Michael’s Travel Diary

June

June 4

I’m on my way south, back to London. My plan to visit both Great Britain and France was a bit optimistic; a visit to France, even just to the area around Paris, would take another month. I want to go home to see Alicia.

Carl Williams continues to buy my drawings, and I shipped another twenty as I reached the mainland. My career is promising, if the prints sell. It’s one thing to sell the drawings to a dealer, another for the dealer to find buyers for the drawings, and another for prints to sell well. There are three audiences, here, and they may not like the same things.

My leave of absence is almost over, and I need to decide what to do, now. I see three choices: after returning to Charleston: 1) I can resume my law practice, and draw at night and on weekends. With no wife, I can certainly devote a great deal of time to my work. 2) I can work until Alicia returns to school, then turn to art, full time. 3) I can reduce my work schedule to four days each week. If my work sells, I could then cut back to three days. Art is lonely work! It may be good for me to maintain a reduced practice for some time. Since each scenario takes me home in a couple of weeks, I do not need to make a final decision, yet.

June 7

I am on the island of Harris. Circles of standing stones abound on Harris. One of the most unusual groups is at Callanish. The stones are arranged in an avenue with upright stones lining each side; rows of stones going off to the right and left, forming a cross; and a circle of stones around the cross at the top. Taken together, they roughly form a Celtic cross. I visited on a sunny morning. The clerk at the hotel told me that I was fortunate. He has visited the site numerous times, he said, and he never has seen it in full sun!

The conclusion of the divorce process will give me the money to pursue my drawing however I choose. The prospect is exciting. At night, though, as I lay in bed, I think of Allison. I wonder if she is alright. I wonder what her plans might be. Sometimes I fear that I’ve been hasty, and that I will regret divorcing her. I wonder if I there was anything I could have done to avoid this..

June 15

The cathedral in Coventry was destroyed during the Second World War. Although a new, modern building was constructed next to it, the ruins of the bombed out building have been left standing as a reminder of the horror of war.

Coventry was the home of Lady Godiva. The story is that Godiva’s husband, the Earl of Mercia had imposed heavy taxes on the populace. Godiva protested the taxes and her husband told her that the taxes would be abolished if she would ride naked through the streets of Coventry. She took the dare, and the taxes were rescinded. It’s hard to believe, but Allison once went to a masquerade as Lady Godiva: a long, knee-length blonde wig and a flesh-colored leotard were a perfect costume! No one who knows her, now, could even imagine Allison dressed like that! Alicia would die if she were to ever hear that story!

June 18

I am spending the night in Oxford. It deserves a week, perhaps, if I were to draw it, properly, so I suppose that will be on another trip. I have either drawings or sketches of most of the buildings on Carl Williams’ list. Most of the others are in or near London and could be drawn during a visit of a week or two. If I continue to practice law, perhaps I can come back in the fall.

I feel badly that I will not be in Charleston for the hearing. John assures me that there is no need for me to be present, but it seems like the proper thing to do! I was present when the marriage began; shouldn’t I be there to speak for myself as it ends? In any case, I will miss the hearing. I will be a single man when I return to Charleston.

Tomorrow, I drive to London. I’ll spend four days there, drawing, organizing – sleeping! –before flying home.

It has been a good trip. I had hoped to spend my time immersed in my work, and I have. I had hoped to spend less time thinking about Allison, and, as time has passed, I have. I had hoped to think about my future, and that, too, is becoming clear.