Half six prompt I walked out of my flat door, bleary eyed. In the growing light, Rupert and Jeremy had just pulled up outside. Both my remaining half brothers. We are going on a road trip. So much of my thinking has been towards Japan that it barely registered.
I got in the back, knowing Rupert was gonna take the wheel to Folkestone. He’s a morning bird. I’m not. He’s caught his fair share of worms over the years. I don’t have as many worms.
Rupert catalysed this road trip. A chance for three out of five of us to get to know each other as adults. Maxwell is at work and family. Jamie’s ashes are across the corridor from me as I write. Rupert’s birds have flown and his wife is with family. Jeremy is back from extended work abroad and has never been a homebody despite kids. I’m just some usually unpredictable louche actor who suddenly knows exactly where he’s going to be from late August, and thus has a sense of possibility and freedom brought on by not having to freak out about where the next job is coming from where the next job is coming from where
I’m in a big room in a quiet place, on a little sofa bed. Last time I was here Tristan and I improvised a studio and he filmed a fantastic self tape as Putin. No traction.
I’m in Néré. We got to the eurotunnel and Rupert and I swapped drivers for the first leg in France. Then we shared a long drive south and talk flowed freely. Three Barclay males with wildly different life experiences. No topic is safe if you think people who don’t share your exact worldview are idiots. Thankfully none of us think that. We all interpret everything very differently, but can all try and dig into big issues without being didactic, patronising or stubborn. I enjoyed it more than I expected. I think we are going to be able to get by without killing each other. Hopefully.
Tonight and tomorrow we are here with Danuta, Jamie’s widow, in the home he built for her. Then further south a bit.
It is Spring here. We drove through cloud and grey until we passed Paris and then the light opened. Wildlife. Birds. Light. France is yellow right now, all the rapeseed ripe for the reaping. And the sun exists. I’m starting to believe we may not have to live in darkness forever.
AlBarclay 