My 50th birthday!

There are three distinctive peaks seen from Le Corbier called Les Aiguilles d'Arves. One of them reminds James and me of Jack's wee head, and it is appropriately called La Tete du Chat! I have had a marvellous birthday! We skied up to l'Ouillon and then over to Saint Sorlin d"Arves which is a lovely area with plenty of runs to suit all tastes. As James and I skied down runs, the boys would appear from off piste, hurling snowballs at each other as they shot past us. Lunch was in a gorgeous little mountain restaurant called "La Bergerie" with amazing views. And all day texts kept arriving from friends and family wishing me a happy birthday! I wasn't expecting this and I was really surprised and touched that so many people remembered. After lunch the boys went off to do their own mad skiing and James and I decided to start making our way back to Le Corbier which should have been about an hour and a half away including lifts. It's lucky that we started so early! Some of the pistes were a bit gruelling, especially the one which will forever be etched in my mind as "the so-called blue which was at least a hard mogully narrow red and maybe even a black!" Needless to say my skiing deteriorated due to nerves, tired thighs, and cramps in my calves. The piste map was a bit wacky in places and James ended up leading me off piste to get back to our apartment quicker. When we got back James ran me a lovely bath and the boys (who arrived back shortly after us) are making the tea. In spite of my sore legs and exhaustion I have had a brilliant birthday! 

Le Corbier

Today was a beautiful day in Le Corbier with blue skies and plenty of good quality snow. James did his usual efficient job of organising breakfast and soon we were heading up the mountain for our first ski day. The great news is that I can still ski! I had been nervous about this for good reason - my right knee in particular is very dodgy and I am not at all fit. However with my knee support strapped on securely my old leg didn't let me down and soon I was flying down blue runs with ease. I had requested blue runs only today so that I could build up my confidence. However the Anderson family navigation is never reliable when skiing and despite much poring over piste maps we were soon going down plenty of rugged reds as well! Actually I managed them fine so it still boosted my confidence. David was very nice about my skiing and said "I've never been so proud of you!" James and the boys were also delighted to be back on the snow, and we had a lovely day. We had lunch at a mountain restaurant above La Toussuire in the sunshine and as we all sat chatting and eating happily Ally exclaimed, "I love this! I'd forgotten how fun it is!"
After lunch we decided to head back to Le Corbier area so that we would be near the apartment in case anyone wanted to finish a bit early (me!) Needless to say we took a wrong turning and skied for miles around La Toussuire before finally finding the lift back to our own valley! When we got back to the apartment we went for a swim in the pool, which I especially loved because I love swimming outdoors. It was so strange to be swimming surrounded by snow, as people were sledging past! 

Au revoir la pluie!

I haven't mentioned the weather recently - it has been fairly mild but miserably rainy over Christmas. It didn't matter too much because we have been busy with cooking and entertaining. However it was very nice when we arrived in Lyon at lunch time on Saturday to emerge from our plane into beautiful spring-like weather. The sky above us was blue with little wispy clouds and in the distance we could see the reassuringly snow-covered mountains.
Our journey had been straightforward so far and the five of us had a lovely chat at breakfast in Edinburgh Airport - I just love all of us being together - I enjoy our children's company and always have. They are all so funny and interesting and yet so different from each other.
We collected our hire car at Lyon; a roomy Vauxhall Zafira which was declared very satisfactory by the boys (in the past there has been much moaning from the back seat on ski holidays when they have had to sit with cases on their knees!) We set off optimistically on what should have been a two hour journey, only to run into a massive traffic jam! According to the French traffic reports there were "bouchons" on many roads approaching the Alps, and it was even mentioned on the main news - the cause was the high volume of holiday traffic. Unfortunately this doubled our journey to a gruelling four hours! It was especially gruelling for James, who was driving. Finally, in the dark, we arrived in Le Corbier and checked into our apartment which to our relief is very good; clean and spacious with a large balcony overlooking the swimming pool and the mountains beyond. So it was a long day! We explored the resort a little and went to a pizzeria for a pleasant dinner, followed by an early night. 

Birthday celebrations

My birthday celebrations started four days early with a small family gathering arranged as a surprise for me by my dear husband! After all these years I am still surprised by how sensitive James can be sometimes! I often forget how much he understands me. It should be noted that earlier in the day he also surprised me by treating me to three new tyres to replace the baldy ones on my car! I was also very touched that Marjory and Forrest came along especially when they are working today and tomorrow, and it was great to see the children and Grandma too; we had a good laugh and a delicious Chinese meal. It reminded me of how my Dad used to talk about family. It will be also be great to see Jennifer and her boys in January. I'm a lucky girl with a wonderful family. 

Girl clothes

Yesterday we had a great afternoon with Janet, Peter and Anne. We had a copious lunch of leftover turkey and all the leftover trimmings, with added chilli con carne etc. to make sure that there would be enough. Just as well because most of it was devoured and we finished it off for supper. Cat and all the boys were there too and we had a hilarious afternoon playing charades and "Who am I" with the names attached to our foreheads on post it notes. The youngsters were all amused that us oldies were all having to share Janet's reading glasses to read the charades!
Today I found myself alone in the house at lunch time which is very unusual. James was back to work. Jamie had very kindly given Davie a lift to see his girlfriend, and was then going to have lunch with Chris and the gang. Ally and Cat had set off for a family party at Cat's house. Even Jack was napping somewhere upstairs after a lively morning of following me around the house. A feeling of great peace descended. I made myself a coffee all by my own self using James' splendid (or should I say "magnifico"!) coffee machine and I chose to heat up the milk in the microwave rather than froth it, which I actually prefer. I decided to be a domestic goddess (for a change) so I went to hang up a washing and found to my surprise that there was a pretty embroidered dressing gown which didn't belong to me! I suppose that it belongs to Aisling or Cat. It was a source of wonder to me to find female clothes other than my own in my house of boys! It reminded me of the line in the film "Always" where Dorinda sees the beautiful dress that Pete has bought her, and says "Girl Clothes!" James always said that I would get my girls some day and now I feel that I have! 

Family Christmas

Well it has been a traditional Anderson Christmas day and the best part of that for me is all of us being together. The day started with everyone opening presents in our bedroom - including Jack! I will not go into details of all the wonderful presents that we received except that they were so very thoughtful that I felt very grateful. Grandma, Forrest, Marjory and the children came round in the morning and we had champagne (or Champomy for those too young or not inclined to have alcohol), party snacks and Christmas cake. Later Grandma came back round for dinner and we were unusually efficient at getting everything served out, warm, at 5 p.m. Everything was cooked to perfection apart from the chipolatas which were a bit overdone.
Much later as we sat around playing games, replete and contented, I asked my boys what has been their favourite part of Christmas day. Jamie and Ally both said that they enjoyed their cousins being round in the morning, and Davie said he enjoyed winning a game of Risk for the first time ever! James said he enjoyed making a good job of Christmas dinner. 

Festive Day

A lovely Christmas eve - plenty to do but plenty of time to do it in. In the morning I did some last minute food shopping then went over to Noah's 4th birthday party - what a cute birthday boy he is, and when everyone sang Happy Birthday to him he was just SO happy and cuddled into Jackie. Jackie gave me an amazing birthday present - a personalised framed poster of our family, complete with cat! I love it!
I then went for a pleasant lunch at Clockwork with James and two of his colleagues before an urgent visit to a pet shop to get a cat Christmas stocking filled with cat treats for our furry boy Jack. Thank goodness that there were some left!
A relaxing afternoon of present wrapping ensued, followed by the preparation of the turkey. This year Jamie sewed it up using his surgeon's techniques! After a few final preparations such as setting the table we all sat down to watch "The Snowman and the Snowdog", a sequel to the thirty year old classic animation. I thought that it was rather lovely, a fitting tribute to the original. I then had to make a mercy dash into the centre of Glasgow to collect Alasdair who had managed to miss both the last train and the last bus home! 

Festive lunch

I got up reasonably early to get my hair cut. I want it to look smart for Christmas, my birthday and our ski holidays. I thought that the hairdressers would be very busy but actually it was quiet; maybe people were too busy Christmas shopping to get their hair done. The weather today was absolutely grim; it was windy and lashing with rain all morning. It was much worse in the north east where there was flooding causing landslips; the trains were off between Dundee and Aberdeen, which affected Aisling's journey home to her family. In the end she managed to book a bus instead which got her safely home.
With my hair all sorted I drove to Ingram Wynd where I was meeting James, Heather and Ewan for lunch. Because of the rain I drove up and down the street several times to find a good parking space, little realising that the other three could see me going past from inside the restaurant! We had a lovely meal; it was my first visit there and I would definitely go back. Then we strolled down the road for drinks and chat at the Metropolitan, a favourite haunt of ours situated in Merchant Square. The indoor courtyard had a large Christmas tree in the middle and was all lit up with Christmas lights which made for a nice atmosphere. It used to be part of the old Glasgow fruit market and outside it there is a wall of commemorative tiles with photos of the market in the old days. Ewan was just telling us that his Dad used to do business there when James spotted that on one of the tiles was a picture of Ewan's Dad's open backed lorry! Amazing! Ewan used to ride in it as a child! We had a very pleasant afternoon before heading home to make tea for Grandma. 

Festive cinema trip

Eight of us met up at the GFT this evening - James and me, Jamie, Ally, Davie and their girlfriends - to watch my perennial favourite "It's a Wonderful Life". I have lost count of how many times I have seen it, and each time I discover something new about it. I had booked our seats which was just as well because it was completely sold out, and I distributed paper hankies to all of our party for the emotional bits! I loved the film as always and I think everyone else enjoyed it too, the whole audience applauded and cheered at the end. We all discussed it on the way home; Cat pointed out that maybe George is so angry about his daughter catching a cold on the way home from school not just because he is stressed due to the missing money but also because he lost his hearing in one ear after a childhood cold. I thought that this was very perceptive and I was impressed.
When we got home we all had the chilli con carne or lentil chilli that James and I had prepared earlier, with rice, pitta bread, salad, soured cream and doritos. This all went down well and was followed by chocolate yule log. An excellent evening.

