Capital day out

We are on the train to Edinburgh for my birthday outing. By "we" I mean James, Davie and me; when invited for a wet day out in Edinburgh, both Jamie and Alasdair suddenly felt the need to study, a need that they have not seemed to feel during the holidays until now! So it's just the three of us, and I'm looking forward to our day out. Yesterday James and I went for a swim and we each swam 40 lengths, which adds up to a kilometre! We also had a sauna, the weather has been so wet and horrible this week that it was good to get some exercise. Last night we went round to Neil and Olivia's for a lovely meal and evening. They have two gorgeous kittens called Alfie and Lola, and they were so sweet! It was a great evening. On the way we posted our letter to Belmont which gives them notice that we are withdrawing David from school at Easter, a big decision but hopefully the right one for David. He will do some work experience from Easter until the summer and then sit his Highers in May 2013 at a venue still to be finalised. The main reason for this is that I just don't think that he will be ready to sit Highers in May 2012. This is no reflection on his intelligence, there is no doubt in my mind that he's very clever. It's because the traditional school system has never suited him and inevitably this has delayed his progress. David has been fully consulted and agrees with this, but it felt quite scary to actually post the letter! We are now approaching Edinburgh and the sun has come out! 

A relaxing holiday

We are enjoying our days of leisure, relaxing and also getting a few useful things done around the house. I think that James is pining a little because we are often off on a ski holiday at this time of year. We usually set off on Boxing day or the 27th, have a great week of sunshine and snow, watch the New Year fireworks on top of our mountain, and go for a fondue and pierre chaude on the 1st of January to celebrate the end of the holiday. We decided to skip this year because Australia was very, very expensive! But I think we will go back on a ski holiday next year because it has become a lovely family tradition. Davie is the only one of us who will be ski-ing this winter; he will go on his school ski holiday to Pila in Italy on New Year's day. I think that Jack the cat is quite enjoying having us around. This morning he took me down to his bowl where we found that it was already full of chunks. I headed back to bed only to hear Jack crying in the hall. I leaped up, thinking that the bad cat who sometimes comes in to steal Jack's chunks was there, but found Jack scratching at Ally's bedroom door. He is such a sociable cat. James and I have been discussing the possibility of getting a kitten who would keep Jack company during the day when we are all out at work or school, but this is fraught with difficulties. What if Jack doesn't get on with the kitten? The kitten would have to go of course, but that would be very upsetting. And how would we keep the kitten inside while still allowing Jack to go outside? And how would we stop Jack from eating the kitten's food? Jack is only allowed to eat renal food, which he likes, but he would eat something else if he could I'm sure - he is always trying to steal our crisps or any food that we accidentally leave out. We were discussing all this with our fellow cat lover, Margaret, who was round for dinner last night. It was great to see her; it must be a year since we last met up so we had lots to catch up on. She is getting on well in Scottsdale and is travelling a lot to New Zealand just now on a project. Jamie's friend Nicola has arrived to stay with us for a couple of days. He met her in Darwin during the summer, she is a dance teacher there. She then travelled down to Melbourne where they spent more time together, they clearly like each other a lot! She is a pleasant, vivacious young woman; last night he took her out for dinner and a film at the Grosvenor. We all had a cup of tea before James and I took Margaret home and went over to Giffnock to collect Ally from one of his many parties! 

A breath of fresh air

Yesterday I firmly told James that I wanted a lovely day of leisure, but this had the result of making poor James feel cooped up. Although he also relaxed and pottered around a bit, I could tell he was longing to go for a walk; I even found him looking out of the window once or twice, like an animal in a cage. So today we decided to get some fresh air and we set off to Chatelherault Park with Jamie and Davie. Alasdair stayed at home with the intention of studying. I do hope that intention was translated into action; when we left he was still in bed using his laptop but when I suggested that he get up he told me witheringly that he was very busy downloading work from the school website. When we got to Chatelherault we noticed a dad smoking as he walked along with his tiny children; Jamie approached him and told him how damaging smoke is to young developing lungs. Needless to say this didn't go down too well and the angry parents shouted at him and told him to "beat it"! I was half horrified and half extremely proud. Luckily the furious family didn't catch up with us on the walk, probably because their fitness was affected by all that smoking! The rest of the walk was thankfully less eventful; we walked to the green bridge, crossed the river and walked back on the other side. At one point I stopped to admire some beautiful leaves which were an amazing pale gold colour - they actually looked gilded - however I was mocked by my cynical family who thought that I was stopping to catch my breath! By the time we got home Ally was already on his way into town to watch "Sherlock Holmes" with friends. James, David and I thought that this was a splendid idea so we went to see it ourselves at the Quay, and very good it was too, great fun, with Jude Law and particularly Robert Downey Jr. hamming it up excellently. And here we are back home in time for tea, with the evening still ahead of us. How nice it is to be on holiday. 

Books 2011

I have had a delightfully relaxing Boxing Day pottering about and I have decided to take this opportunity of idleness to make a list of the books that I have read in 2011. This is probably not absolutely every book because I had to look back through my ereader and blog to find them, but it must be most of them. Next year I will keep an ongoing list.
Eight Months on Ghazzah Street by Hilary Mantel
Dead Run by P.J. Tracy
Moab is my Washpot by Stephen Fry
Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
Any Human Heart by William Boyd
The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell
Heartstone by C.J. Sansome
Room by Emma Donoghue
A Cotswold Killing by Rebecca Tope
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
Coco Chanel by Justine Picardie
Alone in Berlin by Hans Fallada
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
Truth and Beauty by Ann Patchett
Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves
A Journey by Tony Blair
The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Being Emily by Anne Donovan
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Woods by Harlan Coben
The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith
The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton
The Fry Chronicles by Stephen Fry
Girl, Reading by Katie Ward
The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller
The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal
In Search of Lost Time Vol. 1 by Proust
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
The Immortal Life of Henriette Lacks
Other Peoples Money by Justin Cartwright
Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna
The Lantern by Deborah Lawrenson
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Inheritance by Nicholas Shakespeare
Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
And the Land Lay Still by James Robertson
Whatever you love by Louise Doughty
I have reviewed most of these briefly in my blogs, so I won't attempt to do that here. I always read quite a mix of books - some I have always wanted to read, others have been recommended to me by the girls in my two book clubs or my friend Heather, a great reader. Thanks for that girls! I love reading books that have been recommended to me because it gives me a chance to try something that I might not have chosen myself. 

Merry Anderson Christmas!

We have had a traditional family Christmas day, which I love. I will write it down for posterity because it is very typical of the Christmases we have had for the twenty-six years of our marriage so far, with the occasional variations due to unforseen events, like when Mum was sometimes in hospital over Christmas. It started off with all five of us in our bed opening our Christmas stockings. The boys are still very happy to have stockings I'm glad to say, and in fact there was even one for James and I at the foot of our bed when we woke up filled with goodies! Everyone was all happy and excited, it was one of those perfect times. I won't go into details of the lovely presents that we gave each other because it would sound like a catalogue of greed - but actually the best thing about our presents was the amount of thought that had clearly gone into each one. The boys must secretly like each other (and us) if they spend so much time choosing each other such personal and thoughtful presents! At about 10.30 a.m. we put the turkey into the oven - we had carefully worked out the timing as usual using my Delia Smith Christmas book - then we took Grandma round to Forrest and Marjory's where we toasted each other Merry Christmas and chatted merrily. Home to play with our pressies before we finished preparing the trimmings and vegetables. James noticed that there wasn't much of a smell of turkey cooking but we put it down to our new cooker being well sealed. If only we hadn't been so blasé! Jamie and Ally went across to bring Grandma over at quarter to three and we poured ourselves glasses of champagne (or sparkling raspberry!) and listened to the Queen's Speech then drank at toast to her health and of course to Prince Philip who is still in hospital. We served our starter and soup with great efficiency and then tested the turkey, but to our consternation it was nowhere near cooked! We had obeyed Delia to the letter but we must have got the weight of the stuffed turkey wrong so we had to wait another NINETY minutes until it was ready. Grandma was very understanding - she is used to our culinary mishaps! She told us about a long ago Christmas where she and Jimmy had cooked their turkey using a spit inside the oven so that it would cook nice and evenly, but instead it caught on the inside the oven and shredded itself into turkey mince. We had musical crackers this year which each contained a whistle which played a different note so we used the instructions provided to group whistle Christmas tunes. Alasdair did his best as the conductor but we were all truly dreadful at it and the only tune that was at all recognisable was Jingle Bells.

At last the turkey was cooked - it turned out very tasty - and we all ate far too much until we staggered into the lounge to listen to music and doze a bit. Jennifer phoned from Russell's Mum and Dad's house to wish us Happy Christmas, his Gran was there too - she is ninety-eight now! Davie took Grandma home and the rest of us watched the Doctor Who Christmas Special which was highly enjoyable. And that's about it! We have more or less cleared up, we are full but happy. Last year I couldn't bear the idea of having Christmas at home without Mum so for the first time ever we went to a hotel for dinner, but Christmas at home is so much better, and now that we have the extension and the new table it was different enough that I didn't feel too sad. In fact it has been a lovely day. Merry Christmas! 

