The turkey is finished

Actually the turkey was finished a couple of days ago but I am pleased with how we used it all up.

1. Christmas Day of course, and Jamie also took some turkey back to Edinburgh with him later.

2. Boxing Day - Leftover turkey with all the trimmings at Gerry and Christine's. (Admittedly this doesn't count as using up our own turkey but we mightily enjoyed helping to finish theirs and had a great evening)

3. 27th December - Our own leftover turkey, again with all the leftover trimmings. Yummy.

4. 28th December - a delicious turkey risotto made to my own recipe, and served with a festive spoonful of cranberry sauce on top. 

5. Also 28th December - a bowl of chopped up turkey meat for Tom and Ruby. Tom ate it so fast that he sicked up a bit of it straight away, clearly unchewed.

And so farewell to our Christmas turkey.

Escaping in Edinburgh

Yesterday we had a day in Edinburgh which started with an adventure - we were locked in the Da Vinci room at Escape and had to find the Holy Grail as well as a key to get out! It was great fun - we had to search the room for clues, using codes and solving puzzles. Everybody was able to contribute and we triumphed in only 49 minutes and 30 seconds! James then bought the boys some shirts in the Tyrwhitts sale. We also went into a shop called Anta which had gorgeous Scottish fabrics as well as lamps and crockery. James and I were rather taken with a lamp decorated with thistles that we thought would look just right in our newly decorated lounge. Alasdair was less impressed especially by the price. He is very thrifty. The very posh sales assistant commented that they had taken delivery of the lamp only ten minutes before we arrived, to which Alasdair commented loudly to me, "They must have seen you coming!" I didn't know where to look! We bought it anyway and I think it looks splendid in the lounge! We then had lunch in The Gourmet Burger Bar before going back to Jamie's flat for a coffee. What a pleasant day we had! 

Earth Stood Hard as Iron

It was just as well that the earth stood hard as iron today in the Kilpatrick Hills. I noticed that much of the ground that we were walking on was in fact frozen mud, so the freezing temperatures made our going nice and easy compared to slogging through a bog! James had been talking about going for a walk in that area for a while, partly because he had quite liked it on a previous walk (despite heavy rain) and partly because of its proximity to home - only half an hour's drive and we were striding out onto the hills. Today the weather was absolutely glorious; cold crisp air and blue skies, and we had great views. To the south was a misty Glasgow, to the North were the snow covered hills of the Trossachs and Ben Lomond. We had planned an 8 km walk but extended it to take in Duncolm, the highest hill in the Kilpatricks, so in the end we walked about 15 km with about 500 metres of ascent. A tremendous day.

Peaceful

It has been a peaceful, family Christmas, and I can't ask for better than that. The kittens got a great deal of attention on Christmas morning from their cousins Jenny, Neil and Lucy at our traditional festive gathering. Tom and Ruby also have a new kitten cousin called Millie, who looks very like Ruby!

We have dined royally, exchanged gifts which touched me with their thoughtfulness, gone for bracing walks around the neighbourhood, visited friends and played with the kittens. 

This morning, sadly, I attended the funeral of a friend who has died too young. I can only imagine the feelings of his wife and his daughter, who is a good friend of Jamie. At the funeral I ran into quite a few friends that I haven't seen for a while. I have semi-deliberately kept a low profile due to the difficulties of the past year but it is a shame because they are really nice people. I am fortunate that they keep reaching out to me, in fact I don't deserve their kindness. We parted vowing to meet up soon. I would like to believe that I will do so.

'Twas the night before Christmas

Well it's Christmas Eve in Casa Anderson. I collected Jamie from Edinburgh this afternoon after attending Noah's birthday party in the morning. I enjoyed listening to music on the way and chatting with Jamie on the way back. This evening we have had a curry, watched Skyfall on television; all five of us are together in the house. Or should I say seven, including our new furry babies. I just love it when we are all together. I have wrapped the last of the presents and put them under the tree. James and Jamie are in charge of the turkey, so much stuffing and sewing and wrapping in tin foil has gone on in the kitchen, and since it is too large for the fridge, it has been carried ceremoniously to the chill of the garage. I find a comfort in these traditions. Merry Christmas. 

The Christmas lights are switched off

On Sunday James and I met up with Heather and Ewan for our traditional Christmas lunch. I have blogged before about how much this means to me. 2014 has had some very good times but also some very difficult times for me and I appreciate the support of family and close friends more than I could ever express. This year's lunch venue was Jamie Oliver's in George Square and the meal was absolutely delicious. It was busy with families but the service was still good. Our afternoon continued at the Metropolitan which has a great atmosphere especially at this time of year; I saw my cousin's son Greg expertly shaking cocktails behind the bar and I went over for a chat with him. There he was, all grown up and handsome; it seems no time at all since he was a baby. Heather and I went for a stroll round the craft stalls in the indoor Christmas market; the quality of the jewellery and art work was excellent. Later on Ally, Cat, Davie and Andrew all joined us for drinks and our festive afternoon morphed into a festive early evening!

At one point earlier on we had noticed that the Christmas lights were not yet on in George Square although the dreich afternoon was beginning to deepen into early twilight on the shortest day. As if on cue, the lights came on a few minutes later. 

Tonight however there are no Christmas lights on in George Square. They have been switched off as a mark of respect for the six people who died there this afternoon, run over by an out of control bin lorry. I presume that the poor driver had suffered some sort of heart attack. I first heard the news by text from Jennifer and the first thing I did was phone Ally, Cat and Davie who I knew were all Christmas shopping in town. Thank goodness they were all ok. 

But I can't imagine what the bereaved families and the injured people must be going through. That's not the only sad news I have heard this week and it made me think that it's time to get things into proportion in my life and count my blessings.

Oh what fun we had

Last Thursday James and I went to see Madness at the Hydro. Although they are about our age and their music was part of our youth we have never seen them in concert until now. What a good show they put on! They had the whole audience singing and dancing. Our pleasure was further enhanced by "winning" entrance to a lounge, where there was a quiet bar and more importantly comfy seats to lounge about on. My favourite song was "Our House" which was just as good as I had hoped.

More fun was to come on Saturday when Ally arrived home from Oslo. Although we have skyped and face timed regularly we haven't seen him in person since September so when I picked him up from the airport it was really good to hug him and kiss him. He must have missed me a bit because he let me do the hugging and kissing without putting up a fight! Once Ally was home it wasn't long before beautiful Cat arrived - Christine and Gerry kindly gave her a lift to our house from a family party and we invited them in for a drink. Cat and Ally were very taken with the kittens and Tom and Ruby seemed delighted with the attention. 

Odysseus the ironing mat

About six weeks ago I bought an ironing mat for Alasdair to use in Norway with his little travel iron. He had been using a folded towel upon which to iron his shirts, but this was a bit unsatisfactory, resulting in the purchase of said ironing mat.

I duly parcelled it up, addressed it to Ally in Oslo, and David took it to the post office to send it on its way.

However it did not arrive at its destination. As days turned into weeks Alasdair commented from time to time on its non arrival, speculating that I must have addressed it wrongly and casting aspersions on David's and my ability to perform such a simple task as sending a small parcel. Gradually we all forgot about it.

Until today! The ironing mat has arrived at Ally's flat in Oslo with a sticker on it which says "Mis-sent to Thailand". How strange is that? What a long journey that little ironing mat has been on; if only it could tell us its adventures! 

Purr purr purr

The kittens already have distinctive characters. Tom is the hunter - he loves chasing and pouncing on a squeaky mouse toy on a string, whereas Ruby doesn't really know how to tackle it yet. Ruby is the explorer - she followed me all the way upstairs this evening while Tom skittishly jumped about on the lower steps. They are very very sweet.

David has decided that Tom's middle name is "Bombadil" I suggested that "Slippers" would be a good middle name for Ruby but David wants it to be "Ruby Ruby Ruby Ruby" after the song. Now that's just silly.

