Up the Whangie

It's a holiday weekend and I have been having a lovely time. On Friday I went into town and had lunch with Jackie in Wagamama, I had a curry of vegetables fried in panko breadcrumbs and it was absolutely delicious. We had a really nice chat and a coffee, then I headed up to Great Western Road and went to a few shops and got some shopping in Waitrose - I felt as if I was out to play! In the evening we all went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - On Stranger Tides. It was at the Imax in 3D and we took Kyle with us. It was a decent enough film but as the fourth in the series it has lost its novelty and was very like the others, the 3D didn't make much difference. I thought the first one was absolutely brilliant when it came out because it was new and exciting. It was all good fun, it's nice to go to the cinema. On Saturday James and I collected Ewan (Heather is away on a walking weekend) and we went for a walk in the Botanic Gardens. I was impressed by Ewan's speed and skill on his crutches. As we walked along looking at the plants James put his hand in his pocket and found that there was a bee in it which promptly stung him! The weather was very mixed, as it has been all week, and sunshine alternated with sudden showers. We were lucky on our walk and it stayed dry until we arrived at Oran Mor for our lunch. The meal was very pleasant, nice pub food, and afterwards we crossed back over the road to have a look round the Kibble Palace before heading home. Today James persuaded me to go for a walk at Auchengillan and we walked the second half of my upcoming Duke of Edinburgh expedition. Just as well we did because there are new deer fences and tree plantations below the Whangie which mean that we will have to change the route a bit. It's good practice for a walking leader to walk the route shortly before the expedition and I'm glad I did! The strangest thing about the walk was that despite sixty-three mile an hour winds (I heard it on the news later), and driving rain (some of the time) I felt full of energy and thoroughly enjoyed myself. In fact I don't know when I last enjoyed a walk so much. The rocks at the Whangie were spectacular - when we eventually found them! They were a bit further along than we expected and James kept looking at small outcrops and saying "I'm sure it's bigger than this!" We had a good laugh and a chat - unusual on a walk since I am usually too stressed and exhausted to chat much! James asked me in deceptively innocent tones if I prefer the Douwe Egberts coffee that I buy to cheaper brands. I answered that I do prefer the flavour, at which James gleefully informed me that for the past two weeks I have been drinking Morrisons own brand coffee, with which he has refilled the Douwe Egberts jar! How crafty he is! 

Ash and Wind

The winds on Monday were so strong that some trees were blown down and lots of branches and leaves were scattered over the roads. It was Davie's first day of work experience in Boots and after school I went into town to meet him for tea in TGI Friday's (his favourite restaurant). Alasdair was going to meet us there but he couldn't get into town - all the trains were cancelled because of the weather. Renfield Street was jammed with buses when I arrived because there were so many people trying to get on them. David and I had a pleasant meal, he had really enjoyed his day. The staff at Boots had been very welcoming to him and he had been filling shelves, putting prescriptions in alphabetical order and giving out advantage cards. He really liked the young pharmacist who was mentoring him. Meanwhile James was in London and his plane was delayed by the windy weather. When he got to Glasgow it had to circle round before it could get in low enough to land. As a result he wasn't home until nine - a fifteen hour working day. He was very tired. However he was lucky to get home before the ash cloud from Iceland arrived from the north - a couple of hours later and he would have been stranded in London overnight. This is the second time that volcanic ash from Iceland has closed airports; the first time in April 2010 it lasted for a week, and there was a huge amount of disruption. Many flights to and from Europe were cancelled and people were stranded all over the world! This time it cleared after a day. The next day the roads were shiny with rain, and when I was driving up to East Kilbride I saw a strange sight; every car had a plume of spray behind it that was lit up by sunlight, it looked amazing.

Alasdair has now sat four out of his six Highers. He doesn't give us a lot of feedback about how he got on, but he seems to think that he's doing ok. Next week he has Biology and today I got him some Biology revision notes from my school to give him some extra practice. So now it is the holiday weekend and my aim is to finish my final diploma essay by Monday evening. We shall see. 