Santa's sleigh is on its way

James has an app on his iPad called "Plane Finder" which he enjoys using to track the routes where planes are travelling around the world. I have looked at it sometimes and it is fascinating even to me; the idea of all these planes blinking across the screen taking people to different destinations. This evening he got a message when he switched on his iPad to say "Plane Finder is tracking Santa" and sure enough, Santa's sleigh is on screen making its way from country to country! When you click on the little red icon, it gives details such as: Route - Rovaniemi, Finland to Rovaniemi, Finland; Squawk - O-HO; Aircraft type - Sleigh. Santa is currently over Paris!
We have had a pleasant Christmas eve; Jamie and Alasdair went to the butcher's with Grandma at half past nine this morning to collect the turkey - it is huge! I had decided that 11 lb would be plenty but for some reason we got one that is 14 lb. James and I stuffed it and sewed it up and seasoned it and covered it with bacon. Then we put it in the garage to keep cool until tomorrow morning because there is no way that it would have fitted into the fridge. The news is full of Prince Philip's emergency heart op last night. The hospital certainly acted very quickly and apparently it is a very routine procedure, but of course he is ninety years old so they are being very careful with him.
So I think we are just about ready for Christmas! The presents are wrapped, the meal is prepared, and now all we have to do it wait for Santa! 

The Choir

Last night James and I watched a programme called "The Choir - Military Wives". It was the highlights of a television series that was shown this autumn, which we missed, but which I heard was very good. So it was nice to get a chance to see it, and it was absolutely fascinating. The choir master, Gareth Malone, had worked with two choirs made up of the wives of soldiers who are serving in Afghanistan and other war zones. These women are left living in army bases with their children for long periods while their husbands and partners are on duty, and joining the choir gave them a focus and something to aim for. They gave various concerts, becoming better and better, and finally performed in front of the royal family at the Remembrance Service at the Royal Albert Hall. It was very inspirational and they sang a beautiful song "Wherever You Are", especially written for them by Paul Mealor using words from letters they had sent and received from their husbands and partners. I hope it will be number one in the charts at Christmas.

Today was a pleasant day. When I went downstairs Jack was miaowing pitifully because James had accidentally shut him in the back room which meant that he could not get to his bowl of cat chunks. And when he and I investigated his bowl, it was found to be empty, which is always a very serious matter for Jack. When I fed him he was very loving towards me by rubbing himself against my legs. I had lunch at Ally Walker's, it was really nice to see her again and she showed me photos of Singapore which bring back good memories, and photos of their brilliant holiday to Vietnam and Cambodia, I would love to go there some day and also to Laos. When the Walkers went back to Singapore at the end of their holiday they visited an amazing island where their accommodation was right on the beach and there were lots of watersports. I would definitely like to go back to Singapore because there is lots more I would like to visit there. Lesley popped in and the three of us had a nice chat. On the way home I popped in to Whole Foods which is "a natural and organic grocery" which has recently opened in Giffnock. It has some nice ideas; the food all looks beautiful and there is a huge variety of different kinds of flour and grains and oils, but on the other hand it is very expensive - I bought some paper napkins, a small jar of honey, some incense sticks and two small small containers of nuts and it came to £28! 

Shopping with David

Today I had the challenging experience of going Christmas shopping with David. My role was that of advisor. First of all we had a fortifying lunch in TGI Fridays, which, as I'm sure I have mentioned before, is David's favourite restaurant. Then we hit the shops. The first obstacle was that David had little idea of what he wanted to buy and the second obstacle was that he was so pessimistic about the shopping trip that I kept catching him not looking at the items on sale! However once he had made one or two purchases he became more confident and was very pleased when he bought gifts for the whole family, and very thoughtful they were too. We met up with Alasdair in Gordon Street, he was late to meet Andrew (who is home from university for the holidays) due to my stupidity in getting the time of the Sainsbury's delivery wrong. I made it up to them by slipping Ally some money so that they could go out for dinner; this did the trick and Alasdair actually smiled at me. On the way home in the car Davie told me that he feels dogged by coincidence at the moment because every time he thinks of a tune or a television programme he hears / sees it shortly afterwards. He also told me that he was feeling nervous all day because he thought that Rangers were playing today and was worried about how they would get on. Then he was relieved when he realised that they weren't actually playing today. Just a glimpse into the strange world that is David's mind! I love him so much. Home to yet more Christmas cards, including one from my cousin Robin which mentioned that his son Thomas is on his second tour in Afghanistan. I hope that he will be safe, he is such a pleasant young man. 

It really is a Wonderful Life

It has been an emotional twenty-four hours. Last night there was a big fight in the family which had been brewing up for a while, which was upsetting for all concerned. I will not go into the details because some things should remain private. Today was my last day at school before the holidays, which I normally enjoy, but I was tired after last night and it didn't give me my normal feeling of excitement, although it all went fine. So when the five of us met up to see "It's a Wonderful Life" at the GFT I was worried that it would not be the joyous celebration that I had envisaged! However I need not have worried, the film worked its magic on all of us and we had a great evening. "It's a Wonderful Life" is such a good film, and even though I watch it every year I never get tired of it, and in fact I always notice something new in it. Like most people I am moved to tears at the ending, especially when George's brother says, "A toast to my big brother George. The richest man in town", but the film is full of wonderful moments. This year I was thinking about how bad guy Henry Potter seems to understand the frustration that George feels about his life, when he is trying to tempt him to come and work for him; in a way George's enemy understands him better than his own wife, brother and mother, none of whom support George in his quest for adventure. It's not as if they don't know that he is desperate to try pastures new. When his brother comes home from college with a new wife and a job offer, why doesn't their Mum say, "Great idea, but first work for four years in the Building and Loan so that George can have a break." James and I smiled at each other wryly when an anguished George says to Mary, "You call this a happy family? Why did we have to have all these kids?" but in fact I do think we are essentially a happy family, despite our differences in personality and occasional dreadful clashes, because even though this has been a difficult few days we all turned up to go to the film and then out for dinner together. And at dinner (in Red Onion, very nice) we all chatted and laughed about all sorts of subjects, from science to medicine to politics to chat-up lines to James' work to films and holidays. Friendly relations have not been completely restored but I am optimistic! 

Christmas trees

The last few days of term are partying past in a whirlwind of Christmas activities; I find this considerably more tiring than my normal timetable! Susan T very kindly brought my Secret Santa from the EK book club round to our house, and James surprised me by bringing one of the Christmas trees from the garden indoors; James' Dad dug up tiny Christmas tree saplings on a trip to the Trossachs with us twenty-two years ago when I was pregnant with Jamie, and grew them in pots before planting them in our garden. James put one of them in a red bucket in the back room so now we have Christmas trees at the back as well as at the front of the house. Jack didn't know what to make of it and keeps jumping up at the branches. This evening Jamie has gone with Katie W to a - wait for it - Life Drawing class at Glasgow School of Art. Now Katie is an Art student so I can understand why she would do this as part of her studies, but the idea of Jamie sitting there with her drawing scuddy people is rather strange! 

A fine Christmas tradition

I am blogging while my boys are watching Professor Brian Cox explaining Quantum Theory. That is to say James, Jamie and Davie, because Alasdair is not so interested in Physics and is upstairs using Facebook instead. Yes, Jamie is home, and I am so relieved to have him home safe after his scary and unpleasant experience early on Saturday morning. He has a big bump on the back of his head but his face is only slightly bruised. We didn't mention the incident to Grandma when she came round for tea! He is very philosophical about the experience and wants to put it behind him. Apart from that I have had a really lovely weekend. James' hangover yesterday gave me the opportunity for a magnificent long lie in bed, we had a relaxing Saturday night in, and today we went out for our traditional Christmas lunch with Heather and Ewan. I have such lovely memories, over quite a few years now, of this festive lunch with such great friends. We choose a restaurant in Glasgow, enjoy a lovely lunch and then usually make our way to Metropolitan to while away the afternoon chatting about all sorts of things. It has become very special to me, and I always look forward to it. One year, I think it was 2007, I was going through a very difficult time at work and I didn't think I could actually manage to go out for lunch, I didn't think I had the heart for it. James persuaded me to come out and despite everything, once we met up with Heather and Ewan and we were having our lunch and chatting, a weight seemed to lift off me and I started to enjoy Christmas and I was able to put aside my worries for a while. I did eventually tell Heather and Ewan about how that particular meal had cheered me up at a difficult time, but I am not sure that I was ever able to convey just how much it meant to me! This year we decided to try out that well known Glasgow restaurant, the Rogano. We have eaten in the cafe downstairs before but not upstairs. The restaurant is decorated in an art deco style, and was fairly quiet this afternoon; we sat at a round table at the back. The meal was delicious; they specialise in sea food and for my main course I had the sea bream with fish cake and James had smoked haddock wrapped in bacon. After our meal we ended up in Metropolitan as usual and had a very pleasant and relaxing afternoon. As Ewan pointed out, it's so nice to be able to chat freely and know that you don't need to "self-censor" your conversation, which is a mark of the trust between James and I and Heather and Ewan. I do enjoy our Christmas tradition! 

Earth stood hard as iron

It is very cold! During the night it must have thawed because from time to time we could hear snow and ice sliding off the roof, but by morning it the ground was hard frozen and slippery. At 4 a.m. I got a very worrying phone call from Jamie who had just been beaten up in a night club in Dundee. He had also been treated roughly by the bouncers and was now waiting for his friends outside an all night bakery, he was very upset and in pain. He was very worried because the police had become involved although he had not been charged. Needless to say I was extremely concerned and was about to drive to Dundee but Jamie promised me that his friends were about to take him home, and indeed he texted about quarter of an hour later to confirm that he was safe home, and one of his friends was going to sleep on his couch to make sure that he was ok. I had rather a disturbed night's sleep after that, however when I phoned Jamie at about nine he answered the phone and he sounded much better. He said he was packing up to come home, but over the course of the day, as the events of the night before receded in his mind, he changed his tune and is now planning to come home tomorrow morning. I won't be happy until he is safe home. James, David and I went in to the Outdoor Experience to get Davie's new ski jacket and salopettes which are his Christmas present. We are now at home for the evening; we have ordered a meal from Kai Lin and the four of us are preparing for a cosy evening at home. We will be watching the Strictly Come Dancing Final, at least I hope we will because I haven't run this past James yet!
10.40 p.m. - I'm just about to go to bed after a very pleasant evening. James was very well-behaved and watched the excellent Strictly Come Dancing final, although I noticed that his attention had lapsed at one stage when he started attempting to play the didgeridoo! 