We had a fantastic day in Edinburgh yesterday with David, Jamie and Aisling. Stockbridge is really nice, like a village in the city, with lots of shops, cafés and restaurants. We had lunch in the Scran and Scally which I loved - the food was something special and the service and atmosphere were great. James asked for the bill only to find that Jamie had already paid it! We were both grateful and very excited that our grown up son was treating us! 

Before we headed home we visited the gorgeous Stockbridge Market which has all sorts of very upmarket food and crafts, and had a coffee in Jamie and Aisling's pristine flat (I don't remember Jamie's room at home ever being that tidy!) 

When Grandma came for tea we watched the Strictly Come Dancing results show, something that Grandma and I both enjoy.

Festive frolics

Yesterday we got our Christmas tree and James and David decorated it while I wrote Christmas cards. It looks lovely and of course we took Tom and Ruby through to look at it! They did glance at it briefly before scampering around the lounge but to them it's just another big new strange thing, like everything else in their lives. 

We have made great strides in our Christmas shopping and are now nearly finished. I wrote the last of the Christmas cards this morning with Tom and Ruby sleeping on my lap. James put on his Michael Bublé Christmas album - it is officially festive in Casa Anderson.  

Scotland's National Animal

Today James, David and I set off on our annual trip to Queen Elizabeth Forest Park to choose our Christmas tree. After selecting a fine specimen we had a pleasant lunch in the café with views over the bleak winter landscape.

Then we went for a wee post lunch walk down to the waterfall and the bird hide. It was very chilly with patches of thin snow. In the bird hide was a visitors' book to record sightings of birds and animals which I idly leafed through. I came across the following entry:

"We saw some red squirrels but this was interrupted by yet another unicorn sighting. Why didn't Scotland choose a rarer breed as its national animal?"

I also came across entries claiming to have seen donkeys, zebras and even monkeys! It did make me laugh.

Happy kitty, sleepy kitty

This evening the kittens have been full of fun and rampaging around the back room. They were playing with a cardboard box; hiding in it, jumping in and out of it, pouncing on each other around it. Tom is the bigger kitten and very playful but Ruby gives as good as she gets; she loves to jump on Tom's back. And they also love to snuggle up together when they nap, they are so sweet.

I'm glad that they are not allowed outside yet because the weather has been cold and a bit wild. A huge dark storm cloud completely covered the sky yesterday afternoon and there was amazing thunder and lightning outside my office window, then afterwards the cloud rolled away leaving blue sky! Such a contrast! This morning there was a dusting of snow on the fields like icing sugar and the wind was cutting.

But Tom and Ruby are snug inside for their first winter. 

Little balls of fur

Tom and Ruby grow ever bolder. They are now exploring the length of the back room instead of sticking to the area near the couches. And they are very interested in the utility room; James said that they stood staring through the glass of the door while he was in there. They can now jump from the couches to the coffee table and make tiny squeaks. When they purr their whole wee bodies vibrate. They climbed all over David at tea time so that he could hardly eat his dinner.

They are currently spending their nights in Ally's bedroom - it's smaller and warmer than the back room. Ally doesn't know this because he is in Oslo * - nor does he know that one of them did a tiny bit of sick on his bed last night! Which I cleaned up of course. At bed time I move their food, rug, basket, toys and litter tray upstairs. Lastly I carry the kitties upstairs, their wee round heads swivelling everywhere to look around the hall, and put them in their basket. They immediately jump out and skip around the room. 

* although Jamie and Ally have not met their new siblings yet, they have both FaceTimed them! And so has their Auntie Jennifer! 

Soft kitty, warm kitty

Tom and Ruby are very tiny and very lively! I spent the day at home with them instead of going to the Mince Pies outing. They only left their mummy yesterday so I didn't want to leave them. 

They run around, climbing as high as they can manage on the furniture and jumping in the air with sheer exuberance. They can climb onto the couch with a bit of scrabbling, but they prefer to run up my leg because that's more convenient! They like play flight and roll around the floor wrestling. They like to run about chasing their own and each other's tails. And they both love a cuddle; after running about wild they climb onto my lap and suddenly fall asleep. That's what they are doing right now. They are so light and soft and warm.

New members of the family

Tom and Ruby were born on 12th October. They were advertised on Gumtree today and we phoned then went to collect them straight away. It's very strange but rather lovely to have kittens in the house.

Tom is black with white bib and paws, and Ruby is tortoiseshell. They are both very cute.

Enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

The Jools Holland concert this evening was excellent. His piano pieces were great, so was his band, and the guest singers were amazing. There was so much energy - it reminded me of the jazz band we went to see in Oslo. One of the guest singers was Joss Stone, she has a beautiful voice. Marc Almond sang "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" which has about the best lyrics of any song ever! He also sang Tainted Love - brilliant! Ruby Turner sang several songs and had the best voice of all. The last song was "Enjoy Yourself" which the audience all joined in. A very good evening.

Nostalgia

The disco is in full swing at Inverclyde. I am assailed by memories of previous Inverclyde trips - I have been here nearly every year for seven years. I have had some great times here and also some rather challenging times! Mainly sleep deprivation and sorting out situations. But it's the good times that I remember most - sports, dancing, patrolling the corridors, chatting with colleagues. It even makes me feel quite wistful for pupils past!

Update at 11 p.m. They're all asleep hooray! 

Box Set

And so we are in December, I can't believe how the time has flown past this autumn! This evening James and I indulged ourselves by watching not one but TWO episodes of Breaking Bad on DVD. We know some people who admit  to (in fact relish) occasionally having sat down to three episodes in a row of this excellent series but they shall remain nameless. We are now on Series 4 and it is as addictive as ever. Rather an apt adjective now I come to think of it. 

I don't know why it's so good exactly - there is a strong plot with twists and turns, interesting (although flawed) characters, fine acting, a touch of comedy to leaven the dark subject matter - it all adds up to quality drama. A good box set for the winter nights is very satisfactory. I think I'll go for three episodes tomorrow evening if we start early!

The joy of FaceTime

It has been a very pleasant weekend - both fun and useful. After yesterday's Christmas shopping trip with Grandma I survived my hair-raising bus journey home (James had driven Grandma home earlier) and we went over to Heather and Ewan's for dinner. We had such a relaxed evening and chatted about all sorts of things - I was very glad to be there in their beautiful home. They also made us an absolutely delicious dinner, yum.

Today was a whirlwind of housework and admin, which I am usually reluctant to start but find strangely satisfying. Grandma came round for tea and then (after the Strictly Come Dancing results show) we all FaceTimed Ally and Cat, who are spending a week in Gdansk. FaceTime is amazing - Ally and Cat were able to show us around the apartment they have rented and even the view from the window. It was as if we were right there in the room with them! We FaceTime Ally at least weekly and Poland is not by any means the furthest venue from which they have Skyped or FaceTimed but I still find it fascinating. Grandma enjoys it too and was full of questions about what they are up to. They told us that it is extremely cold there just now! They will be visiting churches and a Christmas market tomorrow. 

The devil's own form of transport

I'm on a bus for the second time this year, something of a record for me with my aversion to public transport in general and buses in particular. Our route wound through town for a very long time, down Renfield Street but then along Argyle Street and back UP Queen Street, stopping at every bus stop and traffic light before we finally headed south east. It is dark and I now have no idea where I am because the windows are all greasy and steamed up. It's crowded and the man behind me has his hands over the back of my seat and keeps touching my ponytail, I hope by accident. I don't know how I will know when to get off the bus as it lurches through the streets. At least no one is overtly drunk or vomiting so this is one of my more pleasant bus journeys.

Interstellar

We went to see Interstellar last night at the IMAX. James had booked us seats very near the front so we had to lie our heads back on the seats to avoid craning our necks. It was schmaltzy (for example Anne Hathaway's impassioned speech about love being one of the forces of the universe), the physics became a bit fanciful as the film progressed (although James told me that it was not unreasonable), and it was very, very long.

I loved it! 

