Au Revoir Marcel Proust

Well, I've done it! This evening I have finished the last of the seven volumes of Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time". It has been a marathon read. I started it in 2011 with the intention of reading one volume a year, but Proust engendered in me a strange compulsion and I have read the last after reading two volumes last year I have had a massive Proust-fest this month and read the remaining four volumes! And all this despite my love / hate relationship with Marcel Proust. He is so critical of others but has a brutal honesty about his own feelings and motives. He is very snobbish about the society he enjoys but sometimes he can stand apart from it and see how ridiculous it all is. He is cruel but sentimental. He is self absorbed but loves nature. He goes on and on about his favourite old topics but suddenly will write something really brilliant which takes your breath away. In fact he is a mass of contradictions and I suppose that is what makes him human and interesting. What a guy. Au revoir Marcel but not Adieu. 

Jack the cat has the best day of his life

Jack had a good day today, but then he has a good day every day. After waking James and me up by walking up and down on us, he took James downstairs to give him fresh chunks for breakfast. Once he has seen us off the premises he usually settles down for a rest but he also finds time to keep the house safe by looking out of the windows and occasionally patrolling the garden. Ally was at home for part of today and witnessed Jack seeing off another cat from the back door so we know that he is vigilant. Ally said that he puffed up his tail and turned sideways to make himself look bigger. When we arrived home in the evening Jack was in a lively mood and when David was playing with him he suddenly ran at him and attacked him! But didn't hurt him. It reminded me of one of my favourite childhood books "The Cats and Rosemary" where one of the cats likes to play a game of "roly poly" but this can suddenly and without warning turn into a game of "lions and tigers". Then when Ally was slicing the gammon joint for dinner he left it for a minute to help the interior designer carry her books out to the car, and when he came back Jack had jumped up on the unit and was munching on a slice! Jack showed no remorse when we remonstrated with him and even went back up on the unit later to see if the gammon was still there. He has spent most of the rest of the evening in his basket beside the radiator and he is now sitting on my knee, purring quietly. Yes, another good day for Jack. 

Ally's Swan

Just a wee quick blog before bed time. I'm feeling very tired but I burst out laughing when I saw that Ally had made me a towel swan in my bathroom, like those in top hotels or cruises! What an unusual and wonderful boy he is! He has also tidied out my medicine box which looks very smart. Ally likes to demonstrate his love in practical and helpful ways. I'm nearing the end of Proust's final volume and it's all getting very philosophical as he tries to pinpoint how he can regain his lost time. I'm off to read some more now.

Margaret's funeral

Today was my Aunt Margaret's funeral in Edinburgh and nine of us set off from Glasgow in two cars; Jennifer and family, James, me, Ally, Cat and Davie. Jamie couldn't attend because he had a clinic at hospital that he couldn't get out of. It was a suitably bleak and chilly day for a funeral; we all had a coffee at a garden centre before heading to the crematorium. There was a good turnout of family and friends and it was a fitting tribute to a lovely lady who lived for ninety-two years. Janet gave a lovely talk about her Mum which was moving, funny and affectionate and Anne spoke very fondly about her Grandma. Both speeches reminded me that although the last four years were very difficult for Margaret, she had a good life with family and friends who loved her.
After lunch back at Janet and Peter's we headed back to the west through really dreadful torrential rain. I got to school just in time to chair the departmental meeting - to the dismay of my colleagues who hoped it would be cancelled (they were just joking - I think!) and reply to the most urgent emails before getting a lift home with Chris. Meanwhile Jennifer, Russell and the boys were driving south through equally horrible weather - they didn't get home until 9.30 p.m. but at least they made it safely. 

Very busy weekend

What a busy weekend it has been! All in a nice way of course because Jennifer, Russell, Josh and Ben have been our house guests and we have had lots of fun. On Saturday before they arrived I had lunch in Amarone with my school friends. It was the usual convivial occasion - we have all reached the age of 50 now (I am the youngest!) so there was much hilarity about that. When the Smith family arrived we ordered a Chinese meal and had a relaxed evening. Ally and Cat had been working hard to make and decorate a cake for James' birthday in the shape of a Vulcan bomber. It is magnificent and tasted great too! It has been a rather rainy weekend so on Sunday, after watching the tennis in the morning (Djokovic beat Murray in the Australian Open final), we went karting at Scotkart. Well actually Russell, all the boys and Cat went karting; Jennifer and I cheered them on. They all had a great time and excitedly compared scores and times. Then off we all went to the cinema to see The Impossible, a film based on the true story of what happened to one family during the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. The special effects depicting one of the characters being buffeted about under the water were amazing and certainly brought home to us how awful it must have been to be caught up in the tsunami. I've heard that tsunami survivors who have seen the film have found it very traumatic to watch. This morning we are all on the way to Margaret's funeral in Edinburgh; I'm blogging from the car on the way through. 