Festive Friday

James and I went to Argos last night to buy an electric heater for the back room because it is a bit chilly, and it was a great success, giving the room's heating a wee boost. I think it is very cute and I have called it R2D2 but Alasdair told me witheringly that it looks nothing like said robot. Ally and I have been getting on very well recently, I think he realises that I tried very hard to be helpful about his party and Clarissa's visit, and is giving me the benefit of the doubt rather than assuming that I am constantly trying to ruin his life. Ally and Davie both finished school at lunch time today; Davie was celebrating by lunching with his friends and Ally is at his school dance. He went to get a haircut first and texted me a surreptitious photo of Limmy (a Glasgow comedian who we like) who he saw on the underground. Limmy looked very tired.

James is at his office night out, which he usually enjoys more than he thinks he will, and I have just attended my school's pantomime which was extremely good. As the term draws to its close there are many more festive activities coming up e.g. cake sales, concerts, and next week a karaoke competition. My blood runs cold in anticipation! Today I took 22 pupils and staff to the cinema for our own private showing of Puss in Boots 3D. The thin plot was built round the popular character from Shrek but the animation was brilliant and the cat mannerisms were very funny to us cat lovers. Everyone behaved well and most enjoyed themselves! 

No Secret Santa for me!

Ally sat his LNAT exam today and came home in a bad mood because he thinks he has done badly. He feels that the essay choices were very difficult and took his dinner up to his room, slamming the door. Oh dear. EK Book club this evening was at Susan's - usually our Christmas celebration is at Rosemary's but her heating has broken so Susan very kindly stepped in at short notice. As usual it was lovely to see everyone again, and we had a good laugh. When it came to Secret Santa time however, Emma and I were left presentless! This was because two people couldn't make it who must have been our Santas! However it was just as much fun watching the others opening their presents - Rosemary seemed very pleased with the perfume and chocolates that I gave her, and she soon guessed that they were from me, probably because I was watching her so intently! I gave Elaine a lift home and we had a nice chat in the car. It's all getting very festive! 

Back home for Jack

A wild and rainy day today, the highlight of which was my furry boy Jack's return home from his overnight stay at the vet. I picked him up on my way home from school and I could hear him miaowing in his low voice in his cat carrier as I drove down the road, and he rubbed against my fingers when I stuck them through the grille. He has a shaven tummy and two shaven front legs, which caused Ally much amusement. Although clearly pleased to be home - he walked about and scratched his scratching post and climbed up on the radiator - he is not very pleased with us; there was not much affection this evening and he didn't want to sit on anyone's lap, not even James'. He is still preoccupied by his ordeal I think, after all from his point of view the whole thing was meaningless and unpleasant, but I'm sure that he'll soon get over it. Ally has his LNAT exam tomorrow, which is a sort of aptitude test for pupils who want to study Law. He has had preparation classes at school but I have no idea how he'll get on. And he's now talking of choosing History over Law, so who knows what he will decide! This evening I wrote all my Christmas cards and Ally posted them except the local ones which Davie will deliver tomorrow. Jamie phoned; he thinks his exams went well today and he is going to pop home tomorrow for a few hours before collecting his ballerina from the train to take her back to Dundee. This is the dancing teacher whom he met in Darwin, who followed him to Melbourne during the summer. The weather is still very windy and rainy outside just now but I quite like that when I'm tucked up in bed! 

Good news about Jack Cat

James took Jack up to the vet first thing this morning for his ultrasound. This was because the vet felt a small lump in his tummy during a routine check up last week. We have been quite worried because last year Jill had a lump in her tummy which turned out to be a malignant tumour, and after an unsuccessful operation she died. I felt responsible because it was me who gave the go ahead to remove the tumour when she was on the operating table; she seemed such a strong and healthy wee cat and I was over optimistic and thought she could be cured. With hindsight I regret this and wish that we had opted for palliative care. I miss her very much.
We were told not to give Jack any food since yesterday evening so he was very hungry and was dismayed to be put in his cage ready for the journey to the vet. According to the vet, Jack was very well behaved all day, until it was time for his ultrasound in the afternoon. First he had to get his tummy shaved and he certainly didn't like that; the sound of the shaver scared him. Then the final insult was when they put lube on his tummy - at this point it all got too much for him and he attacked the vet's nurse, which is not like our good-natured furry boy! The vet phoned me to get permission to sedate him, but because of his dodgy kidneys he would need to be put on a drip to wash out the sedative in case it damaged them, which means an overnight stay. She phoned James with the results while I was driving Ally over to the Craigholme Dance (yes, more socialising for party boy, which will have to be scaled down because I got a phone call from Hutchie today to complain about his lack of attendance and effort at some classes!) To our delight it was very good news! No tumour was found so the lump must have been a poo; James commented fondly, "Yes, Jack the cat is full of shit!" And good news on his kidneys too; there is not much change and although they will not improve, things are stable for now. Unfortunately we could not celebrate with Jack because he is still at the vet, I can't wait to see him tomorrow! 

Sunday afternoon by the fire

I had such a lovely long lie this morning because I banned James from waking me until 10! It was great and I woke feeling refreshed. Ally and Clarissa got up at about 11 (she slept in Jamie's room), it turned out that they had got home at 4.30 after clubbing in town using Ally's dodgy ID and advice by phone from Jamie about where to go! They had a great time. James and I nipped into town to get a couple more Christmas presents - we keep thinking that we have finished but then think of something else. That really should be us completely finished now! In the afternoon Forrest, Marjory and the children came round for coffee and we had a festive afternoon with them and Davie by the fire in the lounge, having a good chat and a laugh. It was a nice way to spend a chilly afternoon. Ally arrived home after taking Clarissa to catch her train, he was absolutely exhausted and is now in bed at the unusually early hour of 9.30! Grandma came round for Sunday night tea as usual and we watched the semi-final results show of Strictly Come Dancing, and then made our plans for Christmas dinner. Grandma has ordered an 11 lb turkey with two different kinds of stuffing and chipolatas. I have already ordered my big Christmas shopping, to be delivered by Tesco on the 22nd. Well, I'm off to bed via a pleasant soak in the bath where I will read my current book "Let the great world spin". It's a bit gloomy so far but I'm hoping it will pick up. 

A Christmas Ceilidh

I enjoyed our department night out on Friday night; it was very relaxed and catered to all tastes. We started with a meal in Bar Square then moved on to O'Neills where an Irish Band was playing traditional music. We then moved to Arta where I did a bit of dancing before leaving at about 12 when I gave Tina a lift home. When I got home I met Clarissa for the first time since I saw her in St Lucia; she is very polite and friendly. In the morning James, Davie, Grandma and I set off to get our Christmas tree from the David Marshall Lodge at Aberfoyle; this has been our tradition since before the children were born! It is part of the fun of Christmas to choose our tree freshly cut down from the forest, and then we have a soup and sandwich lunch. Usually we have all three boys with us but this year Jamie has an exam on Tuesday and Ally was taking Clarissa into Glasgow to show her the sights. There was no snow at home but as we drove north we could see that fresh snow had fallen; the roads were icy and the countryside was covered with freezing mist. The branches of all the trees were topped with a layer of snow which gave an attractive lacy effect. When we arrived at the David Marshall Lodge we thought that there were no Christmas trees for sale, but as we approached the building we saw that they were there, but many less that usual. This was because of the adverse weather earlier in the week, however more were being delivered. With Grandma's help we chose a fine nine foot specimen of Douglas Fir, then James and Davie lashed it on to the roof of the car and we went inside for a warming lunch. Home we went and James put the tree up in the lounge and Davie did a grand job of decorating it. I have so many happy memories of decorating the tree with our lovely boys with Christmas music playing and the cats playing with baubles and tinsel. Kyle and Cammy popped round to see David, they are all good friends. Meanwhile Ally had taken Clarissa on a tour of the west end including the university and the Botanic Gardens. They went for lunch in Brel in Ashton Lane and listened to some jazz there. In the evening the four of us went to Cafe Source in St Andrew's Square where we had a nice meal in the cafe before moving upstairs to the ceilidh. There were no problems getting Ally and Clarissa in - it would have been a bit of a dampener if they had been turned away at the door! Ally had ID "borrowed from a friend" - the photo looked nothing like him! The ceilidh was great, just what Ally wanted. The ceilidh band were excellent and the venue was all decorated for Christmas. He and Clarissa danced to every dance, she looked lovely in a gold dress and he was very smart in his kilt. James and I enjoyed it too (more than James thought he would I think, and I am very pleased that he came with us!) and we had a few dances, we slipped away when the disco started at eleven, leaving Ally with strict instructions to take good care of Clarissa and to get a taxi home. I also told him to phone me if he had any problems getting a taxi because this is one of the busiest nights of the year. I haven't heard from him so I will turn the phone's ringer up to loud so that it will wake me if I am needed. I am so so tired but I'm really glad that the evening went well. Next Saturday however we are going to have a quiet night in! 