Batch cooking

This afternoon James and I are cooking up a storm - we are making supper for later this evening. At James' suggestion we have made 4 x quantities so that we can freeze some for later in the festive season. We are playing Michael Bublé's Christmas songs and feeling pleasantly festive in a domestic way. I quite like Michael Bublé's voice, he sounds like a traditional crooner. James has made me a gorgeous coffee and we have been chatting and setting the world to rights. Not bad for a rainy December afternoon!
Our boys are all in town Christmas shopping with their girls and we will be meeting them later to go to the cinema and then we will all come back here for supper. 

Santa drives a bus!

Yesterday Jackie and I provided the staff lunch which went very well, and to my surprise I was presented with a very generous and thoughtful 50th birthday present from my department - a gorgeous Jo Malone gift set in my favourite fragrance - Basil, Lime & Mandarin! Everyone had signed a card with lovely messages. I felt really quite moved. I took a class to the cinema to see "Nativity 2: Danger in the Manger" and although the plot was complete nonsense it was a really festive, comic, feel good film and we all enjoyed it.
Book club was fantastic last night. We laughed and chatted and ended up staying very late - and on a school night too! Rosemary is a lovely person and she made us a delicious supper in her beautiful home. We all opened our Secret Santas amid great jollity. They are such a nice bunch and so interesting too - one of the girls was telling us how privileged she feels to be a midwife and to help people at such an intimate and important time in their life. It got me thinking that I'm very privileged too - I love my job even though it can be very stressful at times.
As David and I approached the school this morning we saw a bus approaching as we waited at the mini roundabout - and Santa was driving it! I don't mean someone with a Santa hat, I mean Santa in full regalia with a massive beard! David and I found this very amusing!
The last day of term can be emotionally charged but this one went quite smoothly and was even quite fun, incorporating a very successful Christmas party for the pupils. We had a staff gathering at lunch time and there were five teachers who were given presentations for our 50th birthdays! It was interesting to see who is almost exactly my age. All very embarrassing but good fun - the story related about me concerned an incident on the Holland trip which was very funny - when I innocently looked out of my bedroom window only to see that it overlooked another window where a topless George R was dancing and calling "Hello ladies it is me, Raul!" (in reference to an Irn Bru advert). We did have a good laugh on that trip!
So now I'm on my holidays! It has been a long hard term but we have got a lot done and I feel that I can relax for a bit. 

The company I keep

What a pleasantly busy week this is turning out to be! Pleasant and busy do not always go hand in hand, but this week's activities have been great fun. Last night I went to a festive mince pies evening at Catherine's; I knew some but not all of the other guests; it didn't matter because they were a very friendly group and we all chatted away happily. I also had a lovely chat with Helen which I enjoyed very much.
After a busy day at work today I met up with my friend Margaret in town for a meal at Zizzi's. It was a pleasure to see her, she is one of my oldest friends - by which I mean longstanding rather than aged of course; Margaret is a young thing compared to me! We came back home for a cup of tea with James and the boys and a good old chat. The boys have known Margaret all of their lives and treat her as one of the family.
Tomorrow I am going to my EK book club Christmas meeting at Rosemary's and the main reason I am looking forward to it is the great people I will see there. We have all been there for each other through life's ups and downs. It occurs to me that I am a very lucky girl; as the saying goes, "You are known by the company you keep" and I truly like the company I keep! 

Dancing Duo

After our lovely weekend of house guests it was back to work today for the last week of term. James was up even earlier for a work trip to London. I left all of my boys and girls fast asleep - how nice it must be to be on holiday already! Davie was off sick with a sore throat so I handed in his overdue folio piece for him. He has worked hard on it with me over the weekend and it is much better structured with some good arguments. Some of his friends came to my room at lunch time to ask how he was which I thought was very sweet. It is a busy last week at school with numerous excursions and celebrations, which can prove to be rather stressful for all concerned as well as enjoyable! In the evening a much recovered Davie and I took the Wii over to Jackie's - she has purchased it from Davie as one of her boys' Christmas presents. He instructed her in how to set it up and we practised using it by dancing to "Just Dance" and Michael Jackson's "Thriller". We had such a good laugh as Davie sat on the couch making critical comments as he watched two DHTs dancing! 

An Unexpectedly Long Journey

Nearly three hours! Well, one hundred and seventy minutes to be exact, was the running time of The Hobbit Part One, which we saw at the cinema today. And that's only the first third of the book, so the total length by my calculations will be a whopping eight and a half hours. Now, James' childhood copy of The Hobbit has 272 pages (I have just checked) so that means that there will be nearly two minutes screen time devoted to each page of the book! Having said all that, I thoroughly enjoyed the film. I thought that Martin Freeman was perfect casting for Bilbo and I loved the brave but boorish band of dwarves. And I had no idea how long the film was lasting until I checked the time at the end and found to my alarm that it was already 6.30 p.m. - I hadn't checked the running time so had expected it to finish about an hour earlier! So although it was long, it didn't drag for me. We phoned Jamie to ask him to put the dinner on and then jumped in a taxi to get home in time for tea with Grandma. All went well and eight of us sat down to a nice dinner; Cat and Aisling have been here all weekend and I love having a house full of young people. We are now eating apple pie and watching BBC Sports Personality of the Year. What a pleasant evening. 

Sometimes the box opens

I was talking to a good friend recently who has had some very difficult times in his life. Completely different from the difficult times that I have had. We spoke about our issues for a while and he was just great to talk to. I asked him how he copes and he said that he tries to compartmentalise things. I agreed with that and said to him that I have found that if it's something really terrible and there is nothing that you can do to sort it out, the only thing you can do is try to put it aside - "put it in a box". But at unexpected moments something will trigger a memory and .... "The box opens", said my friend. We looked at each other and didn't need to say any more. It's so nice to have a moment of perfect understanding with someone. 

An Anderson family tradition

Today we went to choose our Christmas tree at the David Marshall lodge, according to a family tradition that has been going on for at least twenty-seven years. We have been choosing our tree there since well before our three children were born, and it has continued through babyhood, childhood and the teenage years. The boys love it and still want to come along even now. However this year we had a couple of new additions - Cat and Aisling both came along so there were seven of us! It was great fun. First we solemnly chose our tree, spending time deciding based on height, shape and straightness. The girls enthusiastically took part in these deliberations and we chose a fine specimen. Then after the tree was tied firmly to the car roof we went down the hill to the Woollen Mill in Aberfoyle for lunch, because the David Marshall lodge (where we usually feast on soup and toasties) is currently being refurbished. Next we went for a walk in the slightly damp but surprisingly mild afternoon through the woods to the waterfall. It was spectacular today, the white water was crashing down on the rocks below. We also went to a newly built wildlife hide, from where we watched lots of red squirrels climbing up and even inside the feeders, their winter coats thick and darkened. There were also lots of birds feeding, including some seasonally appropriate robins! Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and there was lots of chat and laughter on the way home in the car.
When I left to go to my staff night out James, boys and girlfriends were all starting to decorate the tree. I had to hurry into town though because my night out started at 5 p.m. which I thought was very early. We had a cocktail making class at Bar Strata followed by a meal. The cocktail class was great fun and we had a good laugh; everyone was in good form. The meal which followed was excellent and good value, and the service was great. A good evening was had by all. I left about ten thirty, forgoing the option to go dancing! Town was absolutely jumping with Christmas revellers, but I was glad to be heading home to my loyal, loving family. 

Christmas cake finally finished!

I went up to the Home Economics department at lunch time to finish off my cake by adding the baubles on the tree and the star for the top of the tree. There was a lovely busy atmosphere as pupils and staff all hurried to finish their cake decorating, supported by the incredibly patient Home Economics teachers. I brushed the baubles and the star with glitter and at last my cake was finished. I am SO proud of it, although I admittedly the disproportionately huge Jack cat that I have added in front of my family of penguins does make for a rather bizarre Christmas scene! 

Good deed

I felt much more energetic today and got lots done. I also did a good deed today for a colleague. I can't blog about it because it's work related, but I got the warm glow that comes of doing something nice for someone who needs it. I do try to help others when I can. For example I remember many years ago when I was a student teacher I got an excellent chance to do a good deed. I met a lady who had made an accidental thoughtless remark to a person who had been recently bereaved (she momentarily forgot and asked him to say hello for her to his deceased wife). When she found out that I knew the person too, she asked if I could convey her apologies because she was too embarrassed to contact him. I was delighted to do so; our mutual friend then asked me to tell her not to worry about it, and she then felt able to phone him. This may sound trivial but it didn't feel trivial to her at the time, and I was very happy to be able to help her even in such a small way. And that's the whole point; it doesn't have to be a grand gesture. I'm not going to list any more good deeds or it will sound "bigsy" as they say on Westray and anyway I'm sure that most people share my philosophy of "help not hurt". I have met some lovely people in my life as well as some less pleasant individuals - I try to be "one of the good guys". That's what a friend of ours called my Dad after he died - and it was true! If I could be half as good a person as my Dad I would be very happy. 

Not quite firing on all cylinders

I am now in the bath on my way to bed because I have not been feeling great today. Nothing specific, just heavy eyes and a slight headache. I am not alone in this; a lot of my colleagues are feeling less than 100% too. The annoying thing is that it has affected my concentration and I did not get through everything that I wanted to today. After school I went to the Cookery Club's Christmas celebration which went very well, and, during her speech to the invited parents, Shona very kindly thanked me for being her helper over the last couple of months. I nipped into the store room to have a look at my penguins and felt quite pleased with them. They look as if they have been made by an adult amateur - not as if a toddler has made them, which is what I feared. By the time I got home I was really tired; lovely Davie made the tea and I perked up a little. Ally is feeling a bit better I'm glad to say and is planning to sit his exam tomorrow. I need to get him a doctor's line for the exam he missed today; it's very unfortunate but he really couldn't help being ill. He is going to ask his Advisor of Studies when he will next be able to sit the exam; I suspect that it will not be until June or August. The best thing I can do now is get a good night's rest to restore my energy levels. 