St Ninian's Cave

St Ninian's Cave was our destination today on our walking weekend to Newton Stewart. We drove the two hours down to this area last night after work and enjoyed a hearty pub tea with the other nine in our party. The hotel is really nice with ensuite rooms; I had been expecting a hostel so I was very pleasantly surprised.

This morning six of us went on a circular coastal route starting from the small harbour village of Isle of Whithorn. After a rainy night and a misty start to the day, the weather turned warm and sunny - as we walked along in short sleeves it was hard to believe that we are nearly at the end if November. We made our way along cliff paths with beautiful sea views across to the Isle of Man in the distance. 

Then we descended to a wide stony beach, crossed a small but fast flowing stream, and arrived at St Ninian's Cave. It is indeed a cave and a plaque on the wall informed us that St Ninian (a 5th century Christian missionary to Scotland) used to pray there, so in no way did I feel short changed! In addition there are crosses carved on the walls and people had put little wooden crosses and pictures of saints in the nooks and crannies of the walls. Clearly a spiritual place. We had lunch sitting outside it and James made tea and coffee with his stove. Our way back was mainly by road, which was a bit straight and boring but picturesquely surrounded by fields full of sheep and cows, and luckily it did not have too much traffic. On arriving back in Isle of Whithorn we found that it was standing room only in its tiny village pub, so we decided instead to come back to Newton Stewart for a drink. And after a nice hot bath I am about to join the others in the bar! A good day. 

The amazing Isabelle Huppert

I read La Dentelliere at university in 1979 and then attended a screening of the film which had come out only a couple of years before. I found the book's heroine annoyingly passive (I was less tolerant then) but enjoyed the fine acting of the young, beautiful and red-haired Isabelle Huppert. Twelve years later I took a class of Higher French pupils to see Madame Bovary and Huppert's performance as the self destructive Emma was riveting.

This evening I was at the GFT to watch La Ritournelle starring guess who? This time Isabelle Huppert played a farmer's wife suffering from empty nest syndrome who nips off to Paris for a couple of days. Various adventures ensue. She was as gorgeous as ever and I mused that although she looks distinctly younger than me, the amount of time that she has been acting in films must mean that she and I are about the same age. However when I got home I googled her and found that she is in fact ten years older than me! I was absolutely amazed - she looks way younger than her age. Most importantly though she is a great actress who grips the attention of the audience from start to finish of the film. 

Cruising in Perthshire

I have always loved my occasional weekends at Gleneagles. We used to take the boys with us wen they were little, and they also loved the leisure centre and the outdoors hot tub. Other times we have enjoyed weekends for two with country walks and fine dining.This time it's just the two of us. We had a pleasant autumnal walk yesterday through the grounds where we saw several huge flocks of geese heading noisily south in v formations for the winter. After a delicious dinner last night we are relaxing by the pool on this sunny Sunday morning. 

Gleneagles feels like an elegant ship, sailing through the years with an ever changing clientele; a haven of elegance. 

South River Blues in the West End

Jamie is home for the weekend and we are going round some car showrooms with him today - boring but quite relaxing as we are currently having a coffee and watching the Remembrance Day ceremony on a large screen while Jamie is out having a test drive.  

Yesterday was a pleasant day. James was away hill walking and I had a useful morning (housework, admin, carpet fitter, curtain measurer) before heading into town for a shopping trip with Grandma since she enjoyed our trip to Jenners in Edinburgh a few weeks ago. First we went to the interior designer at John Lewis to sign off the orders for the lounge, then we had a browse around the store and Grandma did a wee bit of Christmas shopping. We saw the much talked about new John Lewis Christmas advert which was being broadcast in various screens around the store to smiling crowds of shoppers. After hearing colleagues going on about how great it was I was prepared to be quite cynical and unmoved, however I have to admit that it is very good and the ending brought a tear to my eye - apparently the store has sold out of toy penguins! We had a nice cup if tea in the café and Grandma told me how much she enjoys having someone to go shopping with; we arranged another date in a couple of weeks.

After tea, James, Jamie, David and I went to The Dram in Woodlands Road, where a friend of mine was playing with his band, the South River Blues Band. It was great, and David was really brilliant on the saxophone. They played blues but also rock and other stuff - near the end there was a medley of The Doors songs which was excellent. Jamie and David enjoyed it too - it was nice going out with our boys!

Talking of our boys, our Oslo boy Ally is horrified by the tartan curtains that I have ordered for the lounge (I emailed him a picture!) heh heh I think it will look great!

Missing Jack

Ironically I am missing Jack on his least favourite night of the year. He hated fireworks - although, strangely, only for the latter half of his life. When he was young he would go out and in the cat flap quite unconcerned on bonfire night. But I can only suppose that something gave him a fright because one year he came in trembling with fear and hid in the hall cupboard, which became his preferred place whenever he heard fireworks. Last November he was an old chap and almost completely deaf, but he could still hear the loudest bangs and was very miserable about it. However by New Year he evidently couldn't hear the fireworks at all. He went strolling out of the cat flap in a relaxed fashion, despite the loud bangs and whooshes of fireworks all around. However once he was outside he must have seen the bright explosions of the fireworks in the sky and came rushing back in, wide eyed and horrified!

He was such a honey, and of course I miss him on bonfire night, because I miss him every day. 

Tranquility in Tring

I am at Heathrow Airport waiting for my flight home after a lovely spa weekend with Jennifer. I spent Friday night in the Smith household where we dined on delicious slow cooked lemon chicken. It was nice to see Russell, Josh and Ben, and I tried to make up for being a neglectful auntie by being a generous one! I hope they will remember me fondly when I am dead.

The next morning we went on a dog walk with gorgeous Angus; the countryside where Jennifer lives is beautiful and we went up a hill from which we could see the roof of Chequers among the trees. Angus is such a sweetie and his happy demeanour reminded me of the westies of my childhood - Mandy and Judy. When I tripped and fell down in the woods he rushed over to try to help me by licking my face - that got me on my feet in record time! 

It was a beautiful day and continued to be warm and sunny when we arrived at Champneys in Tring. Champneys is an attractive red brick former stately home and after checking in and exploring we found ourselves sitting outside drinking coffee, attired in our cossies, bathrobes and slippers. It was great to sit on the terrace overlooking the gardens and I could feel myself relaxing.

We made full use of the facilities; gym, swimming pool, and our favourite - the outside jacuzzi. Jennifer and I never run out of things to talk about and we chatted and laughed for the whole weekend.

We also each had a body wrap and a facial which were absolutely blissful. You don't have to dress up for dinner but Jennifer and I had both brought dresses and we looked very lovely if I say so myself. And we had tried so many spa products that we certainly smelled very lovely! Dinner was on the healthy side but very tasty, and after coffee in the lounge we were so exhausted that we went straight to bed. 

This morning flew by. Fortified by a large (but healthy) breakfast we had more treatments, swam, jacuzzied and relaxed - excellent. Jennifer has persuaded (well, almost persuaded) me to try an app called the couch to 5K challenge. I can do the couch bit with no problem! 

And all too soon it was time to set off back home. It was a great spa weekend but seeing Jennifer and her boys was the best bit.

Leaving in Style

I mentioned in my last post that our hotel in Venice has a water entrance directly onto a canal. It looks amazing with the water lapping on the steps. Because of this I decided to treat us to a water taxi to the airport this morning. Much more fun than rolling our cases through the streets to the vaporetto! So after a leisurely breakfast we checked out and our taxi appeared at the door. The half hour journey to the airport was absolutely amazing.

Goodbye Venice!