A visitor on the train

Alasdair's friend Clarissa will be arriving late this evening by train from London. He has been working hard to prepare for her arrival by clearing out Jamie's old room, cleaning it, putting on fresh bedclothes etc. It is quite sweet to see him making all this effort. He has asked me not to embarrass him and is getting his hair cut today to smarten himself up. He first met Clarissa on holiday in St Lucia three years ago and they have stayed in touch. Earlier this year he visited her when he was doing work experience in London. He decided that her visit should include a ceilidh because she has never been to one. However this was easier said than done. With only one evening in Glasgow it was difficult to find a ceilidh. Laurie's has ceilidh evenings but Ally has never been there and, understandably, they were very strict about age when he phoned up (Ally and Clarissa are both seventeen). I phoned round a few friends hoping that there might be a ceilidh at some sports club on the south side but no joy. Finally I searched on the Internet for Christmas party nights that included a ceilidh, and I came up with Cafe Source at St Andrews on the Square. Ally and I decided that he and Clarissa would have a better chance of getting in if James and I came with them, so I booked four tickets for their Christmas dinner and ceilidh for tomorrow night. It was nearly full so we were very lucky to get a table; Alasdair was so relieved because he had promised Clarissa a ceilidh so he wanted to come up with the goods! When James found out he was not a happy boy; he had been looking forward to a quiet Saturday night at home, and he did a lot of muttering about "this is a load of nonsense" and "I'm not going". I reminded him that he too was young once and wanting to impress a girl, but he retorted that his parents certainly wouldn't have gone to this trouble to help him. Which is true. However he calmed down eventually and I think he will turn up, let's hope it's a good evening. 

Extreme Weather

Late last night James heard on the news that there was severe weather warning for today but we had no idea how severe it was going to be! When we were woken this morning by "Radio Doom and Gloom" as I call Radio Scotland, the main news was that a storm was sweeping across central Scotland with winds of 80 to 90 miles per hour. The councils nearly all closed their schools or closed them early. What a strange day! In more than twenty years of teaching, the schools I have taught in have never closed until last year's Big Snow; occasionally pupils have been sent home early because of heavy snow but never ever because of wind! Our council closed all the schools to pupils, so when I got into work there were no classes to teach! I still had plenty to be getting on with, however at eleven we were all sent home! The reason we were told was that the storm was to worsen from midday onwards and the police had advised that there should be no travel. It certainly was stormy, with driving rain and huge gusts of wind, but the roads were open and it just didn't seem that different from many other stormy days that I have travelled to and from work over the years. I seem to remember regularly walking to school from the station in the 1970s leaning at a 45 degree angle against the wind! I suppose it was better to be safe than sorry; there were scary pictures on the news of a failed wind turbine with its gearbox on fire, massive waves at Largs and Helensburgh, and a school bus blown onto its side - mercifully it was empty because of the school closures. There were 165 miles per hour winds in the Cairngorms and there were trees blown down all over the place, and rail and air travel was disrupted. But it was such a strange day - I knew something would disrupt our beautifully planned prelim timetable!
While I have been writing this blog, Jack cat started chewing on a packet of Doritos that was lying open on the coffee table beside me. I told him to leave them alone but he wouldn't stop so I put my laptop aside and started to stand up to take them away from him; at this point Jack grabbed the packet with his teeth and flung it to the floor where a whole lot of doritos fell out and he started munching them - he was like a naughty toddler! Jack has been very suspicious of the windy weather, especially when the windows were rattling, and he has been enjoying watching the leaves blowing about from the safety and comfort of the back room. 

The History Boy

I got a text from Ally today that gladdened my heart - he has been offered an unconditional place to study History and Latin at Glasgow University. Now his first choice is still to study Law - although he has a great love for History - but this offer means that the boy will definitely be going to University! We all drank a toast of congratulations to him at tea-time.
A bit of worry about my furry boy Jack; I took him to the vet this evening for a blood test because the vet likes to test that his kidneys are still functioning well and that his pills are working. He usually gets a clean bill of health, but today the vet said that he has lost weight and that there is a wee lump on his intestine. Now this might be nothing to worry about, but it is exactly the same as Jill's symptoms just over a year ago. He is to get an ultrasound on Monday so I am not going to get ahead of myself.
We all watched "Death in Paradise" which we recorded yesterday. It is very pleasant and its Caribbean scenes are particularly suitable to watch on a cold December night in Scotland! 

Have yourself a merry little Christmas

As I write this the rain is battering on the roof of the extension, and presumably washing most of the remaining snow away. The journey to work was not great this morning because there was still a lot of snow lying on the roads and some drivers were going very, very slowly, however I saw a fine sunrise on my way. When I drove a sick pupil home at lunch time the back roads were still very snowy, however the thaw had started by the afternoon. It was a good old busy day at work, and as an unexpected bonus I was delighted that my twilight course was cancelled because of weather conditions. I got cakes for James' hill-walking committee meeting on the way home, it is going on in the lounge just now. I hope they choose some lovely destinations for outings for next year; James mentioned that someone has suggested St Kilda which would be great, it has long been a dream of mine to go there. I have just spent ages checking out Christmas ceilidhs on the internet because Ally's friend Clarissa, whom he met on holiday in St Lucia, is coming to visit this weekend from London and he wants to give her a Scottish experience! We have narrowed it down to two venues and I hope to book one of them tomorrow for him. If not he will have to give her the Scottish experience of a fish supper from Benny's! I am beginning to feel a little bit Christmassy, which surprises me because after last year when Mum died I thought I was kind of finished with the excitement of Christmas. I of course enjoyed our Christmas celebration with Heather and Ewan, and Christmas morning with Grandma, Marjory, Forrest and the children. And the boys opening their stockings on our bed on Christmas morning is still one of the joys of my life (yes they still do that!) But last Christmas without Mum was very sad for me and we went for dinner to a hotel for the first time ever because I couldn't bear to have Christmas dinner in the house without her. Dinner in the hotel was fine but a bit flat - it lacked the personal touch. However this year we will be back at home because the new extension won't remind me so much of Christmases past, and as we start the preparations I can feel stirrings of the old Christmas excitement that I thought would not return. Maybe it was the lovely Mince Pies outing to the Ochils, or the first snow, or the Kate Rusby carol concert; I don't know why exactly but Christmas is beginning to work its old magic! Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light, from now on our troubles will be out of sight....I hope so. 

A wintry day

The Kate Rusby concert last night was great; she was performing with her band and because it was their Christmas tour she sang a lot of traditional carols. She has a truly lovely voice and chatted between the songs, telling us about where they originated. James and I both enjoyed it; I wasn't sure if James would, but he liked the music even though it is a bit different from his usual taste. The snow had followed us from the Ochils and it was snowing during the night. We woke to two or three inches of snow and then James found that his car wouldn't start. He was furious and ranted angrily as we tried to jump start it (unsuccessfully), asking himself why we had bought that car when he had wanted a different one. I knew he meant me (it was me who wanted a seven seater) but rather than enter into a debate I sensibly kept quiet. I was quite concerned about being held up because I had all the English prelims in my car - I brought them home to staple them when I ran out of time on Friday - but I needn't have worried because the main roads were mostly clear. James got the train into work and sounded cheerier when I phoned him later. It was a busy exam day and it flew by, it snowed on and off all day but I could tell that it wasn't too bad and the journey home was fine. On the way home I collected my car from the garage and hopefully it is cured; it was nice to have it back although the brakes seemed a bit soft compared with the Micra courtesy car. Davie's train was cancelled so I nipped over to Newton Mearns to collect him from Stuart's house, it was lovely to have his company in the car; I miss him now that he gets the train home. He is so interesting to chat with. A pleasant evening at home ensued; we all competed on University Challenge as we often do, and we had a good laugh and argued over the answers. James won as usual with twelve points; I got eight; Ally got five and Davie got two (although one of these was disputed by Ally). I have a feeling that these scores will change when Ally and Davie go to University. Jack cat got no points at all and didn't show any interest. As I looked around at my boys I suddenly felt very lucky, they are such fun.  

A Snowy Walk in the Ochils

When James, Davie and I were collected from the Main Street by coach just after nine this morning it was cold and damp, it didn't seem very encouraging weather for our hill-walking club MInce Pies outing. While we stood waiting for the bus a lady walked past and paused to complain to me that she had mistaken the time and would not be able to buy her "carry out" for another hour. She explained that this was inconvenient because she had had her last drink an hour ago. I commiserated with her as best I could. Soon we were on our way and stopped for breakfast in a cafe in Bridge of Allan. There was a good turnout and Heather (from the club, not Heather B) had organised the whole day beautifully; not only had she planned the route and arranged where we would have our refreshments at either end, she had baked reindeer biscuits and made a Christmas cake in the shape of a cottage, the detail on it was amazing. We were then dropped off at Blairlogie at the edge of the Ochil Hills. One group including James and David "took the high road" up to the top of Dumyat, and the rest of us "took the low road" by circumnavigating Dumyat then heading northwards. Both routes converged shortly before arriving at the Sheriffmuir Inn. What an amazing walk! We set off in sunshine; there was a light dusting of snow on the hills and it looked very picturesque. Then it started snowing lightly - even more picturesque, and we opined to each other how we felt as though we were walking along in scenery reminiscent of a Christmas card. Then the sky darkened and the snow got heavier and soon we were struggling along in blizzard conditions, it was a whiteout and became bone-chillingly cold. Lunch took place beneath some trees beside the path - we didn't linger! Later the snow stopped and we crunched along in snow that was at least a couple of inches deep, there was even a little bit of blue sky again. Five different types of weather in one day, that's the joy of walking in the Scottish hills! After about three hours we spied the welcome sight of the white painted Sheriffmuir Inn, standing solitary ahead. We had our Christmas celebration which was great fun; Steven was a brilliant Santa for the second year running - he said he was more relaxed this year because last year he was a "Santa Virgin". All the wee children had a great time and Davie, as the oldest "child"  got a big cheer when he good-naturedly went up for his present! The adults all got presents too as well as mince pies and mulled wine. After a hearty chorus of "Jingle Bells" it was time to get back on the bus; the driver was understandably a bit nervous about the weather conditions. When we got home there was no snow at all, hard to believe after our wintry walk. What a good weekend we have had - a really good evening with Alison and Hugh yesterday and a healthy walk today. And the weekend is not yet over - James and I will shortly be going to a Kate Rusby concert at the concert hall - let's hope we don't get snowed in! 