Follow every rainbow

On Friday evening I went to see "The Sound of Music" with Heather. It was at the King's Theatre and starred Jason Donovan, who must be in his early forties now, I remember watching him in Neighbours when Jamie was a baby so that's 21 years ago! He's not so pretty as he used to be, but has a nice face and in fact I think he looks very like his Dad, who was also an actor in Neighbours in the 1990s. In those days it was actually very cool to watch it and one of my former colleagues even recorded it so that she could watch it when she got home from work! Eastenders was the same; nowadays it's just a sad old soap, but when it started in the 1980s everyone was watching it and we were all riveted by the scenes between Dirty Den and Angie, and gymslip mum Michelle. When I was working for ICL in 1985, I was down in London on a training course and we all waited in to watch some exciting storyline on Eastenders before going out drinking to Covent Garden. I can't imagine anyone staying in to watch it now!
Heather and I also saw Jason Donovan in "Sweeney Todd" a couple of years ago, he has made a good career for himself as an actor in stage musicals. He was very good as Captain von Trapp, and the actress who played Maria (Verity Rushworth) was excellent - what a great voice! The von Trapp children were very good too, it was an extremely enjoyable evening. I have been humming all the songs from it ever since, occasionally breaking into song, especially in the shower or when walking around the house, and I have decided that my favourite song from "The Sound of Music" is "I must have done something good" sung by  Maria and the Captain when they realise that they love each other.
"For here you are, standing there, loving me, Whether or not you should,
So something in my youth or childhood,  I must have done something good.
Nothing comes from nothing, Nothing ever could,
So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good".
Lovely - mind you, all the songs are good. 

Watching for pigs on the wing

Great news from Jamie on Tuesday - he phoned me at work just after twelve and I could tell that something had happened from a certain jocular tone in his voice. Turns out that he had heard that his 3rd year results were coming out early and he had been checking on his computer all morning. At twelve he got the news; he has passed his 3rd year exams first time! So no re-sits! I was relieved and delighted for him, he has worked so hard this year and he deserves this success. When he had to repeat 2nd year I tried to get him to look on the bright side; that he was so young for his year group that an extra year of consolidation might do him good in the long term. And it could be that this has worked out! I was very touched that he had phoned me as soon as he got his results, nice that he thought about his old mum! In the evening James and I went to see "Brit Floyd" at the Clyde Auditorium, a Pink Floyd tribute band which James assures me was very authentic. I liked some of it, for example "Wish you were here", "Shine on Crazy Diamond" and "Great Gig in the Sky", but some of it was simply appalling and actually hurt my head - "Echoes" and "One of these days" from the "Meddle" album were particularly tuneless and dire. James however thinks that it is very clever music with reverberations and echoes. But I don't need music to be clever, I need it to have a good tune. It was nice to see James enjoying himself though, he was singing along with all the lyrics. And the stage show was good, with images, lights and even the front half of a giant inflatable pig floating in from stage left! Wednesday's main event was Ally's Maths Higher. Ruth came round the night before for a final two hour tutoring session! Ally felt that it went all right - next one is History on Friday. 

Helicopter Sunday

Yesterday James and David went to the Rush concert with Neil and Stuart; they played all the old favourites very loudly and they all enjoyed it. David is now officially a Rush fan. Bit of a drama when they realised at the station that they had forgotten their tickets and had to run back to the house - Jamie, Ally and I were in the car and had to turn back to give them a lift back to the station, luckily they still caught their train - just! The reason that the rest of us were in the car was that we were on the way over to see Heather and Ewan. We had a nice chat, were invited to stay for a curry, and ended up staying to watch some of the Eurovision Song Contest with them! I love Eurovision and watch it every year, I don't know why I like it so much - nostalgia perhaps because I have watched it since the 1970's, and I like discussing all the quirky European entries and deciding which should win, and I like how biased all the countries are in their voting, although this isn't so marked as it used to be, it's all part of the fun. We left after the truly amazing Moldovan entry and got home in plenty of time to see the end. This year's winner was Azerbaijan, they were ok but my favourites were the weird jazzy entry by Italy and a lovely tune by Iceland. Today I had a nice lie in, and James brought me breakfast in bed, then we went for a walk round Cambuslang. We went through the public park; it must be years since I have been there although I used to go a lot when the children were younger. Large swathes of it have been cleared and it looks as if some landscaping is going on. It could be a lovely park if it was properly landscaped and maintained. Jamie is doing an SSC on the pathology of violence; he spent the afternoon working on an essay about a knife crime, he had to determine whether the weapon found near the scene was the one which was used for the crime. He wouldn't let me look at it because it's very graphic and confidential. It sounds really interesting. James, Ally and Davie watched the Rangers v Kilmarnock game, which was very important because if Rangers won it they would have won the league. I came into the living room shortly after the match started to find scenes of jubilation; all three of them were shouting and dancing and stamping their feet! Rangers had already scored three goals in the first five and a half minutes! The final score was five-one and the league cup was flown to Kilmarnock where it was presented to Rangers amidst much celebration, which was mirrored in our living room! 