Serenissima

Back across the Adriatic we sailed to Venice. Hard to believe that a whole week had gone by since we set off from there on our cruise. After disembarking in Saturday morning we took a vaporetto (water bus) to St Mark's Square and then expertly hopped onto another one which took us along the Grand Canal to the Rialto Bridge. What a busy waterway it is, full of gondolas and water taxis. Our hotel was just a few minutes walk through some very narrow streets and over a tiny bridge. As well as a front door onto a little square it has a side door right onto a canal! It was too early to check in so we left our luggage at reception and set off for a wander around Venice. We walked and walked and walked - most of the time we had little or no idea where we were but we didn't care. We strolled along the pretty streets, window shopping and looking along the many small canals, and crossing lots of bridges. The weather was so beautiful that we stayed outside apart from a visit to the Accademia, where the pre 18th century religious paintings were mostly a bit gloomy for me. My favourite painting was Paul Veronese's The Feast in the House of Levi. I enjoyed it for its lively and jolly content rather than its quality - it was originally to be called The Last Supper but apparently the Catholic Church was outraged by its depiction of drunk people, animals and a dancing dwarf so its name had to be changed! 

Eventually we found ourselves right at the point beside the church of Santa Maria della Salute just as a whole lot of sailing boats swept into St Mark's Basin - it was spectacular. 

We continued our meandering walk towards St Mark's Square where we had a lovely afternoon tea at Florian's - expensive but so good! Then we headed back in the general direction of Rialto where we had a little rest in our lovely gold and white room at our hotel before dinner. We also took the opportunity to phone our dear children who are all in Oslo. They seem to be having a grand time on their boys' weekend. 

We went to a busy wee trattoria for dinner, where the food was excellent but the service was terribly slow, followed by a last perambulation to the Rialto Bridge where we looked at the lights of the cafés reflected in the water.

Retirement Home for an Emperor

On Friday we arrived back to Croatia, this time to the port of Split. We had signed up for a tour and I was glad we did because our guide Žarko was very knowledgable and told us lots about the history of the area. They have not had an easy history and have been ransacked over the centuries by just about every warring nation who was passing through. They are very keen to build up their tourist industry so he kept asking us to come back next year. We first visited the tiny medieval town of Trogir, famous for its narrow streets, its cathedral and its A Cappella singing which was of course being performed in the main square. We managed not to buy the inevitable CD and gave our tour group the slip so that we could quickly climb up the cathedral's bell tower for a lovely view. 

Then we went back to Split for the second part of the tour. The most interesting former resident of the town was the Roman Emperor Diocletian, who is famous for being the only Roman Emperor to manage to retire (usually it was a job that ended in death!) As a Croatian boy (he had been proclaimed emperor after rising through the ranks of the military) he wanted to spend his twilight years back home so he had a truly magnificent palace built in what is now Split, right on the sea front with beautiful gardens - and very thick, well defended walls just in case any of his former enemies came to attack him. And he did indeed have his retirement, resisting entreaties from his followers to return as Emperor. Although quite a lot of the palace has recycled into the medieval town that grew there centuries later, its fortified walls can still clearly be seen and the Roman military shape of the streets inside are still there. It was well worth the visit and I would definitely like to go back some day.

What I like to do on the ship

Well the time has flown by since my last post from Kusadasi. After buying not one but two bags from very persistent salesmen (one of whom kept kissing me, probably because we paid over the odds for the bag!) we had another day at sea. A day at sea is a nice change of pace and we both totally chilled out. I have enjoyed my reading this holiday. First of all I finished Hillary Clinton's book "Hard Choices" which I was already half way through. I could rename it "Hard Going" because I found it to be rather difficult; I'm not very well informed about politics due to my reprehensible lack of interest in the subject when I was younger. However I persisted and felt that I learned quite a bit. Then I read David Mitchell's "The Bone Clocks" which I thought was very good and well written (he also wrote "Cloud Atlas") and then Paul Merton's autobiography which was quite interesting although a bit guarded in places. Now I am reading another Patricia Cornwell "Scarpetta" crime novel; I rather overdid these earlier in the year but after a break I am ready to suspend my disbelief and enter into the world of Kay and her cronies once again! 

In between all this reading I managed to go to the gym and keep up my swimming. There are lots and lots of activities on the cruise (line dancing, fitness classes, bingo, shows, quizzes, lectures on the destinations to name but a few) but James and I are really very happy pottering about doing our own thing. And in the evening after dinner we go to our favourite bar for drinks. We are quite happy with our own company but as it happens we met some great people this week - we bonded when we noticed that we were all covertly watching a couple who were so drunk that they were falling down - quite literally. We didn't mean to laugh at them but the combination of their finery and dishevelled state was very funny! This got us all chatting and we started meeting up and have had a good laugh. And later on James and I like going back to the room to sit on the balcony in the warm darkness and watch the lights of other ships passing in the distance. 

Bananas and Butterflies

I'm sitting under a banana tree in Kusadasi sipping a cool drink. It's hot here, and James and I are a bit overheated after going for a decent length of walk out to Bird Island and then further on uphill for views back to the town. 

I don't know if Autumn is butterfly season here but our walk was enhanced by lots of beautiful patterned white butterflies flitting around. I'm very fond of Kusadasi and we have chosen to spend the day wandering around the town rather than embark on one of the (no doubt excellent) archaeological tours that are on offer. I would like to revisit Ephesus some time, I believe that more buildings have been unearthed recently. Maybe next cruise! 

So after we have cooled down and finished our drinks we will head into to bazaar where we may buy a genuine fake something! 

Lunch in Plaka

Athens was hot today! After a relaxing and extremely pleasant day at sea yesterday (reading, swimming, gym, more reading, people-watching and eating) we arrived this morning into the port of Piraeus. 

It's only two years since our previous visit to Athens, which was also on a cruise, so the route and landmarks were very familiar as we travelled by coach to the Acropolis. It's a big city (about four and a half million people I think) and fairly flat apart from half a dozen small but steep hills sticking up among the white buildings. On one of these hills is the Acropolis, where we spent some time wandering around; it was lovely to see the Parthenon and the other temples again on this beautiful day. Then we went shopping in Plaka, the old quarter below the Acropolis. The narrow streets there are very attractive and it didn't feel like we were in the middle of a large city. We found a really nice restaurant called Diogenes with a terrace shaded by vines and had a relaxing lunch of tsatsiki and stuffed vine leaves. 

Pearl of the Adriatic

Lord Byron called Dubrovnik the Pearl of the Adriatic and I can see why. It is a really beautiful town and the medieval city inside its stout (and still complete) walls is absolutely stunning. And pedestrianised, which makes it very pleasant to walk in.

The buildings are pale limestone with red terracotta tiled roofs. There's plenty to see; churches and museums, nice shops and (allegedly) the oldest Pharmacy in Europe. Today however we were so enjoying the warm weather that we stayed outside the whole time. As soon as we arrived we climbed up steep stone steps at the Pile Gate to the top of the wall and walked all the way round, pausing frequently to admire the views and take photos. I was also very impressed with the cleanliness of the town; no litter, no graffiti and the toilets in the café we visited were pristine. After descending from the wall we strolled down the Stradun which is the main street, and we had a drink sitting outside the Poklisar Café (with the nice clean toilets!) which was in a very picturesque spot under the wall beside the harbour. As we continued our perambulations we saw lots of equally well appointed cafés and restaurants; I would love to spend more time here and James agreed that a return visit would definitely be a good idea. 

Hair cut at sea

After leaving Venice I went to get my hair cut and painted at the hairdressing salon on the ship. I ran out of time to get it done before school finished, which annoyed me. I still haven't sorted out my work / life balance although I think I'm getting better at it. (At least some days I think I'm getting better at it.)

Anyway as soon as we arrived on the ship I made a booking for 7 p.m. so that I wouldn't miss the departure from Venice. The hairdresser, Helen, is lovely and she got me all coloured and cut just the way I like it. It felt surreal and luxurious to have my hair done on a ship! During my haircut we saw lightening lighting up the whole sky outside and heard crashing thunder, very exciting! I also had a head and shoulder massage which lifted away the last of my tension and I felt brand new when we went for our hearty dinner. A bit too hearty I think because I could barely stagger away from the table - I'm going to have to pace myself! 

No Grandi Navi!