Celtic Connections evening

We went to an excellent concert last night with Heather and Ewan at Oran Mor. I had just had a rather stressful day at school which was compounded by heavy snow in the afternoon and having to change the usual pick up arrangements to release the pupils early. It was a good call though because it kept on snowing and even the main roads were very slidy when I left work. Anyway the result of this for me was a headache which lasted all day and I was worried that it was going to spoil my evening. I need not have worried; my headache lifted as soon as I got to the restaurant where we were all meeting for dinner, and I had a great evening.
Ewan and Heather had already met up in the west end and James was arriving straight from the airport! All of our arrangements went smoothly and we all had a very nice Italian meal at Paperino's in Byres Road. The concert was fantastic, in the cosy venue downstairs at Oran Mor. We missed the support act but were in plenty of time for the headline act, J.D. McPherson and his band. Although I had never heard any of their music before it was really catchy with great tunes. Soon we were jigging around with the rest of the crowd. I wasn't sure how to place the music, Ewan told us that it is reminiscent of early rock and roll. J.D. had a great voice and his fellow singer and double base player, Jimmy Sutton, was also an excellent musician. After the concert we had a drink upstairs and chatted about the concert and had a laugh. Ewan was pleased that we enjoyed his choice of music so much. What a turnaround from a stressful day to a great evening. Tremendous! 

Paperwork

James is at the Ardencote Manor tonight which brings back memories of my lovely spa break there with Jennifer in October. With James away and the boys both studying (without even being prompted!) - Ally for a tutorial and Davie for his prelims - I decided to spend an evening on paperwork. I can log in to my work documents and emails from home, so I happily got ahead with some time-consuming paperwork which is hard to get to during the school day because I have a very "people-centred" job. I love that my job is all about listening to and helping people, and my fellow DHTs reassure me that they too do lots of work in the evenings. I usually prefer to stay on at work instead of working at home, but this evening sitting at the table in the back room with my laptop was very peaceful and I was very pleased at what I got done. Tomorrow evening promises to be a good deal livelier! The arrangements involve me taking the train to the west end to meet Heather and Ewan for drinks, and then hopefully James will join us straight from the airport to have something to eat before going to a Celtic Connections concert. I'm really looking forward to it. 

Interior Design

James is keen for us to do a bit of redecorating. He rightly points out that several rooms, particularly the lounge and the hall, are in dire need of a new look or at least a freshen up. I don't really like decorating. I find it very difficult to make decisions about it in the first place and then when it actually takes place it's nothing but hassle. Neither James nor I are capable of hanging wallpaper. James can paint with gloss paint, but that is too hazardous for me, I don't have the smooth touch so all I can do is sand down and then emulsion walls which is very boring. Over the years as we have become "time poor" and not quite so "money poor" we tend to pay somebody to do our papering and painting because a professional can do it so much better and quicker than we can. But it's still a hassle to arrange it all. So I have been ignoring the whole re-decorating idea for about a year now.
The trouble is that James has realised this and has now banned me from booking any holidays until I redecorate at least two rooms! Today I asked him to book some flights to France at Easter and he cunningly replied "Get the lounge decorated first!" So there was nothing else for it - I have contacted an interior designer and we are meeting next week. Let the redecorating commence! 

James' Birthday

We celebrated James' 51st birthday this evening with a nice tea, cake and presents. For tea I tried to recreate the delicious gnocchi dish I had at the Hilton Doubletree in London recently; the sauce included sun dried tomatoes, broad beans and sliced salami. It turned out very nice although James thought that a chunkier Italian sausage would have been better. Then we had birthday cake with two number candles; a five and a one. James had already seen the candles lying on a shelf earlier which reduced the element of surprise. We all sang Happy Birthday and Jamie phoned to wish him a Happy Birthday too. The boys clubbed together to buy him a Game of Thrones box set, which pleased him greatly. My present to him was a photography tutorial in a few weeks time in Glencoe with Colin Prior, a photographer whose mountain photographs James likes very much. They will set off from Glasgow at 5.30 a.m. so that they can be on the mountains in time for dawn! Then they will have lunch in Ballachulish before they head home. James seemed very happy with this although he says that he will need to practise using his SLR camera again because he has been getting into the habit of using it on automatic. James popped over to see Grandma then we sat down to have some cake and watch an episode of Game of Thrones. I think that James has had a pleasant birthday. 

Bath balls

Having disappointed myself by not going to the gym after work I decided to have an early night. After all, I reasoned, if I was too tired to besport myself in the gym then I should get some extra sleep. And so here I am tucked up in bed at half past nine reading my book and blogging. Jack cat is lying on my legs, hopefully out of affection but also I suspect because my hot bath has made me a super source of heat. Baths are one of the pleasures of my life; they have to be exactly the right temperature and I enjoy using bubble baths or bath balls to produce clouds of lovely scents. My favourite bath-time smells include citrus and roses and of course freesia. In the old days I liked nothing better than sipping a cool glass of Sauvignon Blanc while enjoying a hot bath; nowadays a coffee will suffice. Over the last few weeks I have been using some Lush bath balls which were my Christmas present from Davie. They are truly amazing; the one I used tonight was a deep pink with little petals in it. And the best one had to be a few days ago - it turned the water in the bath dark blue, flecked with gold! Gorgeous! Anyway I'm going to read a bit more of my book now; after vowing that I would only read one volume of Proust per year because it's just too intense, I changed my mind and have been reading nothing else since the New Year! I'm now on the last volume, "Finding Time Again". As I have said before, I both love and hate Proust! I wish I had someone to discuss him with, but James and the boys now refuse to listen to me talk about it! 