Christmas Shopping with James

I do a lot of my Christmas Shopping on the internet these days, but some things have to be chosen in person so James and I set off into town this morning with a list! Thanks to James' nagging we arrived nice and early, and it wasn't too crowded. Our trip was very successful, we purchased everything that we wanted and even remained on good terms throughout! To celebrate the end of our Christmas shopping we went for lunch in John Lewis and ate pasta at a little table overlooking Buchanan Street. I like sitting by the window, the multitude of shoppers below always reminds me of a Lowrie painting. We had a pleasant chat about all sorts of things including our plans for next summer. Alasdair and I went to Tesco in the afternoon to get folders that he wanted, then I dropped him at the station because he has his Dunlop Ceilidh tonight. Then I did some cooking for Alison and Hugh who are coming for dinner tonight and I even have time to read some of my new book - Inheritance by Nicholas Shakespeare. I'm enjoying it so far; it's certainly an intriguing idea but it now depends on how the author develops it. What a nice weekend. 

My car is still sick

The unfeasibly expensive repairs on my car continue. Apparently the wrong parts for my exhaust have been delivered to the garage and will not fit the other bits. That's about as technical as I get. The mechanic was very apologetic and has given me a courtesy car for the weekend. I found this a bit suspicious because I was told earlier this week that there were no courtesy cars available until well into next week, which is why I had to hire a car for two days. Oh well, at least the garage are having to work hard for the huge amount of money that they are charging me.
Another really good day at school. I worked on until six to get everything ready for the prelims which start on Monday. Last year the timetable had to be completely reworked because of the Big Snow so I hope that the snow holds off for the next two weeks. Oh dear, what has happened to me? Have I become grown up and boring? Never mind, there's nothing I can do about the weather anyway.
I went out for a curry with Kathryn, Sheila and Barbara this evening to Ashoka South Side. It was a lovely meal for only £8.95 for two courses (pre-theatre so we had to be there at 6.15). I rushed there straight from school and managed to leave my phone in my classroom which is very annoying. To think I once said that I would never want a mobile phone, and now I feel very twitchy to be separated from it for a few hours! Anyway I had a lovely evening with the girls catching up on all the news and having a laugh. The curry is now sitting uneasily in my tummy. 

The rain it raineth on the just

"The rain it raineth on the just, and also on the unjust fella;
But mainly on the just because, the unjust steals the just's umbrella."
One of my favourite short poems from my childhood, attributed to Lord Bowen I think, who was a well-known judge in the 19th century.
Yes it is still raining and the temperature is dropping too; it's definitely getting wintry which I suppose is not surprising on the 1st of December. However I have had a great day despite the dreich weather; work was really good - we were visited by a band called Little Eye who played a gig at lunch-time! The pupils were all very excited, as were many female members of staff. I even had my photo taken with them! This evening I was at my Cambuslang book club at Lesley's where I had a lovely time talking books with good friends. I am tempted to subscribe to a magazine called Slightly Foxed which looks tremendous. James had to collect me from work today because my car has been in the garage for the last couple of days. I hired a car for two days but the car was not ready in time for this afternoon as promised. It was quite nice to chat to him on the way home and I am looking forward to his company on the way to work tomorrow. My car repairs (brakes and exhaust) are costing a fortune and James tells me that I will have to keep the car for at least two more years to justify the expense. I don't really mind that because I like my car (Peugeot 207 cc in a lovely turquoise blue) but what I don't like is that many things have gone wrong with it, it is not the most reliable car! Anyway I am off to bed in a good mood and I will end with another childhood rain poem:
The rain is falling all around,
It falls on field and tree
It rains on the umbrellas here,
And on the ships at sea.
(by Robert Louis Stevenson). 

Damn Squid

I was at home today because my union voted for strike action against cuts in Education spending. I know that I can go to my union if I need help, for example if I am assaulted at work, so I felt obliged to support them in my turn. This was not an easy decision for me; I love my job and I didn't go into teaching children with Additional Support Needs in order to go on strike and not teach them. On the evening news David Cameron called the strike a damp squib, which Davie misheard as damn squid, which I thought was very funny! The whole thing makes my brain hurt and I have lost sleep over the last week worrying about it, so I found Cameron's remark to be very patronising, and showed a worrying lack of understanding of the worries of people he is supposed to govern. 
Talking of making my brain hurt, James and I watched a film lent to us by Chris G this evening, called Memento. I found it very hard to follow at first because its chronology jumps back and forward, it's about a man who has a brain injury that affects his short term memory. I kind of got into it and understood it but it was not relaxing to watch! Back to work tomorrow thank goodness. And I have just finished Cloud Atlas and I thought it was tremendous! To quote its last lines, somehow apt for today's worries,
"...your life amounted to no more than one drop in a limitless ocean! Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?" 

Bursting Banks of Clyde

It has been very, very rainy over the last twenty-four hours and there has been a lot of flooding in central and south Scotland. I didn't know how extensive this was when Caroline and I set off happily to a meeting in Biggar High School, and we drove down the M74 in the pouring rain, chatting away merrily. The first sign of trouble was at the Abington Services exit; we noticed that the other side of the carriageway was flooded so badly that it was completely blocked. There were men in yellow jackets who were waist deep in the water, they were trying to clear the drains I think. It was on the A702 towards Biggar that things got really exciting - too exciting! The River Clyde winds along near the road and in many places it had totally burst its banks and flooded the fields around. And in some places the flooding was right across the road; I bravely drove through each torrent with Caroline encouraging me onwards - some were very deep, nearly up to the car door handles, and the car sent up huge wings of spray as we pushed through. Despite the danger it was quite good fun and the flooded fields with trees sticking out of the water looked amazing, as did the swollen, rushing river. We made it safely to our meeting and Caroline gave an excellent talk and did a question and answer session, I was so proud of her knowledge and skills. We took a different route back which was still very wet but less flooded, and joined the motorway further north. It wasn't until I got home that I saw on the news just how copious the rain has been - there has been 42 mm (1.65 inches) over the last 24 hours, and while I was making my way to Biggar firefighters had to rescue 27 pupils from Abington Primary after a burn burst its banks and flooded the school! Luckily no one was hurt. 

The Morning After

I think the party wound down about 3 a.m. because James said that he woke at about 3.30 and the music had stopped, and he could hear people moving about as if they were getting ready for bed. We had had to barricade our bedroom door earlier because confused teenagers kept wandering into our bedroom! One boy in particular had come in twice and stared at us bemusedly the first time, and then suspiciously the second time, as if he was thinking "Why are they still here?" before drifting back out again. I have no idea how many people slept over, maybe about twenty. James had brought a kettle, coffee, milk and pains au chocolat upstairs so we had breakfast in bed and didn't go downstairs until about ten, when Alasdair was making breakfast of bacon rolls, toast, orange juice, coffee and tea for his friends. The bedroom invading boy gave me a long look as if trying to remember where he had seen me before! I found out from that his name is Iain. Everyone was gone by twelve and we started the clearing up. Alasdair very sensibly played a major part in this clearing up which stopped James from being too annoyed with him. There was no major damage apart from one cracked floor tile where a glass must have been dropped. There was some broken glass and the wooden and tiled floors downstairs were very, very sticky. I spent some time washing them properly because I hate a sticky floor!

The wild weather last night did not seem to have left much of a mark, although sadly a cargo vessel in the Irish Sea had been hit by a giant wave and sank with the loss of five crew. The sea is such a powerful and untameable beast, it must be terrifying to be at its mercy in a storm.

After lunch James and I went for a swim down to Cambuslang Swimming pool; we had a pleasant chat in the sauna and the steam room. And now the weekend is drawing peacefully to its close (to quote Lord Dawson about George V's imminent demise). Our normal Sunday evening routine is Grandma coming round for tea, and watching the Strictly Come Dancing results show with her - although we don't tend to watch the main show on a Saturday! Maybe I will record the Saturday show from now on because by this stage in the competition the standard is very high, and it is always a pleasure to watch. Today we have an extra person for dinner - our Jamie who is home to bring Ally one of his kilts for the Christmas dance season. Grandma will be arriving any minute so I had better finish getting the tea ready. 