Here we are on the Norwegian Jade about to set off on our cruise. As with the start of many holidays it has been a long day! We got up at 4.30 a.m. to get to the airport nice and early because we reckoned that this Saturday of the schools' October holiday week would be busy. And so it was; there was a big queue at check in although security hustled us through very efficiently. I napped a bit on the plane and then there was a bit more queueing to collect our cases, get on a bus, and check into the ship.

But by about 2 we had explored the ship, had a pleasant lunch and were relaxing on sun loungers on the deck. I had a good swim and hope to do so every day of the cruise. And now we are moving slowly down Giudecca Canal in Venice about to pass St Mark's Basin. This is the last year that cruise ships will be allowed to do this because of the erosion that their bow waves cause to the ancient buildings and quite right too - but I have to say it is an amazing view!

Update half an hour later - James just said "Well that was one of life's rich experiences!" and I thought he meant the  wonderful views we have just seen. In fact he meant the Aperol Spritz which I bought him as a tribute to Heather and Ewan!

Visitor on a bicycle

David now has a white coat and safety goggles for his lab work! He looked so great wearing them - like a real mad scientist. However he ran away when I tried to take his photo.

How lovely it was to see Jamie and Aisling this evening. Jamie cycled all the way here from Edinburgh this afternoon - a total of 55 miles from his house to ours. By the time I got home from work he was showered, changed and had very sore legs! His new bike is very smart; let's hope that this one doesn't get stolen. Aisling arrived by car straight from work and we all had a curry and a good chat. Both of them are working very hard but enjoying their jobs, although they like some placements more than others. Also they have just celebrated their two year anniversary, they were telling us about their first date. And then they loaded Jamie's bike into Aisling's car and set off home.

Shopping with Grandma

We gave Grandma a voucher for Jenner's for her birthday with the services of a personal shopper to accompany her - me! So today was the appointed day and we set off eastwards on this mild and rainy morning. At James' suggestion we parked at Ingliston park and ride and took a tram into the centre of Edinburgh. This was a tremendous idea because it only took forty minutes to get to Ingliston and the tram ride itself was very pleasant. It was the first time that either Grandma or I have used Edinburgh's new trams since the service started at the end of May, so we were both very excited and enjoyed looking at the views of Edinburgh on the way in. The tram was very smart and comfortable.
We got off at St Andrews Square and walked across to Jenner's, where we browsed around the womenswear section. I'm not the most enthusiastic shopper in the world but from time to time I can get into the spirit and today was quite enjoyable. Grandma chose a really gorgeous suit by Hobbs in a blue and black check; she did have to add to her voucher by quite a bit to pay for it! I also treated myself to a rather nice black wool dress with leather bits - it's hard to describe but it's lovely.
We had lunch in the café and had a nice chat; Grandma regaled me with stories about her new neighbour who she feels is very suspicious. This is mainly because she saw him in the garden wearing what could have been black shorts but could well have been boxers. There goes the neighbourhood!
We got home at about four after more tram excitement and I am exhausted; shopping with Grandma has worn me out!

Cool things to do in Oslo

That's us home from Norway and havng a cup of tea before bedtime. As I look back on our weekend I must mention the cool places that Ally took us in the evenings.

On Friday we were too tired to go out because of our early start that morning, but on Saturday after dinner Alasdair took us to Andy's Sports Bar on Karl Johann gate. There were big screens where a football match was being shown (Juventus v Atalanta I think) The three of us chatted and watched the football and it was all very pleasant. However when the football finished the resident pianist started playing his repertoire and all the punters started singing along and dancing, it was great fun. The music was mainly 1980s and 90s favourites - Van Morrison, Dire Straits etc so we knew all the words and joined in too. It was a great atmosphere and we could see that the Norwegians know how to enjoy themselves! 

On Sunday evening Ally decided to take us to a jazz club called Blö which is beside the river not far from the city centre. I had my doubts about this because I was quite tired and he said that it was standing only. However we went along to give it a try and it turned out to be absolutely amazing. It's just one dark room with an outside bar area and when we arrived the music was in full swing. The band was called Frank Znort and there were about a dozen of them crowded onto the small stage. The music was great and we were all dancing; I don't know anything about jazz but I think it was a mix of styles because lots of the band members took turns singing, and their voices were all really good but different, and I recognised some songs and not others. There was a guy called The Chef who I thought was very good and jazzy in a Cab Calloway sort of way, but they were all brilliant. It was definitely the coolest evening ever! 

Views from Akerhus

James says that my blog posts for the last two days have consisted mainly of lists of the places we have visited, and I see what he means. However it's hard not to fall into that format when I am visiting lots of exciting new places! 

Today Ally slept in and was a bit late meeting us at our hotel. We told him that he just can't keep up with us oldies!

We didn't try to do too much on our last morning, and instead spent our time strolling around the ramparts of Oslo's castle, Akerhus, which overlooks the town and provided beautiful views on this warm, sunny autumn morning. There was a wee visitor centre which related tales of some of the most notorious prisoners during the castle's many years as a prison. My favourite was a fellow who escaped lots of times to commit more crimes. Finally he was imprisoned in chains in a tiny cell with several guards outside. The next morning, imagine the guards' surprise when they opened the door of the cell to find ...... The information board stops there but I presume that the slippery customer had escaped again! Up at the top of the castle was the Norwegian Resistance Museum which was excellent. The unprepared Norwegians had managed to fight off the German troops for 62 days in 1940, before they were defeated, and they bravely continued resisting the Nazis for the rest if the war. The "Shetland Bus" was mentioned - we have of course visited the other end of that wartime route! 

A short walk took us back to our hotel to collect our suitcases, and thence to the station. Alasdair shepherded us safely to the airport express train and we said our farewells. I was so sad to say goodbye to him, it has been such a great weekend and he has shown us a really good time. 

A bit of drama awaited us at the airport. Some sort of mix up with our tickets that I still don't fully understand meant that we couldn't drop off our cases. Even though we had already checked in online the lady at the luggage drop off insisted that we were not properly checked in! After various phone calls we finally got approved and had to RUN for our plane - we were the last on board! We have just had dinner in the BA lounge at Heathrow (fancy!) and we are about to board our flight to Glasgow.

A day in Oslo with Ally

Today Ally took us out and about in Oslo. First we went to the Bygdøy peninsula which is a short bus ride from the centre of Oslo. It's very pretty and peaceful with beautiful white painted wooden houses and sandy beaches. First we went to the Vikinghus museum which houses three Viking funeral ships which were found buried on nearby farms. I was surprised at this because I had thought that the Vikings used to set fire to their funeral ships as they drifted out to sea. It was really interesting; although any gold and jewellery had been plundered long ago, there were great and well preserved artefacts like intricately carved animal heads, and even a pair of soft leather ankle boots which looked both comfy and stylish! Then it was a short walk to the Kon Tiki museum. James and I knew a bit about Thor Heyerdal from our youth but the exhibition told us so much more. Alasdair on the other hand knew nothing about him - he does now! We watched part of the 1949 documentary (introduced by Richard Dimbleby puffing away on his pipe!) and then looked at the Kon Tiki itself - amazing! 

We then went to the beach further along the peninsula and looked across at Oslo and the islands. It was warm and sunny and there were lots of families having picnics and barbecues. 

Back in the city we had a look at the Royal Palace and its gardens then walked down Karl Johann gate before turning off to the town hall. This controversial modernist building (the people of Oslo at first didn't like its red brick design) hosts the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. It's rather lovely inside with lots of murals, a painting by Munch (the tree of life) and views out to sea. 

From there we walked to the harbour and hopped onto the inter island ferry (which was included in our seven day travel pass) and thus had a tour around the fjord. The islands have brightly painted houses on them and are popular for sailing and day trips. Our boat trip also gave us a rest after all our walking!

Our last visit of the day was the Opera House. It's a modern building made of white stone with lots of glass. We walked up the slope which leads onto the roof and walked around looking at the views of the harbour and the city as the sun started to get lower in the sky. What a great way to spend a Sunday! 