Domesticity

When James suggested a walk round Strathbleak Park (as I jokingly call Strathclyde Park!) this morning my initial reaction was to tell him to get lost. However after I had given the idea a little thought I decided that it was a good idea and so we set off for a brisk walk wearing our hats and gloves. It actually turned out to be a pleasant walk because although it was cold it was not windy, and we had a good chat on the way round. James as usual spotted all kinds of wildlife such as geese, a coot and a cormorant, and I spotted a great big heron in one of the inlets. When we got home we had an afternoon of domestic bliss; James batch cooked a huge amount of Hungarian goulash, and David and I worked on his reflective essay. He got off to a slow start but soon his ideas were flowing. He's in a good mood because I got him a "Raspberry Pi" yesterday which he had been coveting. It is a credit card sized single board computer and to be honest I have absolutely no idea why he wanted it or what he will be doing with it, even though he has tried to explain it to me. He also got a keyboard for it and a couple of other technical bits. Anyway the batch cooking fun was not over because when we realised that the goulash was not going to be ready until about 9 p.m. we made two fish pies, one for tea and one for the freezer. It's a Jamie Oliver recipe and it was delicious! And that's about it for the weekend! 

James at home after all

I have James' company this weekend; welcome but unexpected because he was intending to spend the weekend in Newtonmore with the hill-walking club. However what with his late homecoming last night and the snowy conditions in the north, he decided to stay at home. So we had a lovely long lie with breakfast in bed. Grandma phoned; her sciatica is very sore so I took her to Morrison's to get some groceries and then she came back to ours for lunch. While we were at the shops James was busy assembling his telescope which he hasn't used for a while, inspired by watching Sir Patrick Moore's last ever episode of The Sky at Night on 7th January this year, which ended with a touching sequence showing him saying goodnight over the years. In the afternoon James and I collected his car from Glasgow Airport (because it was left there when he arrived home last night by plane instead of train!) then went to Braehead which was very busy and did some useful but boring errands. Ally and Davie were also occupied; Ally had a job interview for a part-time security job which he thinks went well - the questions were very straightforward and one question was "Do you own black trousers and a pair of black shoes?" - since he was able to respond in the affirmative he is feeling quite hopeful! David took his girlfriend out for lunch and then to the cinema. Having ignored my advice to book tickets for "Life of Pi" they turned up and found it fully booked so the went to see "Les Miserables" which David had seen with us last weekend but his girlfriend hadn't. After the film I gave her a lift home and then David and I brought a curry in and we had a relaxing family evening. Not as exciting as our trip to London last weekend but there's a lot to be said for being at home! 

Messages from a train

This conversation, mainly by text and interspersed with a couple of phone calls, started when James texted me from London at about 11 a.m:-
* Snowing quite heavily here. City airport closed since 09.30. Meeting may be abandoned but no help to me as BA will make me wait until 5 before they make a decision. J
* Any news re flights? S x
* Meeting abandoned. 5pm flight still showing as operating. All earlier flights out of lhr and lgw full. will need to wait till 5. J
* Oh dear, pity you can't get on earlier flight x
* Flights all cancelled. I managed to book 3.30 train out of Euston. Now on board train and got a seat after real scrum. 3.45 now and about to set off - only 5 hours to go. J
* Hope you have stuff to read / watch on your iPad. Let me know how your journey goes x
* We have just set off. I downloaded 3 programmes before I left the office! J

* Sounds more fun than what I am doing - still at work & putting together weekly diary for very busy week ahead. Still cold after freezing playground duty - felt as if wind cutting me like knife! x
* 2 hours into journey and just been informed we are already 65 minutes behind. Not moving just now because we are behind a freight train. Why. I just love train travel. May see you this side of midnight. J
* Oh dear :-( I definitely don't think that I'm going to convince you about the joys of train travel any time soon! Keep me informed, I am on stand by to come & get you S x
* Just passed Crewe at 18.40. 3 hours and still only a third of the way. I am climbing the walls here. latest estimate is we are 83 mins late with no chance of making it up. Only comfort is no planes will be going to glasgow from london tonight. J
* I just saw a news report filmed outside Houses of Parliament - strange to see it all snowy after walking past there last weekend! ! Maybe you should start Proust - perfect opportunity ......
* Just left Warrington with an estimated arrival in glasgow of 21.42. Optimistic I think as we stop every 5 mins. Catching up on my Air International backlog and watching polar bears on ipad. J
* Well talking of wildlife don't worry about Jack - he has had some chunks and is curled up in his basket on the table beside the radiator :-) x
* Jack would have the boredom threshold required for train travel. J
* How is journey going? Making good progress?
* Thought we were but window opposite me has been broken and we are stopped at Oxenholme while they fix it. The fun is never ending. J
* How on earth did it break? S x