Wild Night

It sure is wild around here tonight! Firstly because of the weather. The gale force wind is spinning and blowing the heavy rain along the lamp lit road in waves. It is quite spectacular and the roof tiles are rattling. Secondly our home contains about thirty-five teenagers who are playing music and generally shrieking and shouting. Ally has been planning this party for weeks. He tried very hard to persuade us to spend the night elsewhere but we refused, and in the end we compromised that we would go out for the evening and then go straight to our bedroom on our return so as not to embarrass him. We were going to go to the cinema but were delighted to receive an invitation to Heather and Ewan's where we were promised Spanish food, inspired by their recent trip to Madrid. What a lovely evening of chatting, great music and delicious food! Our starter was artichoke on toasted bread, very unusual, I love artichokes. Then gorgeous chicken, chorizo and bean stew served with patatas bravas and salad. Very tasty and just right to bring us a little Spanish warmth on a rainy Scottish November evening. We set off home with some trepidation because we knew that the party would be well under way. We kept our promise to Ally and headed straight upstairs, hardly noticed by the crowds of partying youths. David, who had intended to spend the evening lurking in his room, came through to join us for a while, and then was persuaded by the other youngsters to join the party. Jack cat was handed into our bedroom and was very pleased to see us. So now, at half past one, James, Jack and I are all in bed while the party continues in full swing. I wonder when they will all go to sleep? 

Big Sea

It has been a busy few days at work; I have been on a residential trip which is always tiring and this one was no exception, I didn't get much sleep last night. Good fun though and the pupils loved it which is the important thing (I suppose!). I had to leave the trip early because I had a meeting that I needed to go to; as I drove down to the front at Largs I was struck by the amazing sight in front of me. It was a big, grey-green, choppy, heaving sea! It was spell-binding in its power; it looked as if it was too big to be contained and could almost rise up to engulf the land! I stopped the car to have a proper look at it - fantastic. I love looking at the sea in all its different incarnations; one day I would like to live beside it. As I continued on my journey I was also treated to rainbows and sunlight shining through spray thrown up by cars and lorries on the road. All this was because of the heavy rain and winds last night, they resulted in a very striking morning. So now I am in the bath about to get ready for Victoria and Tom's engagement party. I am enjoying my current, rather strange, book - Cloud Atlas. I downloaded it because Heather was reading it when we were in Barra. I found it difficult to get into at first but I have warmed up to it now and I think it's very well written. 

Dinner with Hardeep

Just over a year ago Ewan and Heather very kindly invited us to a Pharmacists' Dinner to raise funds for the new Pharmacy Department at Strathclyde University. It was a fantastic evening at Kama Sutra in Sauchiehall Street; the food was delicious and the entertainment consisted of a quiz, comedy and an auction, hosted by tv presenter Hardeep Singh Kohli. Our table happened to be right at the front and we had a great time, Hardeep was very funny and singled us (and me in particular) out for attention, something that would normally make my blood run cold but it was such a jolly evening that in fact I found it to be great fun. This was in part because I had consumed a great deal of wine! When it came to the auction James bid for and won "Dinner with Hardeep"! At last we organised the dinner with Hardeep's agent and it took place last night at the Ashoka in Ashton Lane.
I really like Ashton Lane, it feels to me like a little bit of Paris in the west end of Glasgow! The staff at the restaurant made us very welcome and when Hardeep arrived he was pleasant and very intelligent. I had wondered if he might feel a bit awkward with four near strangers who had bid for his company, but he was very relaxed. I think it helped that Heather, Ewan, James and I are all rather charming and pleasant ourselves, (well, we are!) which hopefully put him at his ease! He was a bit huffy when another customer at the restaurant took a photo of him without permission. The meal was delicious and we talked about all sorts of things, from Indian Cookery to Literature (he is a Booker prize judge and is very well read). His cousin Sanjay, who owns the Apple group of pharmacies and the Harlequin group of restaurants, joined us for part of the meal and was also very good company, he was talking to Heather and Ewan about current developments in Pharmacy. It was an excellent evening.

Chilling out at Corrour

After a convivial evening in Loch Ossian Hostel I decided to move a mattress from the girls' dorm into the living room so that I wouldn't disturb people with my coughing. This worked very well. Miriam warned me that there was a possibility of mice so I put the mattress on one of the benches propped up by three chairs and it was perfectly secure and cosy for the night. I coughed from time to time without nearly choking myself by trying to stifle it and I got a great night's sleep. Cornell very kindly made me a mug of coffee when he got up in the morning. I went outside with my coffee to look at the loch in the light grey morning, it is truly beautiful. After breakfast Miriam and I walked towards Loch Traig; when we were having a coffee near the railway line a white land rover type vehicle went past - on the railway tracks! It must be a maintenance vehicle, they waved to us and tooted their horn. We walked until we could see Loch Traig but didn't go right down to it, we had lovely views of rolling hills with the loch between them. Our walk there and back was about 7 km in total. Back to the hostel; most people were still out walking and I had a lovely sleep for about two hours, then read my book. I have finished "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks", recommended by Lesley, which I thought was really excellent. A lot of the science in it was way beyond my understanding but that didn't spoil it for me, it was still very interesting and very sad in parts. Everybody congregated back at the hostel and soon it was time to put on our head torches for the walk back to the station. It has been a great weekend, despite my cold, with a really nice crowd of people. We took the train back to Bridge of Orchy, said our goodbyes, and we are now heading home in the car. I can't wait to get into a warm bath! 

Loch Ossian Sat 19th November

I am sitting on the jetty at the north east end of Loch Ossian about to eat my sandwich. I am blissfully alone because everyone else is walking on nearby hills, but I decided to walk round the loch (about 10 km round trip). I am now half way and I'm going to read my book (The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks) and relax for a while before I walk back to the hostel. The view down the loch from where I am sitting is really beautiful; there are ripples on the surface of the water and a light breeze but it is very mild weather for 19th November and I'm just wearing walking trousers and a t shirt. And boots of course! The loch is surrounded by bands of pine trees and behind them are the hills; Meall na Leitire Duibhe and Coire Creagach to my left (south) and Beinn na Lap to my right (north). And lots of other hills in the distance. The sky is pale blue with greyish white clouds whose edges are lit by sunlight. It is so peaceful.
The last time I was here was in November 1999 when the whole family climbed Beinn na Lap with the hill-walking club. This was because it was James' last Munro. It was a wonderful occasion and we all made it to the top even though the boys were tiny - Davie had just turned four, Ally was five and Jamie was nine. We had champagne and shortbread on the top to celebrate. We stayed in Loch Ossian Youth Hostel that time too and when we got home we were all very sick except Davie! Tummy bug or food-poisoning.  Let's hope history does not repeat itself!

Loch Ossian Youth Hostel was only the second hostel opened in Scotland, and the building was donated by Sir John Stirling-Maxwell of Pollok, who was a well known worthy gentleman and the Laird of Corrour Estate. The building was originally a boat house, not for boats but for guests on their way to Corrour Hunting Lodge who would wait for the steamer that would ferry them across the loch. The hostel opened on 24th May 1931 and although it has been renovated in 2003 it looks much the same today as in the old photo on the wall of the official opening. It is painted a pleasing dark green with white door and window sills and its setting is truly magnificent, nestling in a grove of pine trees on the edge of Loch Ossian with its own wee wind turbine for electricity. The hostel is comfy and cosy with a large wood-panelled living room containing a wood burning stove and a range cooker. It has two dormitories each for ten people, but in some ways it is quite simple - no fridge and very basic outdoor toilets. The toilets are in a hut outside and are compostable and non-flush; not great but they're still an improvement over the buckets they had in 1999! Yes, just buckets with disinfectant  in them and a plastic toilet seat on top. Dreadful.
Twelve years later we are back again with the hill-walking club. We drove up last night after work and caught the 8.40 p.m. train from Bridge of Orchy to Corrour. Then we put on our head torches and walked the mile to the hostel through the pitch dark and teeming rain. The nearest road ending is ten miles away at Rannoch so the walk from Corrour Station is the only way to get there. Us city folk are not used to such a complete lack of light and we were glad to see the welcoming lights of the hostel ahead. Some of the group were already there; there are fifteen of us this weekend and they are a really nice crowd some of whom we have known for a long time now. James is a stalwart of the club and the boys go on a lot of walks too, so they have grown up with the other children whose parents are members. Hill-walking with James and his friends has been a great experience for the boys and they all have a love of the hills. When I go along for a day trip or a weekend I am always made to feel very welcome. We had a pleasant evening, however I didn't sleep well because I have a cold and I know I must have disturbed some of the other girls by coughing although they were all very nice about it. After a hearty breakfast we all went on our different walks and will meet up later back at the hostel. 

Why I shouldn't eat curries

Unlike me, my Dad never ate curries or any spicy food. In fact he called anything that wasn't good old Scottish mince "your foreign muck", and once claimed that even mince and potatoes was too exotic for him; he preferred mince with bread! The reason for this is that Dad had a delicate tummy and suffered terribly from indigestion.
I love curries, and as a teenager used to eat Chinese ones. The first time I tasted an Indian one was at the Shish Mahal in Gibson Street when I was a student and I fell in love with it straight away. I love the smell of an Indian takeaway or restaurant. My favourite dish is chicken pasanda with rice and naan bread, usually preceded by pakora with chilli sauce. I also like South Indisn curries served in big Dhosas. Unfortunately I have the same sort of digestive system as my Dad, and I suffer dreadfully afterwards! Some curries affect me less than others; James thinks it depends on the quality of the food and has come to distrust and in fact abhor our local takeaway, but I usually get indigestion to a greater or lesser extent no matter where we buy it. By saying indigestion I am deliberately understating the turmoil that I go through! Last night we got a curry from a small shop near David's school after a meeting there about his ski trip. We hadn't been there before, however David recommended it and it all tasted reasonably ok when we got home. However it turned out to be the curry from hell. I won't go into the horrible details but even now, more than twenty-four hours later, my stomach lining feels as if it is burning and I have awful heartburn. I am indeed my father's daughter! But what can I do - I still love curries! 