Seven assorted penguins

Today I made the seven penguins for my Christmas cake and I have to say that it was very hard work. One of my Home Economics colleagues very kindly demonstrated to me how to make one, and in his expert hands the task seemed deceptively easy. Not so when I came to try it. The black icing was very difficult to manipulate and it kept making dirty marks on the white icing even though I tried to be careful. The beaks and feet were really footery. However I did end up with my seven penguins completed. They all look slightly different in size, shape and expression so I have pragmatically decided that this is a good thing! They are called Susan penguin, James penguin, Jamie penguin, Ally penguin, Davie penguin, Grandma penguin and Cat penguin. Cat, Ally's girlfriend, qualifies for the cake because she is lovely and has put up with Ally for two years now! Jack cat will also feature on the cake but in cat form rather than penguin form. It's not as complicated as it sounds!
In other news, our new boiler went out today because a pipe froze in the garage. The house was freezing when we came home and James was furious - he had told the installers that he didn't like the way the pipes were set up but they had dismissed his concerns and now he has been proved right. James managed to fix it by pouring boiling water over the pipe but he shouldn't have had to do that with a brand new boiler system after only a couple of weeks. The most comical aspect was when Jack came through and climbed up on the radiator for a heat after eating his dinner (James refers to this as "cooking his chunks"!) He made his way up as usual via the couch but when he put his front paws on the radiator and found it to be stone cold he did a double take and retreated disapprovingly! Also worrying, especially since he is in the middle of his exams, Ally is not at all well, with flu like symptoms. He went to the doctor today and it looks like he's going to have to miss tomorrow's exam. He is understandably very upset about this but as I pointed out to him, unfortunately these things happen and he can arrange to sit his exam at a future date. 

An evening of my life that I won't get back

This evening I was nagged by James into writing our Christmas cards. Writing a hundred or so cards takes me several hours and I didn't feel very festive; in fact it was a bit of a chore. This task merely serves to make me feel guilty about all the lovely friends that I have not seen for ages, and I always vow to get in touch with them soon. In fact James and I were just discussing during our walk at the weekend that it's time we contacted a few people.
A couple of my book club friends announced last Christmas that they would no longer be sending Christmas cards because they are too much hassle. These are not people who don't like tradition, far from it, but they are both quite a bit younger than me and that's what makes me wonder if the days of the Christmas card may be numbered? They are quite attractive as decoration but could easily be replaced by a bit more tinsel! And the Christmas greetings could be transmitted by e-card, something I have already used occasionally for late birthday greetings. This is my prediction, you read it here first. As for me, I'm too set in my ways to have a radical change so I will be sending Christmas cards (and moaning about it) for the foreseeable future! Meanwhile James was happily watching the second part of a documentary about the Rolling Stones. I told him that since I have written the Christmas cards for the first twenty-eight Christmases of our marriage he can write them for the next twenty-eight years! James agreed, but only on condition that he writes the list of recipients - which I presume means that it would be a very short list! 

The Reluctant Santa

Today we went on the hill-walking club's annual "Mince Pies" outing. The company is always convivial and it's a really nice festive treat. Club members and their friends bring along children and grandchildren and it's always well attended. This year our walk was to the Forth and Clyde Canal and the Antonine Wall; a circular walk starting and ending at the Auchinstarry Marina, where we had a slap up breakfast before setting off. The weather was absolutely beautiful; sunny with blue skies. It was much milder than last week but still quite icy underfoot in some places so we had to watch out. We set off along the canal towpath before heading up Croy Hill where we had lovely, if slightly urban, views up the valley. Then we went on to Bar Hill which was steeper than I had anticipated but manageable - at least it was grassy and not icy! We went down a little to have lunch just below the trig point out of the wind, and as we walked on we saw the foundations of a Roman fort. We then descended to Twechar and back along the canal towpath to Auchinstarry. It was a good walk. James and I saw four swans flying above us us as we walked along, with David sliding recklessly but enthusiastically along beside us on the icy path. Our festive celebration was held at the Coachman Hotel in Kilsyth where we had a function room booked. There was a quiz and a raffle and much drinking of mulled wine and singing of festive songs. However there was a problem - no one had volunteered to be Santa! With some persuasion (from me and hill-walking club Heather) James very reluctantly agreed to do it. To be fair, being Santa goes against everything James stands for - his horror of showing off and his lack of enthusiasm for children! He took so long getting ready in the gents toilet that I thought he might have climbed out of the window and done a runner. However he emerged wearing his santa outfit and looking very grim, and Heather helped him to put on his voluminous wig and beard. Finally James entered the party room as everyone sang "Jingle Bells" and I have to say that he did a very decent job. Santa's Little Helper (Diane) kept him on the right track as they distributed the presents to both children and adults, and James sportingly interjected a few appropriate phrases such as "Have you been good?" and "Ho Ho Ho!" The general opinion was that he was a good Santa but needed to grow his paunch a bit more. When it was all over and he had changed back into his civvies I asked if he had enjoyed this new experience even a wee bit. "No" came the firm response, "It's just not me." 

Battle on the lawn

I was watching a magpie and a squirrel squaring up to each other on the grass this afternoon. The magpie was the most aggressive and danced right up to the squirrel but the squirrel turned round to it and they had a brief skirmish, they seemed evenly matched. I have had a pleasant Saturday. I was bag-packing at Sainsbury's to raise funds for the music trip then did a bit of housework. Ally and Cat were studying together and Davie was in town with his girlfriend. In the evening we all had dinner together then James and I watched a quirky wee film that had been recommended to me called "Up there" It was a strange wistful black comedy filmed in Glasgow and Saltcoats, with a rather bleak view of a bland bureaucratic afterlife. It had haunting music, the acting was good and I enjoyed it. 

Fandabbydosa

I fell down this morning on the ice beside my car! It was black ice and I just didn't see it at all. Mainly my dignity was hurt but also my left arm, my butt and my left foot. I'm going to have some spectacular bruises. Work was busy, busy, busy with prelims, but it was a good day. I picked up James after work and we went Christmas shopping in town. This proved to be a rather successful trip and we made very good progress with our list. Then we went for dinner to Dakhin and had a delicious dinner; the sauces are so gorgeous. I had char-grilled chicken with pathram which is an assortment of ground rice and lentil pancakes. James had a lamb dish which he loved and of course we had a huge paper dosa on the side. Now I'm watching Bruno Mars videos with Ally and Cat. 

The icing on the cake

Today I iced my Christmas cake! I chose ivory coloured icing just because I liked the rich luxurious look of it. The icing is weird to manipulate, very stretchy when I lifted it onto the cake using a rolling pin. It also had a couple of air bubbles which I had to pierce with a pin and then smooth out. I was pleased with the result and it is now ready to be decorated next week - I'm still thinking about penguins.
Ally had an exam today and he thinks it went well. I hope so. Meanwhile Davie has found romance at school, not his first girlfriend but his first Duncanrig girlfriend; it's so sweet but he would be furious if I blogged about it at this early stage so I will say no more. Jamie has been having accommodation problems; his landlord is pressuring Jamie to find replacement tenants right now for the people who will be graduating next summer which seems very premature and unreasonable. Why should Jamie have to find the tenants anyway? I suspect the landlord would find it simpler to move in a new crowd of 2nd year students next session once most of the current ones move out in July so that they will all be there for three or four years. I think Jamie should just find a new flat for his final year at university; his lease doesn't run out until after his big exams in July so it won't affect his studies.
James made coffee using the new coffee maker tonight! There were various alarming sounds as the beans were ground and whatever other strange processes take place. The coffee smelt gorgeous and tasted authentic! 

Marzipan skies

I have now put the marzipan on my Christmas cake. It's a lovely pale gold colour and looks very smart. I got such good advice from my colleagues and also some pupils, on how to roll it out properly and smooth it onto the cake. Everyone was so encouraging and I'm very excited about the next stage of icing it.
David and I went into town yesterday evening to collect the coffee machine and we had a browse round an almost deserted John Lewis. I got some very nice Christmas crackers but Davie was tired so then we just went for a coffee and had a lovely chat.
On the way into school this morning the sky was magnificent - brilliant blue with swathes of gold clouds (like my marzipan!) The weather continues to be cold; -4 degrees when David and I set off home this evening. Hard to believe that I was sweltering on the beach at Sandwood Bay five months ago - I bet it's bitterly cold there too tonight! 

Ready for winter

It is well and truly winter which I suppose isn't surprising for December. When we walked along to Alison and Hugh's for dinner on Saturday evening the ground was icy with huge ice crystals that looked like broken glass! Last night the forecast snow arrived and we woke to a couple of centimetres of powdery whiteness. The brightness that this provided outside our windows fooled Jack into thinking that it was daytime at 5 a.m. - he paced around the bedroom, deliberately knocking over the bin, chewing loudly on a plastic bag, clawing the carpet and walking over our inert forms. Woken too early, we remonstrated with Jack but he appeared unrepentant, and when we set off for work he was settling down for a nap. Outside it was icy and slushy but the roads were clear so there was no delay in getting to work. The car park and playground were covered with a sheet of ice, so I am now carrying my moon boots and yaktrax ice grips in the car. With my new super scrapers and de-icer spray I am ready for the cold weather ahead! 