(At this point James phoned to explain that there had been a thump, maybe something thrown at the window, and the outer pane of glass had shattered. So the train stopped at Oxenholme at about quarter past eight, and two railway personnel, who James referred to as "Hoddit and Doddit" had tried to remove the outer glass with a hammer. In the process they managed to break the inner pane of glass, so the passengers were moved to another carriage. James was sounding pretty fed up by now! The train set off again at 8.30 p.m. and James texted again half an hour later to tell me that he was at Carlisle.

* Thats us at Carlisle. J
* Hooray that's you on the home run now! Let me know when to collect you x
* We have not had an update but the glasgow central website is showing 22.11. I will let you know if there is any change. J
* Nearly there? I am at Renfield street exit of station x

A quick phone call from James confirmed that he was five minutes away from Central Station. Soon he appeared, traumatised by his six and a half hour journey and saying how much he hates travelling by train. Which is a pity because I love train travel (when it goes well!) And so finally our weekend is about to begin! 

Out with Ally and Davie

I had a really lovely meal this evening at The Italian Kitchen with Ally and Davie. Davie and I decided to check it out because he is taking his girlfriend there for lunch on Saturday and he couldn't remember exactly where it was. We invited Ally too, who met us at the restaurant straight from a 6 p.m. lecture by the Regius chair in Law. He was full of the joys and told us all about his lecture. I get the impression that Ally is enjoying his Law course more as time goes on. We then had a very lively discussion about Les Miserables which Ally saw and enjoyed this week with Cat. We mostly agreed on our favourite parts and we talked quite a lot about Javert's motives. David drew some very interesting parallels between Robin Jenkins' The Cone Gatherers and Les Miserables, pointing out similarities between Duror and Javert. He is so clever and insightful and interesting, so why is English so difficult for him at school? It must be the way that it is taught. James was not with us because he is in London until tomorrow evening; it looks like his planned weekend to Newtonmore may be cancelled because of the heavy snow which is forecast over much of Britain. I did enjoy dining out with my boys. 

Aunt Margaret

My Aunt Margaret died last night. She was ninety-two years old; my Dad's big sister. She had suffered from dementia for years and was very frail. 
I have so many memories of Margaret that I wouldn't even know where to start. My Dad was extremely fond of her and when he was about six and she was about eight he beat up two girls who were teasing her, finally tying their pigtails together. When she was a little girl she used to get quite upset because she was sure that she and my Grandma would go to heaven while my naughty Dad and Grandpa would go to "the bad fire". She loved her gentle big husband David, and her only daughter Janet and of course her grand-daughter Anne. David was perfect for her because he was so calm while she was so volatile. My Dad once went to give them a lift somewhere and Margaret said of David (who was his usual good-natured self), "He's been defying me all day!" which my Dad thought was very funny. When David died (more than thirty-five years ago) she missed him terribly. When our David was born and I phoned her to tell her his name, she told me "I have never known a bad David!" Most of her long life she was very active; after she moved to Edinburgh to live near Janet she ran into some elderly people from her home town of Coatbridge and for a while they all used to meet up in Jenner's for coffee. She also went on holidays to Florida and to China. The last few years were very difficult both for Margaret and Janet but the home she eventually went into was excellent and the nurses there took very good care of her. I will remember her the way she was for most of her life - lively, funny, intelligent and adventurous. 

Brief Encounter at the airport

James has had some problems with technology this week. First his car wouldn't start on Sunday, and then his phone broke yesterday. Then the garage didn't collect his car for repair when they said they would yesterday, so it wasn't even collected until today. James has found all this rather annoying to say the least!
Today he was flying to Birmingham so he took a taxi to the airport at 5 a.m. I couldn't contact him during the day because his phone is broken, but I decided to meet him off the Birmingham plane at six so that he wouldn't have to take a taxi home. I got to the pick up area of the car park just in time and met James as he came out of the airport terminal. How nice it was to see his lovely familiar face! However it turned out that he had already phoned for a taxi from a pay phone and it was on its way. So we ended up travelling home separately! Never mind, David had kindly made the tea so we all had tea as soon as James and I got home. 

