Festive evenings

I noticed yesterday that it was completely dark outside in Ullapool by 4 p.m. In fact the sun had set just after 3.30 p.m! We have had oil delivered for the boiler and a big sack of logs delivered for the fire, so we are all fuelled up for the winter. I have also done a bit of Christmas shopping around the village. 
The wind and rain were so wild last night that when James and I were lying in bed we were woken by a spray of rain on our faces! We like to have the window open for fresh air when we sleep and even in winter we have it a wee bit open, but we have never been spritzed by rain before! The bed isn’t even right underneath the window; the rain must have been blown in horizontally. Needless to say James jumped out of bed and slammed the window shut. 
We were quite efficient in our packing and tidying and cleaning this morning and by 10.30 we had put the cats in the car with minimal fuss and were on our way south. This evening social butterflies James and I were out at different Christmas meet-ups; James was in Glasgow with friends and I was at my EK book club Christmas dinner. We both had enjoyably festive evenings. 

Wild and wet in Ullapool

The weather here in Ullapool has been appalling over the last few days; very rainy and very windy. The wind was blowing down the chimney so loudly that we had to turn up the volume on the television yesterday evening. However we have not been downhearted; it has been cosy in the cottage and we have been doing some cooking, reading and walking around the village when the rain lets up. In fact James doesn’t even wait for the rain to let up, he goes out for his couple of hours walk every morning up along Loch Achall no matter the weather and has now surpassed his annual steps record (from 2021) and is on target to have walked nine and a half million steps by the end of the month. 
On Saturday we had a very nice lunch with Alison and Hugh at the Storehouse near Dingwall, where they have a really excellent lunch menu and friendly efficient staff. Then after a visit to Simpsons Garden Centre in Inverness (which seemed to be the epicentre of Christmas decorations!) we went to the cinema to see Elf, our old favourite Christmas film! I can hardly believe that it’s now twenty-one years old and just as funny and joyful as ever. 

Gutters and Pies

 A cold bright morning so we decided to clear the gutters at the roof of the house. I held the ladder while James climbed up and down filling a bucket with leaves from the gutter. We moved the ladder along the length of the house until it was done, by which time James’ hands were like ice from the cold metal ladder and the cold vegetation in the gutter. He felt quite faint from the cold when he came indoors and needed to lie down for a short while. Just then a plane, an A400 Atlas, flew past and James was able to track it using his Flight Radar app. 
We set off to Lochinver and went for a walk at Leitir Easaidh (the all-abilities path at Little Assynt) and extended the walk to about 4 km. Then we had a tasty lunch of tomato soup at An Cala before buying some pies (of course!) to take home with us. We had pies for dinner and watched the last couple of episodes of Slow Horses Series 4 which is as good as ever. 

Winter sunshine in Ullapool

Yesterday we set off north to Ullapool, our first visit since September. It was a cold frosty morning and we started out in mist, which had dissipated by the time we reached Perth, although tendrils of mist continued to be swathed around the hills.   The branches and twigs of the leafless trees along the roadside were white with frost and looked very pretty. As the sun started to get lower we saw Ben Wyvis tinted a soft shade of blush pink and the snow on Beinn Dearg was flushed pink too. It was getting quite dark when we drove into Ullapool even though it was only 4 p.m. The cottage was in good order when we arrived and James soon got the fire blazing. Tom seemed very happy to be back in Ullapool and explored the cottage and garden, and Flora seemed fairly content as well. Today James did some gardening and I did a grocery shop and then we went for a walk around the village in the winter sunshine, and had lunch in the Cult Café. It’s nice to be back in Ullapool. 

Christmas Tree

We woke this morning to hear that Damascus has fallen and that President Assad has fled. * It’s strange to think that he worked as an optician in London before his brother died and he had to go home to Syria to become a brutal dictator like his Dad. I wonder if he wishes that his life had turned out differently. 
Today was a cold beautiful December day and we went to the Lodge Forest Visitor Cente (formerly the David Marshall Lodge) above Aberfoyle with Davie and Chanel to choose our Christmas trees. There were not many trees left but we chose two nicely shaped Nordman Fir trees before going for lunch in the café. Back at home I lit the fire in the lounge while James trimmed the tree trunk to fit its stand. James put the lights onto the tree and I added the tinsel and baubles. Flora was fascinated by the tree and watched us decorating it. Tom was also quite excited and rolled about to entice James to play fight with him. Davie and Chanel arrived round after putting up their own tree at home and we all had a curry and a very pleasant evening chatting by the fire. 