My own blog used against me

James wanted to go for a hill walk this morning but I wasn't up for it because I was tired. Needless to say this led to various recriminations and David even joined in and read aloud from my blog of a few days ago where I bemoaned my lack of exercise. Eventually James and I decided to go into town to shop for a new couch. There had been a heavy frost overnight and the paths were thick with ice. It really is winter now! The ice on the car was a feathery pattern which looked very beautiful.
Our trip into town got off to a slow start; the couch hunt will have to go on because we did not feel inspired by any we saw. However we had a pleasant lunch in Zizzi, did some useful Christmas shopping, then finally ordered a magnificent coffee machine in John Lewis. I say "finally" because, like many Anderson purchases, it took us an unfeasible amount of time to decide which one we wanted. I think the coffee machine decision has taken about five years! James will collect it on Tuesday and then we can start grinding and brewing! 

Nearly peaceful!

Well my wish did not quite come true! I was woken up during the night when my presence was required for a minor medical matter! However I was only woken once so that's not too bad. I also woke a few times feeling cold due to having a tiny and thin duvet; I must remember to bring my own next time. After a slap up breakfast I headed north to school along roads that were slightly icy so I took it easy. There were beautiful views of the Clyde estuary as I drove up the coast; the hills and buildings were lit up by a low winter sun, and the pale blue sky looked as if someone had layered on the thin white clouds with the sweep of a paintbrush.
A very busy day ensued and I was so tired that by the end of the day my eyes could barely focus so I took home some work, which is unusual for me because I prefer to work late rather than bring work home.
So now I'm in a warm bath and I can hardly wait to get under my huge cosy winter duvet! 

Hoping for a peaceful night

Here I am in my little room at Inverclyde where I am on a residential trip. My room is small but comfortable, although it is "bin view" this time rather than the sea view I had the first time I came here. I have great memories of coming here; the first time was 2008 and the pupils always love it. The facilities are very good and the food is hearty and plentiful. I didn't arrive until mid-afternoon because I am doing the overnight shift to fill in for a colleague who has a young baby, and I will be heading back to school after breakfast. However I have enjoyed watching some sports, and of course the disco, where we all joined in with a spirited rendition of "Gangnam Style". Jackie came down with her gorgeous boys for a visit, who absolutely loved the dancing. When they left, Noah turned round when I was waving goodbye to them, and signalled a hug by putting his arms round himself and giving me a big smile. And now I am keeping my fingers crossed that I will have an undisturbed night, which has not always been the case during trips here! 

Not taking exercise

It has been a busy week so far and I have been a bit pre-occupied with some work decisions I will have to make soon. I have also been quite tired and I'm about to head for an early bath and bed. Needless to say I have taken no exercise since my big walk at the weekend, which makes me annoyed with myself. I see colleagues going to the gym after work (we are very lucky to have a gym on the premises) but I never join them because I am always busy. I am undoubtedly busy but am I also using it as an excuse? After all I still find time for reading and doing things that I enjoy. I have to make some time for exercise. It won't be tomorrow because I am going on a residential trip. But I will try at the weekend. 

A good weekend

Saturday was a busy day for me; I went to the hairdressers (not my favourite experience but bearable thanks to my current very pleasant hairdresser). From there I collected Jackie and the boys and we went bag packing at Sainsburys to raise money for our school radio station. I really hate bag packing and only went along to support Chris, the person who was organising it. I feel as if I am forcing the customer to accept a service that they probably don't want, and I stress out that I will be rubbish at packing the bags. However I found myself on child care duty for Finn and Noah instead which I found much more pleasant, and I still felt that I was doing my bit! Then in the evening we went over to Heather and Ewan's for dinner; what a treat after a busy day. Dinner was absolutely delicious (the lovely spicy Italian stew was just right and like Goldilocks I ate it all up!) and we had a great, relaxing evening; it was the highlight of our weekend.
Today James and I walked from Drymen to Milngavie with a school group, not a D of E expedition, a general fitness walk. It was a long walk for me, given my current lack of fitness; 19 km. I woke up absolutely dreading it, and it was grey and rainy in the morning. However the terrain was easy, the weather improved during the day, the company was pleasant and I ended up enjoying myself. On the other hand my dodgy knee is very, very sore right now. One of the best things about today though, is that I have now walked the first section of the West Highland Way. I am pleased about this because I want to complete the sections I haven't done over the next year or so, the way that we ticked off the Ayrshire Coastal path, bit by bit. I have already walked various sections of the West Highland Way, some of them many times, so I will make a note of what I have done so far, and start adding new sections as I do them. After our walk we collected Ally from Auchengillan where he had been helping at a Disabled Scouts residential weekend. I was very tired on the way home and revived myself with a bath before Grandma came round for tea. And that is the story of my weekend! 

Strange boiler experience

James had a strange experience yesterday when the new boiler was installed and the old one was lying in the garden waiting to be collected along with bits of packaging and rubbish from the installation. A man rang the doorbell and asked if he could take the boiler. He had a van parked down at the street. James said "Are you from Scottish Hydro?" and the man replied "No I am Romanian!" James said politely that he had better leave it because there was a pick up already arranged by Scottish Hydro.
Anyway half an hour later there was another ring at the doorbell. A different man with a different coloured van. "I have come to pick up the boiler he said, in a thick Romanian accent, "I am from Scottish Hydro!" James of course realised that this must be a friend of the first man with van, however he let him take the boiler because he felt they deserved it for trying! He did however make sure that they took the packaging and rubbish too! Sure enough the real pick up van arrived later and James pleaded ignorance - they didn't seem too bothered.
So the new boiler is up and running. The house is warm - but it's not exactly pulsating with heat the way I had hoped! After all we still have the same old pipes and radiators. But it may be an improvement; the winter months ahead will be a good test! 

Balloon

This evening as David and I left school we saw a solitary balloon ascending past us into the darkening sky. This led David to tell me some interesting facts about helium - I didn't realise that helium is a non-renewable resource and the world's reserves of the gas will run out in the near future. David knows so many things about science. As we drove home I switched on the radio and guess what song started? "Ninety-nine red balloons" by the 1980s German rock band Nena. David and I were both amazed as we had both been thinking of the song! Serendipity!

Cold house

Well actually it doesn't feel that cold right now; there is no heating in our house because our new boiler is not yet completely installed, however James has lit the fire in the lounge and we are all sitting in there warm and cosy. Ally is doing some Law work, James is reading the final volume of Game of Thrones, Davie is doing his Physics homework, and I am reading a book called "Cross Stitch" (the jury is still out on this one!)
But cosiest of all is Jack the Cat, who is lying in his basket right in front of the fire, curled into a comma shape with all four of his paws crossed gently over each other. From time to time he gives a big stretch and changes position, reaching a paw over the edge of the basket or turning over to get an even heat. He really knows how to make himself comfy!
He has had an exciting day. The electricians turned up at 8 a.m. and James says that when he saw them peering under the floor in the hall he was so nosy that his face was pressed against the glass of the door from the extension! He then appeared upstairs and told me that we had intruders by catching my eye then staring wide eyed towards the door. James took the day off to discuss and agree to what they were doing, (just as well he did because there were various difficulties) and later he heard the electricians shouting "Hey, there's a cat under the floor!", no prizes for guessing who! What with supervising the electricians and entertaining James all day, no wonder Jack is exhausted!
Let's hope that the house is not too cold in the morning and that the new boiler is churning out heat by the time I get home from work tomorrow. 

May I ask why?

I went to see "The Ladykillers" with Heather this evening. I had heard of it as an old Ealing black comedy film, and I was aware of the 2004 remake starring Tom Hanks, but I have never seen it before. First of all we had dinner in the Piper's Tryst restaurant, so handy for the Theatre Royal and nice food. The service was a bit on the slow side, but it didn't spoil our enjoyment of the meal and we had a good chat. The play starred Michelle Dotrice (who will always be "Betty" from "Some Mothers do 'ave em" to me!) as an old lady, Mrs Wilberforce. Her dilapidated house is rented by a gang of criminals posing as musicians to cover up that they are planning a robbery. They even use her to help them unwittingly but she finally realises that they are villains and as she threatens to go to the police they decide that they will have to kill her. That is where their troubles really begin! It was all good fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Our view was a little bit restricted at the beginning and as there were a few spare seats we slipped along to much better seats along the row. In the process I found myself sitting beside someone who I knew from years ago and we said hello; she was also there with a friend. At the interval they said that they were not enjoying it at all and had spent the first half asleep or eating sweets! When I confessed that I was liking it my friend's friend said "I don't mean to offend you in any way, but may I ask why?" Far from being offended I found her frank question rather charming! (I think I replied something about enjoying old-fashioned plays). At the end of the play I asked her if the second half had been better for her. "No!" came the cheerful reply! Fair enough, the world would be a boring place if we all liked the same things. However I found the play to be very enjoyable and an excellent treat in the middle of a busy week. 

Road trip to Dundee

David and I went through to Dundee for lunch and to meet Jamie's girlfriend Aisling. She is beautiful and very friendly. We had a very pleasant lunch in a restaurant recommended by Jamie then we walked along the shopping street and bought crêpes from a stall; they were delicious. Then Jamie and Aisling helped choose a really nice Superdry winter jacket for David. Superdry is apparently a good quality brand or so Jamie tells me - I know nothing of these things. David hadn't been at all interested in getting a new jacket until Jamie convinced him that it was a good idea - big brothers can be useful! We all had a coffee in a friendly coffee shop called "Empire State Coffee" which had good coffee and comfy couches upstairs where we chatted until it was time for Davie and I to set off home. We picked up a Chinese meal on the way and arrived home just at the right time to have dinner with Grandma and our intrepid hill-walkers who had all enjoyed their weekend. 