A walk in the woods

I love Oslo! Although we didn't spend much of today in the city. Instead we did what the Norwegians do on a sunny Saturday in September and went for a walk in the forest. We took the train to Sognsvann station which was two minutes walk from a lake. It was nice to see lots of families out cycling, walking, fishing and even swimming. We walked to Ullevålseter which was about 6 km along beautiful forest paths beside which passed several more lovely lakes. We heard and then saw a brightly coloured woodpecker pecking away high up on a pine tree. We arrived at an attractive wooden hostelry at Ullevålseter where we had a coffee sitting outside in the sunshine. It is used as a ski restaurant in the winter and there are photos inside it showing it surrounded by snow and skiers, which was hard to imagine today! Norway has lots of cross country skiing and as we continued our walk we passed lots of trails. Today however they were mainly being used by cyclists and walkers. We also saw several people on "roller skis" with cross country bindings toiling up the hill - the Norwegians are certainly keen on fitness. We walked another 6 km or so to Holmenkollen where we saw a couple of ski jumps; the biggest one was scarily huge and there were people zip-wiring down it. From here we saw gorgeous views across Oslo. We got a train back into town and then went to Viegelandsparken, an amazing park filled with really interesting statues of people some of which were quite disturbing but still somehow beautiful. It seemed to be all about the different stages of human life and experience. In the centre was a huge stone monolith made up of human bodies, it is stunning. The park also had fountains, elegant paths and a huge rose garden. I could have stayed there all day. We still haven't visited any of the city's plentiful museums yet but I feel we should make the most of the good weather because the next time we visit it will probably be winter. 

Dining al fresco in Oslo

Alasdair met us on the platform at Oslo Sentral station and it was just lovely to see him! He has had his hair cut very short! After checking in to our hotel we took the train to his flat in Bjølsen so that he could put the haggis he requested in the fridge there. It's a really nice area with a river and views down to the sea. It was strange to sit in his room which is already familiar to us from Skype! 

We took the bus back into town and Ally took us on a walking tour of central Oslo. We saw the government building which was badly damaged in the bombing three years ago. The gunman then went on to massacre young people at a summer camp on the island of Utøya a couple of hours later. Outside the building is a newspaper display case from the day of the bombing, its glass still shattered and the news from the day of the bombing still pinned inside. It was very moving; the moment of violence preserved in the broken glass.

We walked along Karl Johanns Gate, which is the main shopping street, and then cut down to the sea front and walked along to Aker Brygge, the harbour area, which has lots of bars and restaurants. We arrived at the far end of the harbour in time to watched the sun setting as we looked down the fjord. By this time it was about 7 o'clock so we chose a restaurant where we had a very pleasant meal. It was a fine evening so we were able to sit outside; the chairs had sheepskins or thick woolly blankets draped over them to keep us warm. There were also some radiant heaters which made it quite cosy, but even so I think that the Norwegians must be nearing the end of the season for dining out of doors! On the way back to the hotel we heard shouting and then passed a demonstration (which was being closely monitored by the local constabulary) by some Kurdish people against the I.S. (Islamic State) which is of course very topical because today the U.K. Government has voted to join in air strikes against I.S. extremists in Iraq. Will we make things better or worse by our intervention though? I don't know. As it happens my current book is "Hard Choices" by Hillary Clinton which is an interesting tale of international relations from the American point of view.  

 

Four breakfasts

I'm sitting in the BA lounge at Heathrow Terminal 5 where, if I wished, I could be consuming my fourth breakfast of the morning. 

My first breakfast was my usual porridge with blueberries at home, albeit at the unusually early hour of 5 a.m. My second breakfast was potentially in the BA lounge at Glasgow where many pastries were on offer, however I only had a coffee. Then my third breakfast was on the flight to London, and this I did consume "because it was there". And my fourth breakfast is laid out before me for my delectation here in the lounge - cooked breakfast, bacon rolls, pastries etc. However my tummy is already a bit twitchy after three cups of coffee and I'm not in the least bit hungry, so I am not partaking of it. It seems a waste though!

We are on our way to visit our boy Ally in Oslo and I can't wait to see him.

* Update ten minutes later. I have succumbed to a bowl of cereal, fruit and yoghurt with yet another coffee. I have no idea why.

Moving On Together

Well the referendum is over and the majority voted to stay in the Union. 2 million voted No and 1.6 million voted Yes. It was quite exciting waking up to the news on Friday morning, because it was a big deal; I have never felt so directly affected by politics. However I am now thoroughly bored of the endless analysis and arguments that have followed. Let's move on.
As soon as school finished on Friday I set off to the Pentlands for the last Duke of Edinburgh expedition of the season. It was a lovely weekend with my Dukey friends, and after some rain on Saturday morning the weather was warm and sunny. I had an unfortunate fall on my way back from the toilet block in the dark on Saturday evening; I was in the process of switching on my torch when I tripped up a step and found myself rolling along the ground. It was very scary but I escaped with a skinned knee and a grazed hand. The main excitement on Sunday was finding a crepe van at Harlaw Reservoir visitor centre. We have never seen one there before and I was soon enjoying a delicious coffee and a chocolate crepe - luxury!

Scotland Decides

Well the polls have now closed and the votes will be counted overnight. By breakfast time we will know whether to people of Scotland have voted Yes or No to Independence. This is such an important day for our country! I have butterflies in my tummy. I normally never disclose what I have voted, but this is such a unique occasion that I will state for the record that I have voted No.
In other news Grandma's 85th birthday was on Sunday and we went out for a family lunch with Grandma, Forrest, Marjorie and family to the Piersland Lodge Hotel in Troon, scene of many Anderson family celebrations over the years. The meal was pleasant and we had birthday cake before going for a walk on the beach. I think that Grandma really enjoyed her birthday.

Intimidated

I have been quiet on this blog recently. Things are going sort of ok and I am hoping that this will progress to better than just ok, but it will take time. Meanwhile David has started Freshers week at UWS and is loving it so far. Cat is in Oslo visiting Ally, and Jamie is working 70 hour weeks as a very junior doctor.
Yesterday would have been Jack's 17th birthday (and Jill's too of course) which made me a bit sad. But as James pointed out, he probably didn't enjoy being deaf and getting weaker even though he won't have understood why. He had a good life.
Last night Heather and Ewan came for dinner and we had a pleasant evening chatting about all sorts. Inevitably the referendum came up, things are really hotting up as the vote is next Thursday and it is on everyone's minds. As good and long-standing friends I felt comfortable chatting about it in their company.
But I was in town at lunchtime yesterday to meet friends and I found the atmosphere rather intimidating - the Yes voters were out in force and (in my opinion) very aggressive; there was shouting and swearing. I don't mean to sound prissy but I do find that quite scary. No wonder they seem in the majority, I think a lot of people who will vote No are frightened of saying anything in case they get shouted at and made to feel unpatriotic. But I think you can be a patriot without being a nationalist. And I think that the quiet, intimidated majority may vote No. We will soon find out!

An evening at the Museum and a night at the hospital

After the Ayrshire Air Show James and I had a quick turnaround because we were going out in the evening to a concert at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. We quickly got changed, collected Grandma, and arrived in good time for a pre-concert drinks reception in the French Gallery - very nice! The concert was great with a lively and varied programme; Rossini's William Tell overture, several arias by Puccini, and music from Bizet's Carmen. There was also Verdi's overture to The Force of Destiny, Tchaikovsky's fantasy overture to Romeo and Juliet and my personal favourite which was the intermezzo sinfonico from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. I enjoyed every minute of it; the hall at the Art Galleries was a beautiful setting.
Grandma seemed to be enjoying herself too, but she was wearing a scarf wrapped round one of her hands to disguise an injured finger which had blood leaking through the bandage. It turned out that earlier in the day she had shut her finger in the door of a taxi, it must have been very sore. When we got home Jamie took a look at it and advised an immediate visit to A & E because the was very discoloured and swollen with a gaping cut in the side. He didn't want to wait because of the possibility of infection. Jamie and I took her there and waited for ages but it was worth it because she got an x ray (no break luckily) and had it properly cleaned and dressed. Grandma was very brave even though I could tell it hurt her a lot. When we got back down the road it was the middle of the night and we were absolutely exhausted. We made sure that Grandma was tucked into bed before going home.