Brilliant Les Mis

The first time that I saw Les Miserables was at The Playhouse in Edinburgh. I was pregnant with Alasdair so I think that it was about November 1993. I remember after the interval someone said "Let's go and see more of the Revolting French!" I had never heard any of the music before that night and I absolutely loved it! I think I saw it again a few years later and then I saw an excellent production of it at Hutchie when Jamie was in 5th year. Jamie was a stalwart of the school drama department and he was playing one of the students. He loved it and so did I, the soloists were absolutely excellent, to almost professional standard. It was very moving.
And now there has finally been a film made of the musical. Hooray! I could hardly wait to see it and I was not disappointed! I thought it translated magnificently to the screen, and the director did well to make good use of lots of different settings such as the shipyard and the pub and of course Paris. This was a contrast to the recent production of Anna Karenina which I enjoyed last year and which deliberately used theatrical settings. All of the actors were brilliant, with special mention going of course to the wonderful Hugh Jackman as Jen Valjean who should definitely be awarded the Best Actor Oscar for his performance. Anne Hathaway was a beautiful, fragile Fantine, and Samantha Barks was perfect as my favourite character, Éponine - what a beautiful singing voice she has! And Russell Crowe (looking rather middle aged which I suppose he is!) was great and even slightly sympathetic as Javert, and Eddie Redmayne (who was very good in Birdsong last year) was a gorgeous Marius. I could go on and on because they were all great, but a personal favourite and my top tip for future stardom is Aaron Tveit as Enjolras. Handsome, with lovely curls, and a good actor too!
It was such a good film, I loved it and was on the edge of my seat with excitement. I want to see it again as soon as I can. 

Inspirational Alice Pyne

We have had a lovely weekend - James said tonight that we could hardly have packed more into it and yet it has not felt frantic or hurried in any way. Today we went out for a very nice lunch with Heather and Ewan - it was a really good January deal at the Italian Café in Merchant City - and this evening we went to see the film "Les Miserables" at the Quay with Grandma. I have been looking forward to this film version of the musical since I saw the trailers in the Autumn, and I loved it. More about it tomorrow.
However I would like to pay tribute this evening to a very brave young girl, whose blog I have been reading since she started posting in the summer of 2011. Alice Pyne was diagnosed with non Hodgkins lymphoma at the age of thirteen and has known for a long time that her illness was terminal. Today I was saddened to learn that she died yesterday. Alice called her blog "Alice's Bucket List" and she listed all the things that she would like to achieve before she died. Some of these were the kind of things that many teenage girls would like to achieve such as meeting Take That and swimming with dolphins, but her main ambition was that everyone in the UK would sign up as a bone marrow donor. And an estimated 40,000 people signed up as a direct result of her efforts. She and her sister and parents also raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity and set up "Alice's Escapes" a charity to arrange holidays for families with seriously ill children. Her blog was always upbeat and she really lived her life to the full. She chatted about all the things she and her family got up to. Against all the odds, she recently reached her 17th birthday (just a couple of months younger than our Davie) but by the end of 2012 I could tell from her blog that her health was deteriorating fast. She still blogged cheerfully and managed to enjoy her last Christmas with her family. I think that Alice was an amazing girl. In her own words:
"I've created a bucket list because there are so many things I still want to do in my life ... some are possible, some will remain a dream. My blog is to document this precious time with my family and friends, doing the things I want to do. You only have one life ... live it!" 

Breakfast then Tiffanys

We have had such an exciting time in London! Last night James expertly navigated us across London to our hotel; when I scanned my Oyster Card at Paddington it loaded up with £15 - James had arranged this by Internet - amazing! We had supper at the hotel and our room was lovely; spacious and comfortable.
This morning after a hearty breakfast we decided to walk to Old Bond Street to get some fresh air and exercise on our shopping trip. It was a grey day but dry and pleasant enough for a walk. James took me a scenic route via St James' Park. We did a little bit of window shopping then went into Tiffanys. After an enjoyable yet nerve-wracking session of choosing, with no useful help from the salesman (who simply agreed with anything I said) I finally chose a very simple heart shaped pendant. I love it. James was relieved that I had finally chosen something! We then walked along a little lane called the Burlington Arcade which Linda had recommended to me, and strolling towards us came the actor Bill Nighy! I was delighted, I have been a fan of his for many years and he is even more gorgeous in life than on the screen! Needless to say we didn't speak to him or stare (too much) but it was great to see him. We then walked back to our hotel in Westminster and then round the corner to the Tate Britain. I was looking forward to seeing the pre-Raphaelite paintings, however we found out that they had all been moved into a special exhibition and that it was sold out for today! To add insult to injury, tomorrow is the last day of the exhibition and then all the pre-Raphaelite paintings will be going on tour to the USA, Russia and Japan for at least a year! Never mind, I will look forward to seeing them next year some time! James and I are very good at being flexible when plans go awry (plenty of practice) so after a brief discussion we jumped in a taxi to the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. There was plenty to see there and we spent the next couple of hours wandering around happily. Neither of us have been there before. Like many old fashioned museums and art galleries it consists of a bewildering array of inter-connecting rooms. We preferred to browse during this first visit rather than try to plan our route, so we certainly didn't see everything but we saw plenty of interesting and sometimes stunningly beautiful works of art. The Van Goghs were brilliant and I loved "The Sunflowers" but my favourite was "A Cornfield with Cypresses" because the colours and the whorls of paint were amazing. I enjoy Van Gogh more and more. I also loved Caravaggio's The Supper at Emmaus - the surprise of the men was so realistic, like a moment captured in time. There were some beautiful Renoirs, my favourite being At the Theatre (La Première Sortie) because to me the real performance seemed to be the audience and it made me think of Proust in location and timescale. We paid our respects to Constable's The Hay Wain and also to Turner's The Fighting Temeraire which James really likes, to the extent that he said he would be willing to put it on the wall in our lounge - high praise indeed! I also liked Velázquez' The Toilet of Venus (lovely bum). And that's just a few highlights of what we saw; there was much more. It was a great way to spend a chilly January afternoon in London, and we weren't the only ones who thought so because the gallery was pleasantly busy with both families and tourists - it's nice to see that so many people are interested in the art of yester year. We left at about five and made our way back to Heathrow with plenty of time for to relax in the BA lounge before our 7.05 p.m. flight. I spotted yet another celebrity - this time the actor Robson Green who we used to watch sometimes in a programme called Soldier Soldier in the 1990s. Again we did a bit of covert staring. When we boarded our plane I noticed that the screen at the front said that it is 553 km from London to Glasgow. So I thought that it was pretty impressive that having left Heathrow just after seven, we were home by nine, thanks to James' well laid plans of sitting at the front of the plane with hand luggage only, and also to the fact that he knows the perfect place to park in the car park for a quick getaway! Soon we were reunited with Davie and Jack cat (Ally is in Dunlop tonight). A lovely day in London! 