Wigwam

Cat has been texting me from the wigwam of romance, and it sounds like she and Ally are having a great time. Today she climbed her first Munro and she said it was snowy and icy at the top. It's strange to think that she is going out with a young Anderson male the way I did all those years ago. The Anderson men have many qualities, both good (loyal, romantic, fun, hard-working) and less good (single-minded, high expectations, very active). I know that active sounds like an excellent quality but it has another side to it, which is losing the ability to relax. Cat has this all this ahead of her. Good luck to her!
I have been relaxing and reading; I strongly felt that I needed to catch up on some sleep this weekend so apart from a little housework and a brief spell at work this afternoon, I have been having a quiet time. I have started another book which is by a blogger I read regularly, about her life in France. It's quite intriguing because she seems very upbeat but reading between the lines there is a trace of wistfulness. I'm off to to some reading now; I feel as if I am re-charging my batteries! 

James' Banana Loaf

Today I fed some brandy to my Christmas cake then wrapped it up snugly in grease-proof paper and tin foil. My cake may have enjoyed the alcohol but I didn't keep it company - it's two years today since I stopped drinking alcohol!
When I set off to work I had the good idea of taking James' banana loaf in with me; I often bring in cakes on a Friday but I usually buy them, so I thought that this would be a nice change. Not everyone likes banana loaf so I thought I would have plenty to take home again but this did not turn out to be the case! I was out at a meeting before break and when I came back in the cake was already being much appreciated by my colleagues and soon it was all gone! They were very complimentary about it and particularly praised James' use of walnuts. It's true that James is very good at baking - his Madeira cake is also excellent. I texted James to confess to what I had done but he took it quite well!
James, Ally and Cat have now set off for their hill-walking weekend, leaving Davie, me and Jack at home. Cat thinks that she is going to a bothy in Kinlochleven with James' club but Ally has in fact booked a wigwam at Tyndrum for them to have a romantic weekend by themselves. James is kindly dropping them off on his way north. Ally and I bought all the food for them yesterday and he is taking firewood because each wigwam has a fire pit outside. I have been to these wigwams on a Duke of Edinburgh weekend and while they are fairly basic, they are a big step up from a tent because they are made of wood, and have a fridge and a light bulb as well as beds. Ally has a really thoughtful side and has the whole weekend planned.
So I am about to step into a rose scented bath to read my Ann Patchett book "State of Wonder" which I love - she is such a good writer. I have been very tired this week so I'm planning a restful weekend, my only excursion will be to visit Jamie and his new girlfriend in Dundee on Sunday. 

I make a Christmas cake

I'm very excited because I have just made a Christmas cake for the first time in a long time. I have been trying to think when I last made one, and I think it might have been the Christmas after we got married which was twenty-seven years ago!
Our home economics department is running a series of after school sessions for teachers to bake and decorate Christmas cakes so of course I rushed to sign up. However I had to miss the first session on Monday because I had a meeting after school, so one of my colleagues very kindly weighed out the ingredients for me and soaked the fruit. Today we had to mix the dry ingredients with butter and eggs and treacle, then add the fruit and mix it all together. We all had a good laugh while we were doing it!
We took the cakes home to bake them and I have just taken mine out of the oven after 1 hour 45 minutes. It looks good and the skewer comes out clean when I stab it. After several weeks of feeding it with booze I will take it back into school to decorate it in December.
Meanwhile James has also been baking. Sometimes when we have a backlog of bananas James makes a banana loaf which is absolutely gorgeous. So the house is full of very nice baking smells just now! 

Commedia dell'arte

I went to see a play at the Theatre Royal with Jackie this evening called "One Man, Two Guv'nors". I knew absolutely nothing about it before I went but I really enjoyed it. It's a slapstick comedy, and I quite like a certain amount of slapstick as long as it's quite witty. I didn't buy a programme so it wasn't until we were chatting to some old friends at the interval that they mentioned that it is based on a Commedia dell'arte play from the 18th century. Everything fell into place, and in fact at the beginning of the second half the buffoon main character referred to the genre and described himself as the Harlequin. And sure enough he had all the right characteristics; stupid and gluttonous but also very agile and a bit wily. The ridiculous plot translated well into 1960s seaside England and the skiffle music worked well during the scene changes. There were also some clever little twists and turns which i won't mention for fear of spoiling it for others. The slapstick was way over the top and it was all great fun. 

French Umbrellas

Jamie has sent me a link to a French music site that he came across, because he thought that I would like it. He was right. After spending a year in France as a teenager I will always be a francophile and I enjoy French films, music, food, language - everything, really. In return I sent Jamie a link to my favourite French tune ever, which is the haunting love song from Les Parapluies de Cherbourg. Guy has been told that he has to go to Algeria to do his military service, and says goodbye to his lover Geneviève. It is a heart-breaking scene; Catherine Deneuve is very young and lovely, and Nino Castelnuovo is probably the most beautiful man that I have ever seen. Both singing voices were dubbed but that doesn't detract from this wonderful music. I'm going to watch it again right now. 

Visiting Hugh, by Alasdair Anderson (2010)

It was a cold grey day in the Fins New British cemetery in the Somme Valley as I stood at Hugh Anderson’s grave. His headstone was a simple rectangle with a rounded top, made of pale Portland Stone. Its fine, even grain was engraved with Hugh’s name and rank, a cross, and a regimental emblem. The small flower bed around the headstone was planted with roses and perennials. I put a small bunch of flowers on the neatly cut grass in front of it and wondered how he had felt when the peaceful fields had been a horrendous, muddy battlefield.
I never met Hugh. He was my great-great-uncle and he died during the First World War, ninety-two years ago, on the 24th of October 1918, just a few weeks before the Armistice. He was only twenty three years old, seven years older than I am now. I visited his grave during a short trip to the battlefields of northern France and Belgium with my family last year.
As I stood at Hugh’s grave and looked around at the straight rows of other graves, the headstones neatly lined up like the soldiers they represent, I felt a mixture of pride and sadness. I felt pride because Hugh fought for our country. I felt deep sorrow because his life was cut short. And not just his life; the day before we had visited Tyne Cot Cemetery, which is near the site of the Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium. There are 11,908 graves in Tyne Cot, of which three quarters are unknown. On the wall at the back of the cemetery are the names of another 34,927 soldiers who have no known grave. The sheer number of graves makes it difficult to take in; it’s really hard to think of them as people and not just rows and rows of white headstones. There is even a sort of deceptively peaceful beauty to the war cemeteries that almost makes you forget the tragedy and huge loss of young life that took place.
The Fins New British cemetery where Hugh is buried looked small compared to others I had visited. However when I read the plaque on the gate I was shocked that even such a relatively small cemetery had two thousand soldiers in it. As well as the huge cemeteries there are many smaller cemeteries scattered around the countryside in northern France and Belgium.
As the sun broke through the clouds I realised that every one of these many names belonged to a real person, a son, brother, perhaps husband or father. I had seen so many war graves during that week, but this small slab of stone belonged to someone who was once a part of my family. Suddenly my little bunch of flowers, already dying, seemed inadequate for all the suffering. I was moved and I decided that I wanted to find out more about Hugh, even though everyone who knew him is now dead.
I went to the Mitchell Library to look up war obituaries on the microfiche records of the newspapers. And sure enough, there he was, the only photo that still exists. He had a cheerful face and blond, wavy hair. But that only showed me what he looked like; I still wanted to know what he was like as a person.
I asked my grandmother if she had any more information about him. There were no more photos, but she found his service medals. She had heard that his mother “was never the same” after he died and died herself a few years later. How could this young man who was so loved have disappeared almost without a trace? My grandmother found one more thing; a short letter that he wrote home from the front lines a few weeks before he died.
It wasn’t easy to read the letter; the ink had faded and his writing was scratchy and old-fashioned. There were no great insights about war or danger; he thanked his mother for the socks she had sent him, asked how the family was, complained that he was short of cigarettes. He was just an ordinary young man, and although he must have had hopes and plans like all of us, we can never know what they were. So that’s all there is. Some medals, one short, everyday letter and a handed-down memory that his mother loved him very much.
And that’s what I found tragic; he was just an ordinary person like me, in an extraordinary situation, a war that cut his life short. Most of his life was in front of him; he would probably have worked in the family haulage business for the next forty years like his brothers and then enjoyed some years of retirement. It makes me feel sorry that he missed all the good things in life, like Christmas, birthdays and holidays at the seaside. Perhaps he had a girlfriend who missed him for the rest of her life. Or his life might not have been all that happy, he might have had health problems or hated his job; but he never got the chance to find out and that’s what I felt was so distressing.
Over the next months, as I reflected on his short life, I started to think that although he didn’t get the chance to live out his life and have children of his own, his bloodline goes on through me and my brothers, his brother’s descendants. He was one of nearly ten million soldiers on both sides who died during the First World War, but he was also part of our family and he was a unique human being.
As I thought about his life ending suddenly I started to think that we should all make the most of the precious gift of life while we have it. I decided that whatever I spend my life doing, I would like to live life to the full. I would like to do this in honour of Hugh Anderson and all the other soldiers who fell in combat in the First and Second World Wars. None of us knows how long we have got to live so we should try to live the best lives we can, helping others and trying to make the world a little better, and above all appreciating how lucky we are to be alive.
I would like to visit Hugh’s grave again soon and also return with the next generation of Andersons some day to pay our respects. Next time instead of cut flowers I will bring a heather plant for this Scottish soldier buried so far from home, as a symbol of life going on.
(Written by Alasdair Anderson, 2010) 

Remembrance Sunday

Ally and Cat went to the Remembrance Day service at the church and enjoyed the outdoor part at the war memorial. Ally asked recently when we will be going back to visit the grave of his great-great-uncle Hugh in France who died in the last weeks of the First World War (we visited in 2009 and vowed to return with a heather to plant on his grave)
James and I headed to a family lunch in Biggar to celebrate Abigail's 40th birthday. Abigail is a lovely girl who is the youngest of my many cousins (there are fifteen of us I think). Our oldest cousin has just turned sixty so that places me right in the middle of the age range. We had a very pleasant afternoon catching up on family news in Bill and Katy's gorgeous house. I did my own bit of remembering, about family members who are no longer with us, most recently May. When we got home I had a nap while James kindly made tea for all of us including Grandma. A relaxing Sunday evening ensued. 