Ayrshire Air Show 2014

The newly revived Ayrshire Air Show was a triumph yesterday. There were at least 50,000 people there and the organisers must have been relieved and delighted by both the crowds and the beautiful weather. This was the first Prestwick Air Show for 22 years; James and I used to go every year and we were there in 1989 when a Hawker Sea Fury had to ditch into the sea when it's wheels wouldn't go down properly. The pilot parachuted out and was fine.
The air show was small in scale compared to Leuchars Air Show, which ended forever last year much to the lamenting of the Anderson boys! The flying display was only from 2 - 5 instead of all day, and there were no big military planes, it was mostly just wee acrobatic planes, with the finale provided by the Vulcan bomber. However the flying was very good, and the commentators and crowds were enthusiastic and appreciative. The Blades acrobatic formation team were excellent too. The setting of the display over the sea was absolutely beautiful and the planes seemed to come rather alarmingly close to the crowd - I'm sure that they were kept further away at Leuchars.
It was lovely that Jamie was able to be there as well as Davie; only Oslo boy Ally was missing. The whole day was great fun.

Blueberries on The Goet

James decided that today we should climb a Corbett and so we did. He chose The Goet in Glen Clova in Angus. I had my doubts about this because of the four hour round trip involved but on a sunny Sunday we had plenty of time so why not? We set off nice and early and had a great walk. There was a gently sloping walk in before it got a bit steeper, which was good for me to warm up my leg muscles. I did moan a bit when the going got tougher but I made it to the summit without any real problems, and James told me that I was ten minutes ahead of "book time." We enjoyed eating wild blueberries on the way up, and there were lots of big hares dashing about near the top. The views were amazing with Lochnagar and the Cairngorm plateau to the north, and the Firths of Tay and Forth to the south. To the east we could see the North Sea past Arbroath and to the west were the hills of Glenshee. 

We walked back to the car in a big circle around the crags above Loch Wharral, disturbing a few grouse who came flapping out of the heather as we made our way down the hill.

Cycling on the Speyside Way

After a delicious dinner at Anderson's and a great night's sleep we went for a cycle today. We went first to Nethybridge via the beautiful forest paths that Alison and Hugh know so well. Then we joined the Speyside Way which at that point is a disused railway line. The train tracks are long gone but the stones that they lay on are still there, partly covered by grass. It was very picturesque; we passed small lochs and fields of barley, and we saw the steam train passing by on the other side of the fields. We arrived at the old Spey Bridge which was very lovely; there was confetti on the bridge so it must be a favourite location for wedding photos with river and hills behind.

By this time I was flagging somewhat, so Alison suggested that we have a coffee in the attractive restaurant at the nearby Revack Estate. This was a great idea; coffee and a slice of Ecclefechan tart gave me a new lease of life. Also I suspect that the seemingly level path must slope very gently downhill from Spey Bridge to Nethybridge, because it definitely seemed an easier cycle on the way back. By the time we got back to the cottage we had cycled 30 km - about 18.5 miles! 

In the afternoon we bade farewell to our kind and generous hosts and set off home. The roads were busy with motor cycles (the Thunder in the Glens meet up was this weekend) and horse boxes (the International Horse Trials at Blair Atholl were also this weekend). However it was a sunny and pleasant drive and the combine harvesters were out working the fields in Perthshire, which added to the early Autumnal atmosphere.

Chalamain Gap

David has had a good week - he got two important letters. One was his official offer of a place to study Biomedical Science at University of the West of Scotland. The other was his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award badge with a letter congratulating him and informing him that he will be invited to next year's Gold Award Ceremony at Holyrood Palace.

We are at Boat of Garten visiting Alison and Hugh, and have just got back from a really good 18.3 km walk. We walked from Coylumbridge through lovely woodland and over the Cairngorm Club footbridge towards the Lairig Ghru. We turned sharply to climb upwards and through the Chalamain Gap. We had great views of all the mountains including Cairn Gorm and although we had one or two showers the weather was mostly dry and even sunny at times. Finally we followed the river into the very pretty Queen's Forest and down to the Glenmore Visitor Centre. We will deserve our dinner at Anderson's Restaurant this evening!

A weekend by myself

Jamie is in Edinburgh, Ally is in Oslo, and James and David are on a hill-walking weekend to Kinlochewe so I have been all by myself since Friday. A few weeks ago when I was ill this would have terrified me, so it's a good sign that I was able to face it. As I look back over the last few months I feel quite scared at how bad things got this time. I thought that maybe this time I wouldn't come back up again, but I am definitely on the mend.

Anyway here's what I did on my weekend of solitude as well as a few household chores; had a lovely curry, watched two French Art House films, had my hair cut, went shopping in Waitrose, had brunch in Charlie Rocks and read my book. Excellent. I admit that I did work rather late on Friday but I brought no work home with me, and it has been a very relaxing weekend. The only disappointment was that I went to Tollcross Baths on Saturday intending to swim, only to find that it does not reopen post Commonwealth Games until Tuesday. 

My boys will be home mid afternoon and then Grandma is coming for tea so my time alone is fast coming to a close. It will be nice to see them, but my quiet weekend has been really enjoyable.

Rainy in Stockbridge

Today we visited Aisling and Jamie's new flat for the first time, and we took Grandma along for the trip as well as David. Jamie's bike was stolen last week from the close downstairs. This was even more annoying considering that he had just paid for £100 worth of repairs. He has another, older, bike which he had left at our house so the primary reason for our visit was to take it through to him. We had a scary moment on the motorway when the bike suddenly listed to one side on the car roof and we had to take the next exit to fix it on properly.
It rained all day, sometimes very heavily, but luckily we were able to park close to the flat. Aisling was at work so unfortunately we didn't see her but it was great to see Jamie, and he gave us a tour of his flat - it is lovely! Grandma really liked it and declared that she was going to move in with them! We drove along to the excellent Raeburn for lunch, which is actually only five minutes walk, but what with Grandma and the rain we thought it better to take the car. We were very impressed with the main street in Stockbridge, which has lots of nice wee shops, cafés and pubs, and all within ten minutes walk of Jamie's and Aisling's flat. It's also only fifteen minutes walk from Princes Street.
After lunch we popped in to Waitrose, which to my great excitement is diagonally across the road from the flat! James was not best pleased about this (he has a strange hatred for Waitrose) but with Grandma enthusiastic about it there was nothing he could do! Then it was back to Jamie's for a coffee before heading home. As rainy days go, this was a very pleasant one.

Farewells

Goodbye to the Commonwealth Games - they were great, much better than I expected! I'm pleased that Davie enjoyed being a Clydesider so much, it was a really good experience for him. It was a positive, happy time for the whole city and we rounded it off by attending the Closing Ceremony at Hampden. The occasion was suitably celebratory; Lulu set the tone with "Shout" and my favourite part of the evening had to be Deacon Blue singing "Dignity". We all sang along; the words of the song mean a lot to me. And while we sang a procession of council vans, school buses, fire engine, police cars drove round the track - it made me feel strangely proud as a council worker myself! The star of the evening was Kylie and she was brilliant, but if I was being picky I would have preferred her set to be a bit shorter so that we could have had more Scottish music. James however was very happy and would have liked even more Kylie! The evening ended with Dougie McLean singing Caledonia and then the crowd singing Auld Lang Syne. A fitting ending to the games.
Goodbye to the summer holidays - I may not officially start back until Monday but I have been working part of last week and all of this week. I applied for this job so I can't really complain. I can however reflect on my future plans.
And most importantly, goodbye to Ally. Tomorrow he is going to spend the night at Aisling and Jamie's flat in Edinburgh before flying to Oslo the next morning. It's a wonderful opportunity for him to spend a year studying abroad but I will miss him very much. It will not be the same in the house without his dry sense of humour and earnest political speeches! He's a good boy. However luckily we will see him in a few weeks, because we have booked 3 nights in Oslo at the September weekend.