On the way to London

I'm sitting on the Heathrow Express which James tells me is the most expensive airport connection in the world at £20 for a 20 minute journey. James buys his tickets in books of twelve and gets two tickets free so we are using free ones. I'm feeling very excited because James is taking me to London to choose my 50th Birthday present from him. I got home from work as quickly as I could because we needed to leave the house at about five, however when I got home there was a phone call from James to say that he couldn't get his car started at work. He had to abandon it and get a taxi home! Luckily we still got to the airport (in my car!) in plenty of time and soon we were relaxing in the British Airways Terraces lounge while waiting for our flight. So here we are speeding towards Paddington and then onwards for supper in our Westminster hotel. 

To be a Science Teacher

Not very much to say about today except that it was a good one - I worked hard and got lots done which always gives a feeling of satisfaction. I had work to do in the evening so David and I sat down together at the table after tea and he worked on his Physics while I did my work. It was very chummy. David kept up a running commentary about his Physics; exclaiming that a question was impossible and telling me why - I found it hard to comment due to my total ignorance of the subject! Then a few minutes later he would excitedly tell me how he had worked out the answer - in fact he would have found just as knowledgable an audience if he had explained it to Jack the Cat, but I nodded and smiled encouragingly. It often amazes me that I have given birth to three creatures who understand and enjoy science. It was always such a mystery to me at school. I remember in Chemistry at school as an end of term treat we were given different materials and we had to do various scientific tests on them to work out what they were. Everyone was having great fun and I was just lost, I didn't know where to start. I sometimes wonder if teachers should be made to teach subjects that they found difficult at school, because then they would teach it better. Whereas most teachers teach the subject they were best at, so there is always a wee bit of them thinking "Why can't the pupils do this when I always found it so easy?" I know that it still surprises me that not everyone finds French as much fun as I do! So that is my theory of teaching - teach out of your comfort zone! Which means that I should retrain as a Science teacher immediately! 

Bored in the gym

I got the chance to go to the gym today after a school because Cookery Club doesn't start again until next week. The main problem is that I found it intensely boring. I will need to bring in ear phones so I can listen to my own music. Apart from the boredom the session went quite well and I increased my programme slightly.
In the evening James and I watched "Death in Paradise" which I recorded yesterday; for easy, escapist television in a beautiful setting, it doesn't get much better than this! Ben Miller is very good as the stuffy "Englishman abroad". Meanwhile David worked on the three Physics homework assignments that he had "forgotten" to hand in until I got an email about it today! 

Back on a ski slope!

I was back on snow this evening when I went skiing at Xscape with Jackie. It was nice and quiet and we had a great time whizzing down the slope. As well as being fun the evening tied in well with my current efforts to take exercise. My worst knee was very creaky when I got home! This was either because I forgot my knee support or because it was protesting at having been made to go skiing again so soon!
Earlier on I had an unexpected and very nice surprise - my D of E gang (Carolyn, Shona, John and Kenny) all came to my room at the end of the school day with a generous gift voucher for the "Go Outdoors" shop for my birthday. I was so touched by the fact that they had got together to arrange it, and that it was such a thoughtful present. I will use it to buy something to further my fitness efforts. They are such a great team and thoroughly nice people who I have got to know thanks to D of E. 