A year on the wagon

I am just digesting a large curry which we got to celebrate my anniversary of one year without alcohol. A year ago, on the 16th November 2010, I decided quite suddenly to stop drinking. This was partly because I was concerned about becoming a bit too dependent on having a drink to relax, and partly because of a rather dodgy family heritage regarding alcohol - on both sides of my family - which I did not want to follow! Although it felt strange at first, I can honestly say that I don't miss it at all. The fact that I drink huge quantities of soft drinks even makes me wonder if, rather than becoming too dependent on alcohol, I am in fact just a very thirsty person! I am however disappointed that I haven't lost weight, which I thought would be a pleasant side effect of not drinking. I realise that this is because of eating too much and not taking enough exercise, so my next target is to adopt a healthier lifestyle. I now have something of a dilemma. Having achieved my ambition of no alcohol for a year, what should I do now? I read recently that it is good for your health to have a glass of red wine every night, better in fact than not drinking at all. So is a year enough or should I continue not drinking alcohol? Until I decide, I will remain on the wagon.
Tonight is actually my second curry in two days because last night I met up with Lindy for a delicious meal at Dhakin. We had a really good and interesting chat, she is a lovely girl. I said to her "Why haven't we met up for meals like this for the last twenty years?" to which Lindy pointed out that if I had given birth to Jamie a year or two earlier we probably would have got to know each other years earlier! Oh well, better late than never! 

A love of language

It was an In Service day at school today and I wore my new "Yes" t shirt, which was much admired. I don't usually enjoy In Service days because I actually miss the pupils, and today was no exception. Too many meetings and too quiet! However we had a nice chat at lunch time and I got some useful work done. I'm worried about what is going to happen on 30th November which is probably going to be a day of Industrial Action. I hope I don't have to make any difficult decisions, I have never needed to go on strike. After tea James, Davie and I watched another episode of Stephen Fry's "Planet Word", this one was about accents and dialects and was very interesting, maybe I should have studied Linguistics! At University I studied English Language (which is different from English Literature, which I also studied) for a year and I loved it - all about the history of language and how it works. I remember writing an essay about different words for "smell" such as "stench", "stink", "odour", "scent", "perfume" - I think there were twelve words - and how their origins and development were linked to their different meanings; I found it fascinating and ended up getting a Merit! I have finished reading "Tiger Hills" by Sarita Mandanna which was a good read, and I'm planning to download some more books that I have been recommended to my ereader. Ally went to Disabled Scouts; he has good predictions from school for his A Levels and I think he is working very well this session. Jamie phoned for a chat and so did Jennifer, it was nice to talk to both of them. A pleasant evening. 

Snapshots of Life

Over the last few days I have had the strangest feeling of seeing events around me as a series of snapshots, like moments in time. For example seeing a colleague fixing another colleague's tie. Seeing a crowd of pupils listening raptly to a funny story. Suddenly having my car surrounded by a group of young men fighting in the street, one of them pulling his shirt off. A large pink moon viewed from Cathkin, hanging low over Glasgow. Waves breaking on a beach. Deer grazing in a field. A flock of seagulls taking off from the pond in Queen's Park. A man feeding squirrels in the park who were eating from his hand. Ally and Davie meeting me in the hall to tell me something, and noticing how tall they are. Waking to find James with a cup of coffee and a bowl of porridge for me. A robin on the bird table. A cat sleeping in a shaft of sunlight. All of these in the last three days; it reminds me of the Edwin Morgan poem "Glasgow 5 March 1971". My life is in freeze frame this weekend! And one day these moments will be long in the past.

Yes to Walk but No to Yes

A great weekend so far! Last night I had the Duke of Edinburgh team round for dinner with their spouses / partners to say thank you for all their hard work especially during the recent very wet expedition weekend. The meal went well and I think a good night was had by all, there were twelve of us in total and we had a good laugh; I am lucky to have such a brilliant team.
Today James persuaded me to walk a bit more of the Ayrshire Coastal Path, it was a good idea because it was a beautiful day; blue skies and unseasonably warm. We set off from Barassie and walked along the beach to Irvine, a very pleasant beach walk, sandy all the way with blue foamy waves lapping at our boots. We thought that this was where a previous walk at Christmas 2009 had started (because we are doing the Ayrshire coastal path bit by bit so James is marking off in his book what we still have to do). However we realised that it had started at Stevenston, further along the coast. Rather than leave this section to another day we decided to press on. The route left the coast and went up though the harbour area of Irvine, which was very pretty in the sunshine with nicely renovated houses. We passed a statue of a carter and Clydesdale horse which was very pleasing, there used to be many carters in the area who hauled coal down to the docks. From there we continued inland to Kilwinning, passing through woodland and the Garnock Floods, which is moorland. We then turned towards Stevenston, going along country roads. On the outskirts of Stevenston we saw nine deer grazing in fields, they were beautiful. We finally arrived at Stevenston station after walking 17 km, and I was flagging by this time after my late night last night! However I was really glad that we had done the walk, we had a lovely chat on the way and I decided that today is the official start of my quest for fitness! We got a taxi back to our car at Barassie and picked up fish suppers on the way home.
James and Ally went to the Yes concert this evening; I really don't enjoy their music and after the last gruelling concert I went to I told James that I wouldn't be back and he would have to take one of the boys instead. So Ally bravely went and claims that he enjoyed it, but he is maybe just being nice to his old Dad! David and I had a relaxing evening; I watched a film called "A little bit of Heaven" starring Kate Hudson, I enjoyed it although it was quite sad. When James arrived home he brought me a really gorgeous tie dyed Yes t shirt; I was delighted. 

The eleventh day of the eleventh month

Today is armistice day, and it's a special one because not only is it the eleventh day of the eleventh month, but it is also the eleventh year of the century. So we had our two minutes silence at school at eleven minutes past eleven - 11.11 on the 11.11.11! During the two minutes silence I reflected on all the people who have died and are still dying during wars. I was very moved two years ago when we visited war graves in France and Belgium, including that of James' Great Uncle Hugh, who died at the age of 23 just before the 1st World War ended. We took flowers to his grave but the next time we visit the boys want to take a heather to plant as a reminder of Scotland. Hugh's graveyard was a relatively small one but it still had two thousand graves; some of the larger ones have many thousands of graves, many unnamed. The war cemeteries were very beautiful in the autumn sunshine, but also very sad. Nearly everyone in those graves were way younger than James and I are now. We also visited battlefields and trenches, it was hard to imagine the violence even though the countryside is still scarred with the marks of war, and even the fields are still full of shells and bullets. I was very impressed with Alasdair and David's interest in the area and its history, and respect for the people who died there. As well as Great Uncle Hugh, we have had other relatives who fought in wars. My Grandpa Russell fought in the Battle of the Somme and in Greece in the 1st World War, and my Dad was in the occupying army in Italy during the 2nd World War. So I had a lot to think about during those two minutes. I just hope that none of my sons has to fight in a war. 

Return of the Lost Kitten

Jackie's kitten Alfie has been missing for more than a week and it has been preying on my mind, being a cat lover myself. Alfie is a very cute, black kitten with bright green eyes, and I have had the pleasure of meeting him several times at Jackie's house since she got him during the summer; he is very sweet. She did everything she could to find him, searching and putting flyers round her neighbours' houses, but to no avail - until today! It turns out that a nearby family had taken him in when they realised he was wandering, and then took him to the vet where it was discovered that he is "chipped" and so could be returned home to Jackie and the boys. They are absolutely delighted to have him back, and I was so pleased when Jackie phoned to tell me the good news. This was a very happy end to a good day; I got lots done, went to an interesting seminar, and then James brought me home a Hello magazine that he got free at the British Airways lounge at Heathrow. How thoughtful of him, I was very pleased. I have finished the book I was reading (The Lantern) - it is very much a tribute to "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier, and makes a decent job of it, to the extent that the rather passive heroine annoys me in much the same way as in the original version! All very enjoyable; I read it until 2 o'clock this morning because I wanted to finish it, which was very silly of me. I am now about to start "Tiger Hills" by Sarita Mandanna, also lent to me by Heather. I am so pleased that Alfie is safe home with his family. 

Change of season

Yesterday was the first morning this autumn that I had to scrape ice off my car. The weather was very cold, and when I drove home after a school open evening at 9 o'clock it was misty and icy. It was a taster of cold weather to come, although it was much milder again today so it's not quite winter yet. A good week so far; I'm very pleased with what I'm getting done at school. Today I completed my food hygiene course, it was good fun and we got to make smoothies and fruit kebabs as well as looking through a special machine to see how well we cleaned our hands! Sad news that another Red Arrows pilot has died less than three months after one of them was killed in a crash at an air show. This time an ejector seat went off when the plane was on the ground. I'm heading for my bed now because I have another long day at work tomorrow. I have finished a good book lent to me by Catherine "A Special Relationship" which was fascinating, a real page turner. I have now started "The Lantern" by Deborah Lawrenson which Heather has lent to me, I'm loving it so far, it's set in the south of France and is full of vivid descriptions and a pleasantly sinister atmosphere. 