* Assad has turned up in Moscow. 

Return to Goodluck Hope

Our last day in London and it was wet and blustery, what a difference from yesterday’s blue skies. We had a leisurely start to the day and James went out to get pastries which we ate with Ally and Cat while watching boats go by on the river. Then we all headed to an art studio at Goodluck Hope with Ally and Cat to see a painting that they had commissioned; they had seen it online but of course wanted to see it in the gallery. We met the artist Ian who was really pleasant. The painting is gorgeous and they went ahead and purchased it. While it was being wrapped up we went across to the lovely wee Orchard Café for lunch, which we used to frequent when Ally and Cat lived in Goodluck Hope. It was nice to be back near their old gaff, of which I was very fond, although I love their Limehouse flat with its amazing views even more. I can hardly believe that they have been living there for two years already. James and I decided to walk back to the flat which was about 4 km, and we had time for a wee cup of tea with Ally and Cat before setting off to Heathrow airport for our flight home. There was a very drunk lady sitting beside us who had travelled to London for the day but hadn’t been able to leave the airport because the airline had lost her mobility scooter. She said that she still had a good time though! The flight was an hour late taking off which didn’t please us but there were a lot of delayed flights in front of us due to Storm Darragh, which has been affecting the west of the UK today. Our take off was a bit bumpy due to the wind but not too bad once we got up high. By 9.30 p.m. we were home with the cats, who were both heartwarmingly excited to see us.  

Curry in Brick Lane

We decided to go to Chelsea this morning, specifically to visit the Cricket Art Gallery which displays the work of an artist that I like. They only had a couple of her paintings but they added me to their mailing list. We wandered along the High Street where many of the shops were really quite upmarket, even the hardware shop where we bought a cute wee “Visitors” key tag for Ally and Cat, and a rather expensive nail brush. Then we had coffee and orange polenta cake in a trendy wee café called Kiss the Hippo. We were definitely the least trendy people there! We walked down to the river and onwards to Battersea Power Station, through Battersea Park with its Peace Memorial, and I spotted semi celebrity Spencer Matthews who was out running. It was a beautiful sunny day so we thought it would be a good opportunity to ascend the 109 lift to the top of one of the power station’s chimneys. This involved a bit of queueing and then we had to go into a sort of holding pen which had a fairly interesting exhibition about the history of the power station, before finally entering the lift which took us up to the top of the chimney. It was well worth the wait! The lift is made of glass and rises up above the top of the chimney to reveal 360 degree views of London. It was fabulous. The views of the city and river were great and we could see the Chelsea Barracks nearby, and even Canary Wharf in the distance. 
James expertly navigated us back into the city where we met Andrew for a quick coffee in Paul’s, just off Paternoster Square. We had a very pleasant chat before he headed back to work and we appreciated that he had taken time out of his busy day to meet us. 
We felt the need to go back to Ally and Cat’s flat for a rest before meeting Ally in Brick Lane for a curry. This evening was Cat’s office Christmas party so it was just three of us. Brick Lane was vibrant and buzzing on a Friday evening and Ally took us to Aladin’s where we had an absolutely delicious meal. Ally had promised us many celebrities in the restaurant but this evening there was not a one! However the food and service made up for it, the waiter even insisted on removing our poppadoms to replace them with more crispy ones! We had a great time and then Ally took us by underground to the Queen’s Head pub back in Limehouse which was a very traditional old-fashioned London pub. I loved it. There were many portraits of the late Queen on display and on the wall there were a couple of photographs from the 1990s of the Queen Mother pulling a pint at the pub and drinking it! We had a good old chat before heading back to Ally and Cat’s flat where James and Ally had a wee dram before bedtime.