Busy week, pleasant day

It has been a very busy week - just one of those weeks when there is lots on; on top of my usual week's work I had a parents' night, transition visits, a transition parents' meeting, two days out of school on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition, SQA exams to prompt and transcribe for, Alasdair's Higher English exam and David's Int 2 Admin exam and Int 2 English exam. I am tired but pleased that everything went really well; of course we won't know about Ally and Davie's results until August but I know that they both did their best, they certainly worked hard. Ally was a bit disappointed with the questions in the critical essay which were not quite what he wanted, but he pressed on and says that he is happy with what he wrote. Davie was very pleased with his Macbeth question which tied in exactly with what he had prepared, however by the time he got to his poetry question he says he was so tired that he could hardly stay awake! It must have been a very tiring day for both of them. Davie felt that his Admin exam went quite well, and he is pleased that his exams are now over whereas Ally has to soldier on until the 6th of June. So on Friday evening I was in a great mood of relief and achievement, enhanced by Jamie coming home from Dundee for the weekend. We watched a very good wee film called "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher" which was based on true events, and had a nice dinner. Fairly early night and I woke up feeling brand new. This morning we went to buy suits for James, which went off remarkably harmoniously and he got two really nice suits, one checked with a wee bit of purple thread through grey, and the other a sort of gun metal grey. I tried to persuade James to buy a panama hat but he doesn't think he would wear it much. Jamie then arrived into town by train and the three of us had a lovely lunch at Jamie Oliver's on George Square. We had a really nice chat too, and Jamie was telling us all his news. We had a laugh as he and James had to decapitate and fillet their fish (plaice for James and sea bass for Jamie). And on the way home we stopped at a showroom and looked at tiles and I think we have chosen our tiles for the extension. We were discussing what to call the new room. Conservatory? (it isn't one really). Garden room? Morning room? I like Back room. We will have to discuss this some more. So, a useful and pleasant day. 

Four hours sleep

Home from a Duke of Edinburgh expedition and I'm exhausted. The expedition itself was great and went really well, but back at the campsite a pupil's ankle injury resulted in me having to call an ambulance, spend nearly four hours at a hospital and then drive the pupil home at 2 a.m. I spent the night at home, getting to bed at 3 a.m., then after four hours sleep I drove back for the second day of the expedition! However the injury wasn't too serious thank goodness, just a twisted ankle. I met a nice young doctor who is a week away from qualifying, then he is going back to Canada to specialize in Internal Medicine, which he explained is what "House" does in the television series. I was telling him about Jamie. When I got home this evening James was lovely and made the tea while I had a bath, and I'm about to head for bed. Ally and Davie are both studying quite hard. Jennifer phoned, she was a really bad chest infection and is on antibiotics, her cough sounded very sore. She has been reading my blog and says she likes it :-) 

Narrator, Chorus and Orchestra

Yesterday evening James, Ally, Davie and I went to the Royal Concert Hall to hear Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"; Symphony No.9 in D minor. James had booked the tickets ages ago and was really looking forward to it, he even took us to the pre-concert talk by Michael Tumelty of The Herald which was interesting and gave a bit of the history of it, apparently it was really ground-breaking at the time and had a huge influence on later composers like Wagner and Mendelssohn. He pointed out that its first performance was 187 years ago on 7th May so it was an anniversary. Before that however the first half was a piece of music called "On the Transmigration of Souls" by John Adams. It was about the people who died in the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001. It was a combination of orchestra, choir and speech, mainly the things said by and about the victims. It was a bit too discordant for me, I didn't really like it. Alasdair and David felt the same way, in fact Alasdair said "I didn't realise that such a dark day in history could be made any worse!" I was thinking afterwards about how I would have tried to commemorate the people (that's if I had any musical ability, which I don't). I would have liked to create something more haunting and tuneful - more memorable. But I don't know much about music and it could be that I just didn't really understand it. Beethoven was splendid, we all really enjoyed it. I liked the third movement but of course the finale was great, the combination of orchestra and voices was glorious. This evening we went to visit Ewan in hospital and were pleased to see him looking well, although of course after such a big operation he has pain which he says comes and goes. His leg frame looks very technical, the surgeon must be very skilled to know just where to place it for the required effect. He is looking forward to getting home, hopefully tomorrow. I had forgotten that Heather's 10k was today; she said she got a similar time to last year, I really admire her fitness. We all had a good chat. Home and had a meeting with Gary, we had a useful discussion about the extension but I was more interested to discover that he is extremely knowledgable about Art, which he collects; he is a friend of Peter Howson and also of another artist he mentioned called Alec Thomson. He also loves music and when we were talking about the concert last night he mentioned a piece about the Warsaw Ghetto by a composer called Arnold Schonberg, which sounds similar in some ways to "On the Transmigration of Souls". Maybe I should listen to it. 