O Fortuna

James and I went to the Royal Concert Hall to listen to one of our favourite pieces of music tonight - Carmina Burana by Carl Orff. We have seen it twice before and we both love the music and the words. It is based on twenty-four of the poems from a medieval collection also known as Carmina Burana (Latin for "Songs from Beuern"). Discovered in a monastery in Bavaria at the beginning of the 19th century, the texts were about life and love and fortune and fate, and were written in a mixture of Latin and German. Orff put them to music in the 1930s and they have been popular ever since, with orchestra, choirs and soloists making the music very vibrant and striking. My personal favourite is the rollicking drinking song in the tavern which lists all the revellers, but it's all good. One song is even sung in a high falsetto by an understandably miserable roasting swan- what's not to love! 

Lunch at the Rogano

What a lovely day I have had! The lunch I was going to have with my school friends has been postponed until January so I had lunch with Alasdair instead, and it was great fun. We were in town doing some research on the Christmas present that he is planning for Cat. I must say he has put a great deal of thought into it, she's a lucky girl. We also got Ally a pair of climbing trousers that he needed. It was a dreich day so I decided that for a treat we would go for lunch to the Rogano. Alasdair loves the finer things in life so he enjoyed it very much! I had a scallop risotto which was yummy and Alasdair had the lobster Thermidor which he said was delicious. We had a great chat about all sorts of things and I was proud to be out with my tall handsome son. Just as we finished our desserts the fire alarm went off! We were all evacuated (a bit too slowly for safety I think) and there was much jollity on the pavement as the fire brigade arrived. It turned out just to be a fault in the alarm system of the offices upstairs. When we went back in to pay, the manager was very pleased to see us and said that not everyone who had finished their meal would have bothered to go back. But as Alasdair pointed out "We're not like that." 
Ally and I then parted ways; I set off for Marks and Spencer at Sauchiehall Street and Ally was going to look at shoes. I gave him money but did not accompany him; we had such a nice time together today and I didn't want to spoil it by the inevitable falling out that we would have had in a shoe shop. So here I am, as happy as larry, having a coffee in the GFT cafe. How relaxing. 

Books and music

Book club this evening was at my house and we were discussing "The Man who forgot his wife" by John O'Farrell. For a fairly light-hearted book it stimulated a good amount of discussion because the themes were very interesting. It had a lot of parallels with a book that I read earlier this year called "Before I go to Sleep" which also dealt with memory loss. One of the best discussions we ever had at book club was about a book I chose called "Under the Skin" by Michel Faber, and I was gratified to hear people still talking about what an impression it made on them, at a recent book club meeting. But most often I prefer to let others choose the book because I already have confidence in this area (one of the few areas I do feel confident in!), probably just because of the sheer amount of reading that I do and have done. I think it's a shame if someone is nervous about their choice or crestfallen if people don't unanimously like it, and I always point out that the fun of book club is trying out different books, and that includes light hearted ones as well as serious tomes. We had a pleasant evening.
When everyone had left I heard a very unusual, in fact almost unprecedented sound coming from upstairs. It was David practising his cello, and it actually sounded quite good! I think he is practising because he is wanting to join one of the school ensembles, and I am delighted! 

An Italian Meal

This evening I met up with Sharon for a meal at Zucca in the village, an Italian restaurant. It was a lovely evening; we haven't met up for ages so we had a lot of catching up to do. I was struck by how similar our views and attitudes are in a lot of areas especially to do with family and work life. I have never been to Zucca before although I have heard good things about it, and it certainly lived up to its good reputation. I had pasta and I chose pollo pesto sauce which was absolutely delicious. It was a great way to relax with a very good friend after a busy day at work and we both vowed to meet up more often!
When I got home David was embroiled in his Persuasive Essay which is about wind farms. James and I sat down with him to help him organise it a bit; David has well thought out and strong opinions but setting them out in writing can be a problem. James is very knowledgable in the energy field and was throwing out lots of facts interspersed with his own often controversial views and David and I were trying to keep up. Finally David was satisfied with his first draft and was a tired but relieved boy. 

American President

America has voted Barack Obama in for another four years. I find myself rather embarrassingly unable to comment further on this, because apart from seeming like a really nice guy, I know very little about Obama or how good a president he is. He has only been voted in by just over half of the voters so that means that nearly half of voting Americans didn't want him.
The reason for my ignorance about politics can be traced back to the 1970s. Many of my contemporaries were starting to take an active interest in how our country was run by their early teens, but I found it all very boring and almost wilfully ignored political newspaper articles and programmes. I am not proud of this. I read in one of Stephen Fry's autobiographies that he does not sympathise with people who say that they have missed out on education, because knowledge is everywhere, like streets paved with gold, and can be easily accessed. I agree with him and am always intending to remedy my earlier lack of interest by reading up properly on politics, both domestic and world. The trouble is, life is busy and I never quite get round to it. So I honestly don't know where my own politics lie. That's not to say that I don't have any opinions; I just haven't worked out where these opinions place me in the spectrum of political opinion. It doesn't help that my opinions can bend in the wind a lot, depending on what knowledgable person I am talking too. I remind myself of a character I remember in the comedy programme "The Fast Show" who became increasingly uncomfortable during arguments in pubs because he found himself agreeing with the points both sides were making and then both sides would be angry with him! I have always said that I am cursed by seeing both sides of an argument. An example of this was a few years when I was very admiring of someone who really made a stand about something. But when I told James about it he pointed out that the way they had gone about it prevented someone else's free speech. And of course I agree with free speech too so I was thrown into confusion!

A much better day

Well I pulled myself together and had an excellent day today! James is still in London and he texted me first thing to remind me to put the bins out. I was very relaxed about this until two minutes later when I heard the familiar sound of the bin lorry arriving! My hero David hurried outside to put the bin on the pavement just in time. And after this good start the day just kept getting better; I was back to my usual self again! When I got home from work Ally, Davie and I ordered in a curry (which is now sitting rather uneasily in my tummy and making ominous noises) and then we watched a film "28 Weeks Later" which started well but turned into a rather boring bloodbath. Meanwhile the results are coming in for today's American election - it is apparently a close run between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama. The winner will be known in the next few hours, but I won't be waiting up to find out because bath and bed awaits me. 

Not such a good day

I have just had a really "off" day. I know how it started - something very trivial - but I'm surprised at how much it overshadowed the rest of my day. My eyes actually felt hot and heavy all day as if I was about to burst into tears, even though I wasn't. I felt tired, out of sorts, and fed up. This is really not the normal me! However I ploughed on and got a quite a lot done, and this helped a bit because it's always nice to feel that I've achieved something.
Ally had a good weekend at Disabled Scouts which turned out to be in a different location than he expected so he got a surprise when he got off the bus! And Jamie enjoyed his visit to Aberdeen; he texted me that the flowers and chocolates had gone down well with his girlfriend's parents. And James and David enjoyed their walk on Saturday in the Trossachs - where there is snow already! James is now in London for a couple of days so he flew down early this morning. So I am about to get into my bath and read my new book which is called "The Man who forgot his Wife" by John O'Farrell. I am enjoying it - it is a contrast to Proust, being a pleasantly easy read! I hope that tomorrow goes better, perhaps I was just feeling a bit sensitive today. After all, as Scarlett O'Hara said, tomorrow is another day! 

Luton Airport

I am standing in the queue to board my Easyjet flight back to Glasgow after a really lovely weekend with Jennifer. Last night we arrived at the Ardencote Manor Hotel at about 5 and checked into our room prior to dinner. We arrived in the dark so it was hard to get a feel for the place, which consisted of several buildings. However the receptionists were very welcoming and soon we were in our very nice ground floor twin room overlooking the golf course (which we didn't find out until the morning when I opened the curtains to see two golfers right outside - lucky that I was wearing my jammies!) Anyway we had a drink before dinner which was across the courtyard in the restaurant called "The Lodge". We were both very impressed by the service, quality and presentation of the delicious dinner, and we had a fantastic time eating and chatting. We then had a fairly early night because we were both tired - I read for a bit and finished Proust vol. 3 (The Guermantes Way). I have enjoyed it but the descriptions are so lengthy! Definitely no more Proust until 2013!
We woke refreshed and had a tasty breakfast in The Lodge before going for a little walk to see the grounds if the hotel. It was raining but we went down to the little lake and we could see the layout of the hotel more clearly than last night - there is an old part with a modern wing including the leisure centre, a modern building which includes a conference centre, and The Lodge restaurant, all set in beautiful grounds. The modern parts are attractively built in the same red brick style as the older building.
Next stop was the leisure centre where we had great fun for the rest of the day. Being hardy Scottish girls we asked for the outdoors pool to be uncovered - I love swimming outdoors and so does Jennifer - and the staff obliged straight away. The pool was quite warm and clouds of steam were rising from its surface which provided a surreal dream-like setting for our swim. Then we went to the hot outdoor jacuzzi where two pleasant girls tipped us off about the adjacent coffee longe so Jennifer nipped along there and brought back coffees for us to quaff in the jacuzzi! How luxurious it felt! We had lunch in the leisure centre bar while wearing our spa robes and slippers, then back to the spa for the afternoon. It was so relaxing. We set off at 5 for the drive to Luton airport which should have taken an hour and a half but in fact took two hours because the roads were so busy. It was really kind of Jennifer to drive me about like this and I have so enjoyed seeing her, and Russell, Joshua and Ben too of course! Now I am seated on the plane so I will finish here, but one funny story first. As all the passengers were standing waiting to go on the flight there was a last call for passengers over the tannoy system saying "Can all remaining passengers for Glasgow please go to gate 14 where your flight is already fully boarded!" so of course we were all laughing! 