Movie Memories

This evening we were watching the Strictly Come Dancing results show with Grandma, who was round for tea. The guest judge was Jennifer Grey of "Dirty Dancing" fame, who is almost unrecognisable now because of her nose job. This made me think about how much I enjoyed watching that film when I was very pregnant with Jamie. So I decided to make a list of some of my favourite scenes in films; this is not the same as a list of my favourite films, it is scenes or moments that made a big impression on me. Here goes.
Some of my favourite movie moments (in no particular order):-
* Dirty Dancing - when Patrick Swayze dances up the hall to Jennifer Grey and she falls forward from the stage into his arms. I want to be her.
* Bridget Jones - the fight between Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. Stirring.
* Evita - the bit where Antonio Banderas is walking through the fountain with his shirt all wet. Amazing.
* George of the Jungle - when George is dancing round the camp fire. Strangely moving.
* Mr Bean's Holiday - the end when Mr Bean sees the beach and walks towards it across all the vehicles and the cast all sing - this made me feel so happy that I cried.
* Cabaret - when the young boy sings "Tomorrow belongs to me" and the crowd joins in. Scary.
* La nuit americaine - when one of the crew tells a newspaper reporter something along the lines of "I hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it". Very funny.
* Elvira Madigan - the ending. I didn't see that coming.
* It's a Wonderful Life - when his brother says, "A toast to my big brother George. The richest man in town." Floods of tears even though I have watched this film dozens of times at the GFT.
* Slumdog Millionaire - the dance at the end of course!
I may well add to this list as I think of more! 

Jack does not enjoy Fireworks Night

This has been a lovely weekend so far. Last night we went out for dinner with Kathryn and Alan to Piccolo Mondo which is one of their favourite restaurants. James and I really liked it; we had an absolutely delicious meal for an excellent price including aperitifs and liqueurs! It was a fun evening; we ended up going to the Central Hotel champagne bar which I have never been to before, it was very opulent like something from the 1930s, which huge chandeliers. This evening I was persuaded by James to go to the fireworks display at Glasgow Green. I haven't been there for several years because I'm not too keen on organised fireworks displays - I have heard of too many things going wrong at them resulting in injuries or death. I prefer to have a fireworks party at home because then I can make sure that everything is safely done. However I have to say that I really enjoyed tonight's show. The display was spectacular and accompanied by good music, it went on for at least twenty minutes. There was a better police presence than I have seen on previous occasions which appealed to my love of safety! We took the train from Cambuslang to Argyle Street, it didn't take very long to walk from there to Glasgow Green. Jamie is home for the weekend and he and Alasdair came with us. David was also there, with a group of schoolfriends. After the display Alasdair went off to go to a party by train, and James, Jamie and I got fish suppers on the way home. When we got back Jack was still in his place in the hall cupboard, which is where he prefers to spend fireworks night. Jack hates fireworks so much that when he hears even a single firework he gets very agitated. So this is not his favourite night of the year! He has very cleverly worked out that the very centre of the house is the hall cupboard and we put his rug in there earlier so that he would be comfy. When it seemed a bit quieter later on we brought him out to the living room but some fireworks started up again nearby and Jack ran out of the room, keeping himself very low to the ground, to get back into his cupboard. Never mind Jack, fireworks night comes but once a year! 

Ally goes to a concert

James is home from Madrid, he got home about 4 but I didn't get home until 7 because I had the first of my Food Hygiene twilights today. I thought it might be boring but in fact it was fascinating and also a bit horrifying - pathogens, spores, botulism, salmonella were but a few of the unpleasant dangers we learned about! When I got home I was delighted to find that James had made my tea (hygienically I'm sure!) and we had a pleasant evening with Davie. Davie and I also watched the last ever episode of Medium, a programme that the two of us have enjoyed watching together over the years. At the end the actors waved farewell and clips were shown of them during the series - the adults looked so young at the start and the children were tiny! I felt quite nostalgic. Ally was helping at a music taster evening at his school today, and I expected him home at about nine. However by eleven there was no sign of him and he wasnt answering his phone. I was very worried, however he phoned eventually to tell me that he and a friend had spontaneously decided to go to see Katy Perry at the SECC. He is just home now and had a great time, they bought tickets from a ticket tout, haggled the price down, and ran into the hall just as Katy Perry came on stage. He said she was very good and the whole place smelled of candy floss! 

James in Madrid

I missed Hallowe'en this year, because when I arrived home from work on Monday I was so tired that I went straight to bed. This is very unusual; I must have been really tired or perhaps as Mum would have said, "coming down with something"! James, Ally and Davie all left me in peace and apart from a cup of tea with James at 9.30 I slept for fourteen hours and woke up feeling fine, so if there was something wrong I had fought it off! So now it's a new month although the weather doesn't feel all that cold yet. Today I was at a great conference in Alloa and I feel quite inspired with new ideas. Then I went back to school and Jackie and I worked until seven then rewarded ourselves by going out for tea. Home to find the house trashed by the boys, I warned them that Dad will be home from Madrid tomorrow so they had better tidy up! Meanwhile over in Madrid, James was out sampling the nightlife with Heather and Ewan in the old part of the city. He phoned later in a very jolly mood to say that he had a great time and I think it has cheered him up because the rest of the trip has been quite boring, stuck in the office. Jamie also phoned to say that he has found out that someone has already done the research project that he was planning, so now he will have to start from scratch. He is coming home this weekend, I'm looking forward to seeing him very much. 

James fixed it for Ally

It has been a pleasant weekend. I got my hair cut on Saturday and didn't hate the experience or the result too much, then I met James for lunch at Prezzo. James has designed a spreadsheet for me where I can record my spending and really know what is in my account; it incorporates all the things I spend every month like music lessons, school fees, contact lenses and many more! The beauty of this is that I can now clearly see what is still to come off my account, whereas if I just look at my balance online it gives me a false optimism. It is going to be very helpful now that I am paid every four weeks, because that has been confusing me - I used to get paid on the last Thursday of every month and then all my standing orders would come off on the 1st of the next month, which would only be a few days away so I knew I would definitely still have money to cover them. With the four weekly pay I find it harder to plan because pay day changes each month. Anyway, it's not like me to get excited over finances but I can see that this spreadsheet is going to help me a lot.
We went over to Heather and Ewan's for a curry in the evening and had a great time; by now they will have arrived in Madrid for their holiday. I'd love to go there one day; James will coincidentally be there this week on business! I would especially like to visit the Prado museum to see the Velazquez paintings among others. 
This morning James decided that we would go to Ikea to buy bookcases for Alasdair; he was delighted because he has been nagging us about getting them for ages. He has already constructed them with much noise and hammering and started to fill them. Then the four of us had a blowy walk at Largs, from Nardini's to the Pencil and marina and back again. The highlight of the evening was watching an episode of the first series of Bergerac with Grandma so that we could look out for places we visited in Jersey! It was good fun, especially as the series is now thirty years old. The island looks very much the same apart from the airport buildings and St Helier. And the plot wasn't too bad either. 
Finally farewell to Sir Jimmy Savile who died yesterday at the age of 84. I loved the television programme Jim'll Fix It in the 1970s and although I always felt that there was something strange and a bit creepy about him, however he seems to have been an eccentric but genuinely well-meaning person who raised a lot of money for charity. James and I once spotted him walking near his house at Glencoe; with the tracksuit and wild hair it was unmistakably him! 

We need to talk about Kevin

This evening I went with my EK book group to see the newly released film of the Lionel Shriver film, We Need to Talk about Kevin. Because I had loved the book and knew it well, it was hard to judge how the film is, because it was impossible not to make comparisons. Some episodes from Kevin's childhood, which I thought helped to build up a picture of Kevin, were left out. The chillingly predictive imagery was a bit heavy-handed. The bloody climax was not shown, just inferred, and although it would have been gory I thought it was very important to the plot. All in all I wish the director, Lynne Ramsay, had allowed the story to tell itself a bit more. Having said all that, I thoroughly enjoyed the film! The actors were all excellent and it made sense to set the film two years after the climax with the main character remembering events in flashbacks. I also enjoyed being at the GFT and going to Fazzi's for a meal with the girls after the film, it was great fun.
The boys had their own fun yesterday. Brian very kindly gave us tickets to see Ayr United play St Mirren in the Scottish cup. James, Ally and Davie went along and met up with Kyle and Christina who were also there. They were delighted when Ayr won 1 - 0 five minutes before full time and came home full of the joys! 

Reflections on Jersey

We are on our way north from Newcastle to home, a journey of just under three hours. It has been a good week in Jersey, it proved to be both picturesque and interesting. The houses are individually designed with beautiful gardens, and they are all freshly painted and maintained. There are lots of sandy beaches so you can choose where suits depending on wind direction. It is supposedly the sunniest place in Britain which I can well believe; we have just had a week of sunshine while most of the country has had rain, especially Scotland. There is lots to see and do; castles, war museums, restaurants, water sports. You can travel from there to the other Channel Islands and even to France. The people seem to be unfailingly polite and friendly. But would I live there? This is a question that I always ask myself when I visit a new place. I wonder if I am looking for somewhere that I might fall in love with and want to move to. When we were in Shetland a couple of years ago I met a lady who had gone there on holiday and had decided to stay there for the rest of her life. I felt quite envious of her because although I have travelled to many beautiful places I have never felt quite like that about any of them. I am fairly contented with where I live, so maybe I'm not really looking, but I do always give some thought to the "liveability" factor of a new place. My criteria are beauty (both house and surroundings and hopefully a view), proximity to wild countryside and some kind of water (river, loch, or sea, and an outdoor swimming pool would be great), accessibility to facilities such as airports, shops and hospitals, hopefully some sense of history, and some undefinable quality that makes me feel that I must be there. Well, Jersey certainly scores highly on beauty and on nearness to water, it has an interesting history and the facilities are fine. However it loses out a bit by being a bit TOO manicured and perfect; it is quite densely populated and even though there are plenty of fields and greenery there is not much wilderness around. Every square foot of the island is used and cultivated, and although it is a lovely holiday destination, it is not the home of my dreams. Never mind, I'll just have to keep travelling!