COLUMN: The sheer glory of the gorse reminds me how blessed we are to live in this part of the world
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Stone's Throw by Jamie Stone
Remember the Beast from the East in early March 2018?
When I opened the door of my rented, one-bedroom council flat in Lambeth ('Laambef' to the locals) I got a real surprise. There were four inches of snow and my neighbour, Glen, a retired council sparkie, was clearing the snow from his car.
"Morning Jamie, ow' are you mate?"
I explained that I was fine and joined him in expressing surprise at this astonishing weather.
"Ere' Jamie, I've noticed you're only ere' on weekdays, where d'you go on the weekends?"
I answered his question. "The norf of Scotland."
Then came the killer question, the one I hadn't had to answer so far around this estate.
"So what d'you do for a living Jamie?"
I told him, perhaps a little shyly, that I was an MP.
"You f*****g what?!"
I still laugh to think of it and, in a way, that short conversation exemplified the nature of my job. Weekdays in the Big Smoke and weekends in a vast and very beautiful part of the world.
Every time I land in Inverness and they open the door of the plane - no matter what the weather is outside - I pause and breathe in the good clean Highland air.
Indeed, there is never a day when I don't rejoice and consider myself blessed to have been brought up and still live in such a special part of the world.
Driving through Helmsdale a few days ago I, yet again, could not help but notice the sheer glory of the gorse that grows on the hillside there.
Perhaps the contrast with London serves only to highlight the pleasure and appreciation of what we are so lucky to have. This, in a strange way, leads me to my point.
I have always believed with some passion that human beings flourish from living in pleasant surroundings. That is why, even in cities like London, thoughtful planting schemes and people tending their own garden, be it only a window box or an allotment, is so much of our way of life.
While this is true for adults, it is equally true for children. This is spring - the time for planting seeds – and there is nothing that fascinates a child more than seeing something as simple as cress being sewn on a wet piece of paper, then growing into something that you can actually eat.
If you take plants or small sapping trees to any school, the children absolutely love planting them and watching them grow.
So my message is really that human happiness is about connection. Connection to our surroundings, to nature, to each other.
It's about the love of learning about the spaces and places we inhabit, be it the city or the Highlands. And it feels to me like there is no time to more greatly appreciate and acknowledge this truth than when the first sprinkling of spring sunshine starts to creep through the grey clouds of winter.
A few days after the snow from the Beast from the East melted, I popped into the corner shop near my flat to get some milk.
"Aha! Your name is Jamie, and Glen says you are an MP. We are having real trouble with shoplifting - do you think you could do something about it?"
I promised that I would pass this on to their own local MP.
Jamie Stone, who is a Tain resident, is the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
