time I came to Caithness was in 1979… I was camping around all over Britain with some friends. We had a special ticket on the train and we could travel wherever we wanted. South, north, east, west. I don’t know why, but, from the first glimpse, I felt attracted by that territory that the station in Dingwall called “the far north”.

         We arrived in Thurso on a wet day and I remember there was a highland gathering or something going on. Not very comfortable yet, and we faced very bad conditions for the tents, the walks, the cooking etc, so that my friends felt quickly “fed up” with that “poor and bliek country”…  I didn’t feel the same way, and, as we were all “struggling” on the path near the old castle, instead of complaining like the others against the wet wind, and the screaming hitchkock seagulls, I was thinking that I had to come back on my own another time…

And I came back indeed… It was in September 1983. I had asked to be employed in Caithness as a French assistant (Wick and Thurso High schools). Then, during all one year, from September to july, Caithness was for me ! I was staying in Wick, Glamis Road, and somebody kindly gave me his gran’ mother’s old bike. Then started  my love affair with seals in Staxigoe, gulls in Noss Head and ruins at Dirlot, Keiss, Ackergill, Old Wick, Bucholie and specially Girnigoe.

                Le voyage en Ecosse était une fuite et le retour au port est aussi un retour au travail acharné. Je suis en effet en ce moment très occupé, à cheval sur plusieurs ateliers depuis que je suis revenu... Les voici :

* Préparation de la rentrée sous plusieurs facettes :

- Préparation du cours de seconde : étude de l’Assommoir (relecture annotée du roman de Zola)

- Préparation du cours de première : étude de Bel-Ami (relecture annotée du roman de Maupassant)

- Préparation du cours de BTS : recherche des programmes officiels, réflexion sur les contenus et contacts divers avec des profs qui ont déjà enseigné la matière.

* Préparation de la sortie du livre : corrections et ajouts divers, préparation du support photos qui va aller avec.

- La réalisation définitive de la fiction.

- La réalisation définitive de l’ouvrage documentaire portant sur les rues de La Rochelle.  

              La période des vacances étant cette fois vraiment lancée, je vais suspendre ce blog pour un bon mois... Un retour en Ecosse est prévu cet été mais, pour l’heure, ma véritable préoccupation d’écriture tient dans la rédaction de mon livre et ses deux versions parallèles, à savoir « le document » et la réalisation du web site.

               Par conséquent, je cours après le temps dans une période où je souhaite aussi relâcher un peu la pression. Lorsque, toutefois, le site sera réalisé, je ferai un « flash blog » afin d’avertir mes lecteurs.

               D’ici là, à vous tous et toutes, bonne vacances constructives !