Welcome to the gym

Inspired by a slight feeling of fitness after our ski holiday, I turned up after work today at the gym in the sports centre attached to my school. I am very lucky to have a good gym right on the premises and I know I should make use of it. When I got there I got a warm welcome from a group of fit colleagues, regulars at the gym, who advised me on which machines would strengthen my dodgy knee, and what settings to use. They were so welcoming that they invited me to a "Metafit" class later in the week (the P.E. department are very dedicated to fitness and run classes for staff). However the very name "Metafit" struck terror into my heart - for me it implies something rather extreme! So I thanked my colleagues and said that I will work on my gym fitness for a while before going to any classes! I felt pleased that I have made a start - the hard part will be keeping it up. 

I just can't keep away from Proust

I had a lovely long lie this morning and James brought me my breakfast in bed. Then I had a luxurious bath using one of the Lush bath balls that Davie gave me for Christmas. I read my book and relaxed. After saying that I needed a break from Proust, here I am back reading him again; I have just finished In Search of Lost Time Volume 4: Sodom and Gomorrah. Proust is somewhat obsessed with sex! I think I have a love / hate relationship with Proust - sometimes I find his writing to be really excellent and very insightful into human feelings, however sometimes I find him to be really annoying. He is certainly long-winded, snobbish and goes off at tangents. Yet somehow I keep going back for more! Volume 4 was the last to be published in Proust's lifetime so the next three have not been finally edited and approved by him. This means, according to the introduction of Volume 5: The Prisoner, that Proust may well have ended up changing these volumes quite a lot, because he usually made lots of changes right up until the final version went to print. So I may now not even be reading what Proust intended. Oh well, three volumes to go!
In the afternoon the house gradually filled up with girls reuniting with their boys, and James and I went out to try to choose new settees for the back room. The bad news is we still haven't chosen them but the good news is we remained on friendly terms. This is something we have not always managed to do in the past when shopping for household furniture, because we both hate it. Later on eight of us including Grandma sat down for a jolly dinner. And so ended the Christmas holidays on a pleasant note. 

Home again

We set off to the airport early, mindful of the traffic jams a week ago. This was a good idea because as we approached Lyon airport mid morning we could hear on the traffic reports that there were beginning to be hold-ups behind us on the motorway due to all the holidaymakers leaving the Maurienne and Tarentaise valleys. We went for a wee walk around St Exupery airport because Ally wanted to take a closer look at the landmark arch and so we went into the railway station and saw a TGV leaving. Back at Terminal 3 we had lunch before a pleasantly uneventful flight home. We were all reunited with Jack cat who was very pleased to see us and we celebrated our homecoming with a huge and delicious curry that I am already regretting. 

Un Pélérinage

This morning while the others went skiing I drove down to the valley by myself to visit the town of St Jean de Maurienne. This was an important journey for me because when I was eighteen I spent nearly a year living in the boarding school there. My French was so good then. I made some good friends among the "pions" who also worked there and I kept in touch with some of them, but they all came from different towns in France so I haven't been back to St Jean de Maurienne itself for more than thirty years! On the way to various ski holidays I have seen signs to it, and I have always meant to return. And today I did it!
I took it easy on the drive down the steep switchback roads into the valley, but there was hardly any traffic and it was fine. Parking in the town was easy and I was soon wandering the streets where I had spent so much time all those years ago. It brought back good memories of a brilliant year. I recognised a lot of the streets and buildings of course, especially the old church and tower in the centre, and the shopping arcades which show that St Jean has a lot of Italian influence, being so near the border. However there were some changes too; the book shop that I used to frequent is gone and there is a new supermarket. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and wondered if any of the inhabitants had been in my classes - if so they would be forty plus now!
Later James and I went for a swim in the hotel outdoor pool; the sky above the mountains was an amazing mixture of blues and rosy pinks, with snow-covered peaks standing out bright white in front of it. Then the sky faded to a dark blue and the mountains themselves became tinged with pink! James said that it was just as well that we didn't have a camera with us because it was so stunning that it would have looked unreal! As it got darker someone switched the pool lights on and the pool became a luminous turquoise.
On our last night of a ski holiday we like to celebrate an enjoyable week of skiing with a pierre chaude and a fondue savoyarde. This evening we went to the Bar St Moritz - lucky that we had booked it earlier in the week because it was completely full. We had a delicious meal; the main dishes were complemented with salad, chips and charcuterie and we ate heartily while reminiscing about this week's ski experiences. To finish off our meal we ordered Café Val d'Aoste "la grolle" which is served in a little wooden pot, served with a jug of flaming chartreuse liqueur. You blow out the flames then pour the hot chartreuse into the coffee, put the lid onto the wooden pot, then drink the potent brew from holes in the side of the pot using straws! The boys all drank some and found it to be quite breathtaking, with a strangely medicinal after-taste! The restaurant owner explained to us that shepherds in the Aosta valley used to drink this mixture out of their boots which were called "grolles," hence the name. We later sauntered back to the hotel bar for drinks. Tremendous evening. 