Ridgeway Walk

I am in Princes Risborough at Jennifer's new house. It is really gorgeous, it's huge with a beautiful kitchen looking onto the large garden. The garden stretches way back to a games hut which is great for the boys. The location is great too; as short walk from the pretty centre of Princes Risborough and near a park, leisure centre and supermarket. They are right on the edge of the countryside too; from the house it is just a few minutes to a path leading to the Ridgeway Walk. This is an 87 mile national trail through southern central England, which has been used by travellers, herdsmen and soldiers since prehistoric times because the high dry ground made travel easy and let travellers see any potential attackers.
We had lunch at the Plough at Cadston (mildly well known for being the pub near Chequers where the Camerons accidentally left their daughter behind after a family lunch.) After a delicious lunch in lovely surroundings - it was originally an old staging post on a road to London - we walked up to the ridge of the Ridgeway. The views from the top were magnificent on this fine autumn afternoon. Right in front of us was Princes Risborough and beyond that countryside stretching into the distance. We are now setting off for our hotel near Warwick. 

Fun weekend ahead

I am cosy in my bath having a quick blog before bed as the rain batters down outside. I'm very excited about heading to England after work tomorrow to visit Jenn, Russ and the boys in their new house before Jenn and I go for dinner, bed and breakfast and girly spa day in a nice hotel. I'm really looking forward to it. The rest of the family will be having a fun weekend too. James and David will be walking in the Trossachs with the club on Saturday, and Alasdair will be at a Disabled Scouts Residential weekend. This will count towards the residential section of his Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award. And Jamie is going to a charity ball in Aberdeen this weekend with his new girlfriend and her parents. He has been texting us about what wine he should take for her Dad - he has organised flowers for her Mum. However before all the fun begins I have a very busy day at work tomorrow, so I had better get myself to bed. 

A Scary Halloween Film

It's a long time since the boys used to go out guising at Halloween to visit the neighbours and perform a song, poem or joke for their satsuma and monkey nuts. When they were small I used to go with them and in later years I was glad to delegate this task to Jamie! They dressed up in various costumes over the years, for example spacemen, vampires (wearing a magnificent cloak made by my Mum) or monsters. One of my favourites was a very cool pumpkin costume worn by David with a pair of green tights on his skinny wee legs.
This year we decided that a good way to celebrate Halloween would be to watch a scary film with the lights out. I have watched remarkably few scary films in my time, but I remember when they really were scary - I watched Friday the 13th on television about 30 years ago and nearly fell off the couch at the unexpected ending! I also remember watching an obscure film which involved a sinister face appearing in a driver's mirror as he drove along a dark road at night. To this day I always check the back seat of the car carefully before setting off if I am driving at night!
Anyway, Cat was round, and after perusing the films on offer we decided on a film called "The Cabin in the Woods", released earlier this year, which Ally and Cat had heard was quite good. It's certainly quite a modern twist on the genre and they have put in a bit of humour - it's a bit of a parody of horror films. However when it came to being scary it left me completely unmoved; not even a frisson of terror passed through me. I reflected that it's a long, long time since anything on film has had the power to scare me. I think that this is because as I get older I find real life, both personally and in the wider world, to be at times so scary and horrifying that a scary film is nothing but a poor imitation. 

I am excited about a boiler

While the weather here in the west of Scotland does not have the severity of "Super-storm Sandy" which has been battering New York today, we have definitely moved from "autumnal" to "wintry." I was at the swimming pool with a group of pupils today and I was too blasé to wear a jacket; I regretted this as we emerged into icy rain after our swim. Our house is becoming increasingly difficult to keep warm and we are having to keep the doors closed in the back room to attempt to build up the heat in the room.
So I was pleased to hear from James that he has ordered a new boiler, which will be installed at the end of November. It's 30% more efficient and its capacity is greater, so James thinks it will produce about twice as much heat. Hooray! Because the weather is going to get a lot colder and as I sit here blogging this evening my nose is already cold like a wee dog's nose! The other good thing is that we have got a £400 grant from the Energy Savings Trust and we also got a discount on the boiler itself. It's not like me to get excited about something so sensible but we have had some very chilly times in this house - in extreme weather we have had to retreat to one room and turn off the radiators in the other rooms, and we have also had to give unsuspecting guests cardigans and jumpers to keep them warm! So roll on a cosy winter! 

The name's Bond

Today we belatedly celebrated David's birthday by going to his favourite restaurant (TGIF of course!) followed by a visit to the cinema to see the newly released James Bond latest film - Skyfall. And what a great day we have had. Ally joined us at TGIF straight from his train; he had been through in Edinburgh seeing Cat. He had watched the film with her on Friday evening, dressed in a tuxedo (Ally is always stylish and loves an opportunity to dress up!), however he had enjoyed it so much that he decided to watch it again with us. The film has received very good reviews and I certainly had no complaints: the action sequences had me on the edge of my seat and I enjoyed it fine. The theme tune by Adele has also been much praised; I thought that while it is pleasant enough it's not very original - every time she sings "Sky-faaaaall!" you could easily insert "Diamonds are forever" instead, because the two tunes seem very similar to me. Daniel Craig is excellent as a slightly weary but valiant Bond, and Dame Judi outshines the other Bond girls (not bad for a seventy-seven year old!)
Later Grandma came round for tea as she always does on a Sunday evening and we watched the dance-off on Strictly Come Dancing. Strictly is an old favourite and also a bonding experience for me and Grandma, especially since James is not so keen on it as we are! 

Outside gym

It was a fine autumn day so James and I went to the west end and had a walk in the Botanic Gardens. I thoroughly enjoyed it (it was my idea) but James was disgruntled because he had wanted to go for a bigger walk; he then developed a headache and when we got home he took to his bed for the afternoon.
Anyway the autumn colours of the trees were beautiful and when we walked down to the river a little grey squirrel came running right up to us, begging on its hind legs for something to eat! It was very sweet but unfortunately we had nothing to give it. As we continued along the river I saw something that I thought at first was a play park but upon closer scrutiny was a gorgeous little outside gym. I tried out some of the sturdy equipment and it all works well; I wasn't working too hard because I had a cup of coffee in one hand! James says that these outdoor gyms are all the rage; there is one in the park opposite his work now. I love the idea!
When we came to the Kibble Palace we went in for a stroll round only to find a Woodwind group preforming a mix of classical music for charity. It was lovely music. We headed home via Waitrose where I got some globe artichokes - I have such good memories of eating these in France in the 1980s - which we will have tomorrow night. By this time James (not a fan of shopping at the best of times!) was like a dying swan so I couldn't linger long!
Update at 11 p.m. - we have just had a really good evening with Grandma at "The Magic Flute" at the Theatre Royal. First we went for a pre-theatre meal at the Piping Centre which was excellent. The opera was very good apart from some boring Masonic-type rituals in the second half, and the singers were all great especially Mari Moriya who played the Queen of the Night. James was feeling better and we all enjoyed it very much. 

Gifted Cat

James has been down south three days this week which means that he has to leave the house hours before the rest of us get up. We all tend to struggle to get up without James' prompting, and often it is left to my furry boy Jack to wake me. He waits until both alarms have gone off and if I don't get up he jumps up onto the bed and walks up and down on me. If that doesn't work he sits on my chest and stares at me to see if my eyes are open, and stretches out his claws gently to touch my face. That usually does the trick.
However today Jack surpassed himself. After he had gone through his usual routine I was still dozing a bit, and when I opened my eyes he was pulling the duvet off my face with his teeth! I'm not kidding, he was actually using his teeth to pull it back! I am so proud of my clever cat and I immediately texted James in London to let him know and James was suitably impressed.

Return to Ulysses

I seem to have a compulsion to read a very big book every now and then. Currently (and for the foreseeable future!) it is Proust's A la Recherche du Temps Perdu. A year ago it was James Joyce's Ulysses, which took me a huge chunk of the summer to read. So when I saw that a production of Ulysses was coming to the Tron Theatre I rushed to obtain tickets for me and my theatre going chum Heather.
First of all we went, at Heather's suggestion, to Café Gandolfi, an old haunt with many good memories for me, and the meal was very nice; we both declared that we must go back there more often.
The performance of Ulysses did not disappoint. The cast were very good, particularly the actors playing Molly and Leopold. Molly was amazingly like my mental image of the character with a voluptuous figure and red curls. The story translated well to the stage, in fact I thought it was better when performed than read. I think the length of the play was about two hours and twenty minutes, so it was definitely condensed but it didn't feel as if it was cut short in any way. Heather and I both noticed a woman sitting behind us with a very annoying laugh; plenty of people were laughing at appropriate moments during the play but this person seemed to be trying to demonstrate that she found it more amusing than anyone else. However it didn't spoil the play for us. The bit that dragged for me was the late night hallucinations of Leopold and Stephen Daedalus, which was not surprising because it also dragged for me when I read the book.
It's always a pleasant experience going to the theatre with Heather because we both enjoy trying new plays and it's fun discussing them afterwards. The play was a welcome return to Ulysses for me and I thoroughly enjoyed the evening. 