An Eventful Week

An eventful week - Osama bin Laden killed after all these years in hiding and the SNP sweep to an outright majority in a landslide election victory. However what we really cared about was much closer to home - Ewan had his operation on Thursday. We were very glad to hear from Heather that the operation went well and that Ewan was "remarkably cheery and pain free" by the evening, and that on Friday he was already moving about well on crutches. Ewan was very well-informed about his operation, what benefits it will bring him and what it would involve, however an operation is still a big deal and I think he was very brave! Of course I didn't say that to him before the op but James and I were thinking about him all day Thursday and we were so pleased that all went well. We are going to visit him in hospital tomorrow. It has also been a busy week. On Wednesday I was at my East Kilbride book club at Susan's house, as usual it was good fun and nice to see everyone. Then on Thursday I had an exciting and top secret mission to Strathaven to take photos of Caroline in her wedding dress - it is gorgeous and she looked great. Then I went for a meal with her and Jamie to the Waterside Inn - very nice meal and they make a lovely couple, so happy together. And last night I was out with Sheila, Kathryn and Barbara to the Merrylee Bar and Diner, a nice relaxing evening with friends. We chatted about all sorts of things and I got some good recommendations of books for my summer reading list! Today I spent all day helping Alasdair with Higher English work, this was not easy because at first we seemed to be at cross purposes and Ally was really grumpy. He was saying things like, "You're making things worse!" and "You're so stupid, you don't understand!" However we got onto the same wavelength eventually and sketched out some critical essay plans and relevant quotes. Ally has a lot of good notes already and has been practising all this, so he just needed some help with structure. He was quite pleased with me in the end and said "That's just what I needed!" Nice to be in his good books! 

Books from the Heart

I have just finished reading "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd and I thought it was very good although it left me feeling slightly melancholy. James has always pointed out that the books I read affect my mood, which is why I try to read a happy book if I have just read a sad one. Not that "Any Human Heart" is sad, but the end of it is very reflective about the nature of life and death. I have read several books by William Boyd over the years; "An Ice Cream War" was the first, then "Restless" and last year "Ordinary Thunderstorms" which I thought was excellent, a fine adventure which would make a good film. I will now start the latest Shardlake novel by C.J. Sansom; "Heartstone", about the adventures of a crime-solving hunch-backed lawyer in the reign of Henry VIII, all good fun. I have enjoyed the others. Shardlake is about as lucky in love as Inspector Morse so I am hoping for a bit of romance for him this time! 

A right Royal Wedding Weekend

It's May Day and we are in the middle of the long weekend, made even longer by our extra public holiday for the Royal Wedding on Friday. I thought it was a great and historical occasion, and I was surprised and pleased at how many people went there or watched it on television even in this seemingly cynical age. It makes me think that politicians of whichever party cannot really tell people what they should think or want. My favourite moments include the dress (perfect!), the bride's Dad walking her up the aisle (reminded me of my own Dad and wedding day!), the fairytale coach and white horses waiting outside Westminster Cathedral when the bride and groom came out (every young girl's dream I think!). The whole day was lovely, we invited Grandma to come to watch it with us and she brought a yummy praline cake. However the main event of the weekend for Jack was not the Royal Wedding but that his new cat flap has been installed! Since the end of January he has suffered the indignity of having to ask us every time he wants out, and then wait to get in, sometimes meowing in his gruff little voice outside the front door. This of course because his cat flap disappeared along with our old back door and the back of the house has been sealed up since then. But now the extension is far enough advanced that it has all its doors and John installed a new cat flap on Thursday. It didn't take our clever boy Jack long to get used to it, and he seems very happy to get his old independence back. On Saturday James and I went for a six mile walk near Auchengillan Scout Camp to check out the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze route that my groups will be walking in June. The weather was again beautiful and we had a pleasant time. Jamie arrived home late afternoon - it was brilliant to see him. Later he came over to Lenzie with us because he wanted to find out more about Ewan's operation - Ewan very kindly explained it to him. Jamie hopes one day to be doing these operations if his dream of being an orthopaedic surgeon comes true. Then we tried out Heather and Ewan's new Indian Restaurant, Rasoi - their local takeaway has moved premises and expanded to have a sit in restaurant too. It was very impressive - decorated very smartly and although it was very busy the service was excellent. The most important thing of course was the food and that was delicious, I had a creamy monkfish and coconut curry which was gorgeous. And only five minutes walk from Heather and Ewan's house! I wish Cambuslang had somewhere as great as this. We wished Ewan all the best for Thursday. Today the weather is yet again lovely, we have been in the garden all day with the boys and how wonderful for the five of us to be together. Jamie and Davie were helping James in the garden and Ally was studying - Maths and Biology today. I didn't realise that he has another Maths prelim on Tuesday - seems very close to the SQA exams! I am about to have a bit of a read before tea. I have finished Fingersmith and also the last of the Shetland Quartet by Anne Cleeve, which were both very good, and I have now started "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd, which I am enjoying so far.