Fantastic skiing

Today I wanted to ski to St Colomban des Villards because I hadn't been there yet. The weather was absolutely gorgeous; back to blue skies with no clouds at all. The snow-covered mountains looked amazing, there are no superlatives adequate to describe the views. I did my best to drink it all in as I skied down beautiful runs and went up in chairlifts. The way to St Colomban des Villards was spectacular; we took lifts up to l'Ouillon and then skied for miles and miles down into St Colomban which was in a lovely valley way down at 1100 metres. Even though it was low (Le Corbier is at 1550 metres and the highest runs are at 2600 metres) there was still lots of snow there. The runs varied from steep and quite challenging reds (although luckily for me they were uncrowded - I hate busy pistes) to long blue paths following the curve of the mountain where we could just point our skis straight and go for it. I loved it. Jamie, Ally and Davie skied with us but also went off to do extra runs or some off piste and then caught up with us again. They seem to be having a great time and enjoy regaling us with tales of their exploits; there also seems to be a running joke of Jamie stealing one of Davie's ski poles and Davie chasing after him using one ski pole like a paddle! Just above St Colomban there was a cute wee restaurant called Café du Coin where we all had coffee and hot chocolate. Then we set off back to Le Corbier which took a surprisingly long time due to having to take lots of lifts. We had a late lunch just below Pointe du Corbier in a restaurant with brilliant views over both La Toussuire and Le Corbier and then James and I decided to call it a day while the boys went off to do some skiing off piste. I am amazed and gratified at how well my knee has lasted this week - in fact the most it has hurt was this afternoon when I was knocked over by a snowboarder and twisted it just before lunch time. I yelled so loudly in fright and pain that the poor snowboarder was very alarmed and apologetic! It was sore but I kept on skiing - well I didn't have much choice since I was high above Le Corbier at the time!
Later on James and I went for a drink at the hotel bar which was very pleasant, while the boys made dinner. I feel so sleepy right now with all of today's exercise and fresh air and my full tummy! 

Galette des Rois

Jamie, Ally and I went to the shops to buy dinner and we found a delicatessen where we bought some delicious sausages in tomato and onion sauce, and also some tartiflette to go with them. Yummy. We also booked a restaurant for Friday evening and browsed the souvenir shops, which contained the same artisan products as usual, some quite attractive and some rather tacky. On the way back to the apartment we popped into a bakery and saw a "galette des Rois", a French puff pastry and frangipane tart, which the French eat to celebrate Epiphany. The helpful shop owner and some enthusiastic customers explained to us that there is a porcelain figure called a "fève" hidden inside and whoever finds it gets to wear the crown that is on top of it. You're supposed to eat it on the first Sunday after New Year but everyone in the shop said it is also fine to eat it a few days before that. They also said "attention aux dents!" So after dinner we tucked in and Ally spotted the little porcelain figure, (which was of a skiing rabbit!) and proudly put on his crown. Luckily he spotted it rather than biting on it! Later I went down to the bar with the boys for a drink; James on the other hand retired to bed - after seven hours of skiing and a hearty dinner he was exhausted! 

Flocon de neige

A decent amount of snow fell during the night which pleased us because the last snowfall was 27th December so a wee top up was needed. It was a beautiful morning; clouds were swirling around the valley and mountains with sunshine breaking through them. James said it reminded him of his walking holidays in the Alps when the clouds would suddenly part to reveal a beautiful view, making it seem even more stunning than if you had seen it all along. We skied around Le Corbier and over to St Jean d'Arves where we had a quick coffee and saw a beautiful little dog being pulled along on a sledge!! The little girls who were with him let me take his photo and told me his name was Flocon! So sweet, but I did wonder if Flocon was a bit cold since he was not able to run about! Then we went back over to Le Corbier and had a relaxing lunch in Le Coq du Bruyère which is on the Pirouette piste below the Pointe du Corbier. After lunch the boys took James further up the mountain while I made my way down Pirouette and Saut right to the door of our ski lockers. After those first two big ski days I'm finding that four hours skiing is about enough for me. I love that our apartments are right on the piste and I was soon sitting in the sunshine on the balcony reading my book. 

Bonne Année

And so it is 2013! We went to the excellent village fireworks show last night which drew shouts of Bravo from the crowd and our pyromaniac sons set off a few fireworks of their own later. This morning we decided to make our way over to the tiny village of St Jean d"Arves which is much prettier than Le Corbier but a bit "out on a limb"; the only way to access the rest of the ski area is via the lower part of Le Corbier. Nice skiing although we came across one alarming poma tow which started so violently that it lifted us off our feet! For some reason the boys called it "the ball breaker!" Back to Le Corbier for lunch in Bar Le Yeti then the boys took James off for more skiing while I headed back to the apartment. Later Jamie and I went swimming in the hotel pool; it started to snow so it was great swimming along with snow falling on our heads. We also had a good chat. After dinner we went to the hotel bar for a convivial drink.