May Ogilvie

I am so sorry to hear that my godmother May has died. She was a lovely person, full of life and fun, and I can hardly believe that I won't see her again. It's a shock because although she was in her late seventies she looked younger and had a really youthful outlook. She and her husband Raymond emigrated to Canada as a young married couple in the 1960s and settled in Mississauga near Toronto, where they lived happily for the rest of their life together. They made frequent visits back to Scotland to see friends and family, and that's when we would see them. I remember seeing May at a family wedding and she was carrying a tiny baby who I think was premature. This was Graeme, the elder of her two boys, the younger one being Keith. May absolutely adored her two boys and always used to tell us how they were getting on.
James and I, Ally and Davie visited May and Raymond in 2008 when we were on holiday in Canada. Their home is beautiful and they made us feel so welcome. They picked us up in their car from our hotel in Toronto and took us to Niagara on the Lake which is beautiful, and to the canal which bypasses Niagara Falls. Ally and Davie liked them very much too, May had such a gift for being genuinely interested in people and the boys instantly took to her. Later we went back to their house where Raymond was in charge of barbecuing the steaks on their amazing huge outdoors gas barbecue, while May bustled about in the kitchen and prepared gorgeous side dishes and salads. Raymond was so busy chatting that he almost let the steaks burn, and it was a really happy evening sitting in their lovely garden. They were such a great couple and lived life to the full, travelling as well as playing an active part in their community. Both May and Raymond were doctors; May was an anaesthetist, and she was always asking about Jamie's medical studies and she and Raymond always spoke to him like a fellow professional even though they were eminent doctors and Jamie just a student starting out.
In the last few years May got into emailing which was great, and we exchanged emails regularly which made it easier to keep in touch. May was very kind to me when my Mum died and told me stories of their youth.
The last time that we saw May and Raymond was in September last year, when we met up with them and Raymond's sister Anne for a very enjoyable lunch in St Andrews. As usual they were great company, telling us stories of their travels. May had a gorgeous Scottish / Canadian accent which was very attractive.
This year they were very much looking forward to their son Graeme's wedding to Priscilla in Brazil in the summer. It took place before May fell ill so I'm glad that she got the chance to enjoy it. Jamie, Ally and Davie were all upset when we told them that May has died; she was just one of those really good people that you feel lucky to have in your life. We will miss her. 

And the ship sails on

Tonight the Navigator of the Seas is sailing south again towards Sicily, on its last week of Mediterranean cruising before it heads to the Caribbean for the winter. However we are no longer aboard, because today was the last day of our holiday and we have flown home.
The day went well; we didn't have a particularly early start because we didn't have to leave the ship until a civilised 9.30 a.m. We shared a taxi to Fiumicino with a group of six very friendly Norwegians who had all been celebrating their 30th wedding anniversaries. They all had lots of children and their hobby seemed to be deer shooting! The lively journey took about an hour and soon we were checked in and ready to go. Unfortunately the plane was not ready to go due to a technical fault! We were delayed for an hour and a half, which was not disastrous but by this time we were keen to just get home. The journey then continued with no further incident and I was glad that we had booked the meal option because by now it was mid-afternoon and we were quite hungry. The plane actually ran out of food so everyone else must have been hungry too.
It was great to see Davie safe home from his Duke of Edinburgh expedition. I am delighted to say that he has now passed his Gold expedition section. He had enjoyed walking in the Lake District but it was very demanding and he is absolutely shattered! When he set off home he accidentally got on a bus from Keswick to Preston instead of Penrith and found himself sixty miles further south than he should have been! David claims that he was dehydrated and exhausted and that's why he was confused! Anyway he asked for directions and managed to get on a train that was going north, so all was well. And the train conductor very kindly didn't charge him the extra fare.
Also at home we were very pleased to find Jamie, who was home for the weekend. He had lots of stories to tell us about his placements and was full of the joys as usual. Grandma came round and we all had a Chinese meal and a good chat; Grandma loves to hear about Jamie's love life! The only person who was missing was Alasdair; he has been in Edinburgh visiting Cat for the weekend; he phoned to say hello and we will see him tomorrow. And so we are home again home again jiggety jig, and it's time for me to go to bed. 

At Sea ... again

Our second whole day at sea and we decided to explore the last few bits of the ship that we hadn't seen yet. So we went up to the sports deck where there were basketball courts, mini golf, table tennis and an open air climbing wall. Soon James was climbing high aloft, with the enthusiasm of the Anderson male who likes to climb anything he sees!
We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the small pool. It was fascinating when we zig zagged through the narrowest part of the Strait of Messina, we could watch the captain through a viewing window as he worked with the Messina pilot, who had boarded from a small boat. There were signs saying "Do not knock on the window" so of course James and I were tempted to knock and then point accusingly at one of the other passengers. However we managed to restrain ourselves! Another highlight was passing the Aeolian islands. Most of them - Volcano, Lipari etc - were blue grey hills on the port side, seeming to float above the blue sea. On our starboard side we passed Stromboli which had some smoke coming out of its caldera. We passed it on the way south at the beginning of our holiday but only saw the green side with white houses clustering down at the shoreline. This time we could see that one side was covered in ash; it looked very active! I can't imagine what it must be like to live there! It was very beautiful in a threatening sort of way!
This evening was full of "lasts" - last swim and jacuzzi, last lovely dinner in the Swan Lake dining room, last drink in the Cosmpolitan Club, last dance at the disco. It really has been a great week. Will we go cruising again? Most definitely! 

Sunset over the Ionian Sea

When we got back from our trip to Athens it was nearly time for the ship to sail. We sat on our balcony watching Piraeus recede behind us, then as we sailed along the Greek coast I went for an hour's sleep. James was made of sterner stuff and read his book on the balcony. Later on we went for a swim in the pool and a jacuzzi, and we watched the sun setting - it was very romantic.
Dinner was our second formal evening, I wore a silk dress, black with a floral print, and felt smart. James looked handsome in his tuxedo. We got our photos taken again, I dread to think what the outcome will be! At the end of dinner there was an announcement to thank our chefs, and lots of chefs came marching out of the kitchens and round all three levels of the dining rooms as "Tonight's going to be a good night" played and all the passengers clapped along! It was really nice because they certainly do an excellent job.
Then it was off for a drink to our favourite bar where there was a really good guitarist playing. James and I had a lovely chat; I have been feeling more and more relaxed over the course of the week and have been enjoying spending such a lot of time together. We are now sailing through the warm night on calm seas; from the balcony I can see stars above and far to the south the lights of a distant village on some Greek island shore. 

A day at the Acropolis

Another early start because today was our Athens trip, which I was very excited about. I have never been to mainland Greece before and I have always wanted to visit the Parthenon. (James has just pointed out that I have been to Athens briefly in 2010 on my sad and lonely journey home from Lesvos when Mum was dying, but that airport transfer does not count as a visit!) We docked at Piraeus before dawn. Piraeus has been the port of Athens since the 5th century BC and it is very busy compared to the other ports that we have visited on the cruise. While we were having breakfast in our stateroom we could see lots of ferries going in and out.
We were ushered speedily onto our bus and were on our way by 7.15 a.m. We travelled past the harbours of Piraeus with their open air cafés and tangerine trees. From Piraeus we could see some hills in the centre of Athens, which is generally quite a low rise city on account of seismic activity. On one of the hills we could see the outline of the Acropolis. Our friendly tour guide Kris explained that "acro" means "top" and "polis" means "city" so the Acropolis is the highest part of the city, regarded as the best part, which is why it was used as a fortress and then dedicated to the Gods.
We saw the temple of Zeus on the way with its Corinthian columns which have flowers at the top. We stopped at the horseshoe shaped Panathenaic stadium; the only marble stadium in the world, which was built in 1896 on the same lines as an ancient stadium, for the 1st modern Olympics.
We also passed the government buildings which were peaceful today - yesterday on the news we'd seen people rioting around there and tear gas being used.
Soon we arrived at the Acropolis and walked up the hill on marble steps.
We passed the Odeon where Maria Callas and Pavarotti have performed.
The first temple we came to is dedicated to Athena Nike (victory) Ionic columns have a spiral scroll at the top. Next we passed the Pandroseion and Erechtheion temples, which are just down the hill beside the Parthenon. Athena struck a rock with her spear here to produce the first olive tree in the world! And there is still an olive tree here in her honour although this one was planted at the beginning of the 20th century. She was having a contest with Poseidon over who could offer the city of Athens the most precious gift, and her olive tree beat his salt water spring.
I particularly enjoyed being one of the fittest people on the tour although this wasn't saying much, because some of the others were so infirm or overweight that they were really struggling. It meant that James and I could wander around taking photos with absolutely no fear of being left behind! Also useful were the nifty radio headsets through which Kris's voice rang clear as a bell even if we were several yards away. Another bonus was being there so early in the morning; our tour was brought forward because of our change of itinerary but the benefit was that the acropolis was fairly quiet and pleasant when we arrived - by the time we left two hours later it was jumping.
And then we arrived at the Parthenon itself at the top of the hill. It was built in nine years and was inaugurated in 438 B.C. - most of the buildings on the Acropolis were built about the same time when Athens was quite strong after the Persian Wars, during which wars the previous temples had been destroyed. It is just amazing in its beautiful hilltop setting with the city of Athens spread below it. Its name means temple of the virgin Goddess. (Athena had many personas). The sides have twice as many columns, plus one, as the face. They are Doric, tapering in to the top to give the impression of height, and they are not monolithic; they are in slices, joined by iron in the middle. All the horizontals curve slightly upwards to give the impression of being horizontal, otherwise they would give the impression of sagging. It is such an impressive building but of course it has no roof. In fact the Parthenon was intact until 1687 when the Turks were using it as a gunpowder store. Oh dear, can you guess what's coming? Yes, the Venetians attacked, lobbed cannon balls at it and it blew up, with lots of damage including losing its roof. There is an ongoing restoration project using the same marble (from a local quarry) the marble starts white and matures to beige; it was a beautiful gold colour today in the sunshine. The sky was an amazing dark blue. We walked down a pleasant avenue to the new Acropolis museum, which is only three years old and of a very high standard. Kris gave us a very interesting talk as we went round; I was fascinated to find out that ancient Greek sculptures were brightly painted, because they were into realism, and it's only because the paint wore off that we have come to think of them as white. He told us so many interesting stories; Elgin (famed for his marbles!) is not a popular figure in Athens - they see him as a vandal as well as a thief and there are lots of reproductions in the museum to fill gaps where the originals are in the British museum.
Our final stop on our trip was the Plaka (which means "old"), it's the old town of Athens with narrow shopping streets. We had lunch in a very pleasant restaurant called Diogenes in the square beside the cathedral, then did a little light shopping. What a fantastic day.