The fastest man in the world

There have been many balmy evenings at Hampden during the Commonwealth Games but this wasn't one of them! Luckily it was only a ten minute walk for Jamie, Ally, Davie and me from Kings Park Station to the stadium so we didn't get too wet despite the heavy rain and streets that were rapidly turning into rivers. It rained on and off all evening. Our seats at the stadium were excellent, low down near the pitch opposite the main stand, so we were close to the action. As we sat down the song "Why does it always rain on me?" by Travis was played and the crowd all joined in! It was all finals this evening so it was very exciting. Also, there were lots of events going on e.g. javelin, running, pole vaulting and long jump all at the same time which meant that there was plenty to watch. I had thought there would be lots of boring gaps between events and had brought my Kindle to read, but there was no need.
There were lots of medal ceremonies too; each one was heralded by a piper. One of the better known medal presenters (to me anyway, because most were senior sports officials) was expectant father, Prince Albert of Monaco.
The last event was the one we were all waiting for; the men's 100m relay which had Usain Bolt running for Jamaica. After a rousing rendition of "I will walk 500 miles" the crowd fell silent and the race began. It really was amazing - so fast - and Bolt (and team) came up with the goods and won the Gold.  The Jamaicans came celebrating along past the crowd so we got a good view from our seats; Usain Bolt is very good looking.
So that's what it's like to watch athletics. It was a good evening and of course it was great to see the fastest man in the world running but that's probably enough athletics for me for a while.

Forest of Ae

It's the second last week of the holidays but I have been spending quite a lot of time at work preparing for the start of term, and next week will be much the same. However, because it's still the holidays I can come and go as I please, so it has been quite pleasant. I have also socialised a bit and done some walking and shopping.
On Friday I met up with the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Group because I was check pointing the first day of their Qualifying Expedition. We went down to the Forest of Ae in Dumfriesshire which was rather lovely. I saw lots of cyclists and dog walkers, and the Gold group navigated through the woods very well - woods can be tricky because you can't see any landmarks but they made good speed. When they had set up their tents in a very midgy clearing beside a river I set off back to civilisation, picking up fish suppers for tea on the way!
Today James and I took Ally into Tiso to get some winter boots that he will need in Oslo. Ally is the most ungreedy person I know and never asks us for anything if he can help it, so he was rather overwhelmed and thanked us in a gruff but heartfelt manner.
The rain is lashing on the roof of the extension just now; slightly worrying because we will be leaving shortly to watch the Commonwealth Games Athletics finals at Hampden!

Looking for little green men

On Saturday the weather was great so we went for a nice long walk around Glasgow, and enjoyed the festival atmosphere that the Commonwealth Games have brought to the city. James commented that everyone in Glasgow seems to have been given a "nice pill" with complete strangers chatting and being helpful to each other. Not that people in the city are usually horrible, it's just that the Games seem to have given everyone a wee boost.
I have downloaded an app with all the "Clydes" that are scattered around Glasgow; little statues of the personified thistle that is the mascot of the Commonwealth Games. Each one is differently decorated, and we enjoyed finding them and posing for a photo opportunity beside each one. Our meandering route took us from Central Station along the Clyde Walkway and across the Squinty Bridge to the Science Centre where we had lunch outside. We also watched the flotilla of 250 ships of all different shapes and sizes, festooned with flags, coming down the river and mooring at Pacific Quay. It was a magnificent sight; the sailors were all shouting to the crowd who cheered back. Then we recrossed the river and headed up to the West End to the Botanic Gardens, bagging "Clydes" on our way. By the end of the day we had notched up 10 out of the 25 (and 2 more on Sunday!) It was a really pleasant day, especially as Jamie and David came with us (Ally was still on holiday) and we all chatted as we walked along. David was on a late shift at the Emirates Arena so he went there by train after lunch, then later Jamie left to meet Aisling with whom he was going to Rugby 7s later. So it was just James and me who had afternoon coffee at the Art Galleries before heading home for a curry.

Clydesider Davie

I am very proud of Davie who is on his third day of being a Clydesider - a volunteer at the Commonwealth Games. The first two days he had to be at the Emirates Stadium (where he is based) for 6 a.m. On Thursday he got up at about 4.30 a.m. and caught a bus. He was on duty at the badminton all day directing people to their seats and saw David Cameron, although he didn't recognise him until someone pointed him out! He wears a smart red and grey uniform with a man bag which contains his official towel(?!), umbrella and water bottle. He also has a very large official pass on a lanyard. When he got home he was exhausted and fell asleep before tea, which was a delicious barbecue.
Perhaps inevitably David slept in on his second morning so I threw on my clothes at 6 a.m. and gave him a lift to the stadium. There was hardly any traffic and by following James' advice to go along London Road I was able to drop him right there, so he was only 20 minutes late and anyway he tells me that the volunteers don't actually start until nearly 7 so he didn't miss anything. He spent most of the day just outside the stadium directing people which door they should go in. He really enjoyed this and came home full of the joys, he loved helping people and told us that he chatted to them as well because he wanted to make their experience as enjoyable as possible. This made my heart just about burst with pride. He had also been getting to know the other volunteers during their breaks and has made a couple of friends. Apparently Sir Chris Hoy was stopped at the door because he didn't have a correct pass - but he was very good natured about it and the situation was sorted out quickly!
I'm so pleased that he is enjoying being part of it all so much.

The Height of Summer

This is it! It is proper hot weather and I am in my hammock in the garden, up beside Jack's wee grave which feels quite companionable. I have done some pottering around the house but have now decided to blog and then read my book for a while, because how often do you get the chance to read outside? Despite feeling slightly uneasy at my lack of productive activity, I am loving this time. The washing is drying fast on the line, moving in a very gentle breeze. There are butterflies flitting about, and the pears are ripening on the branches above me. Over the last few days of hot weather I have been doing errands in the morning and then relaxing in the afternoons. I have been out for lunch with David. To my surprise and pleasure a few of my (unforgivably neglected by me) friends have popped in to see me, probably having seen my car in the drive, and we have chatted and drunk cool drinks in the garden. It was fun.
Inspired by this I have fired off a couple of texts to other friends. This is what I never do in term time, not even at the weekends nowadays. I just want to work and then try to rest. No wonder I was unwell in February and June, I really need to get my priorities sorted out.

Bring on the Commonwealth Games

I have seen the Red Arrows displays at many air shows over the years, but this evening was the first time that I have seen them fly past my house!
This was of course part of the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. It was great fun watching the finished product after seeing the rehearsal on Monday, and I thought it was very good. When we saw on the screen that the Red Arrows were approaching Glasgow, we hurried through to the front of the house just in time to see them fly past the lounge window on their way to Parkhead.
I enjoyed all of the entertainment; the opening song and dance number was a but cringy but it was also cheerful and tongue-in-cheek. Rod Stewart appeared to have almost completely lost his voice but I thought that Amy McDonald and Nicola Benedetti were particularly excellent. I thought it was sad but appropriate that the Malaysian flag was carried round at half mast, and that there was a minute's silence for the victims of flight MH17 last week.
The most hilarious but agonising moment was when the president of the Commonwealth Games committee struggled to open up the baton to retrieve the Queen's message which was stashed inside it. After a couple of minutes which probably seemed like hours to him, with Sir Chris Hoy trying to help and the Queen looking on, he managed to open it and looked very relieved.
By the way, I thought that the controversial Scottish team uniform looked great; it was meant to be bold and eye-catching and I think it worked.

Top Secret

David and I went to the dress rehearsal for the Commonwealth Games on this lovely sunny evening. However we were asked by the organisers not to give away the secrets and surprises of the evening. So I had better make something up - I know, John Barrowman was driven around in an open topped bus, singing about Scotland while dressed in bright purple tartan and accompanied by giant dancing Tunnocks tea cakes.
Too far-fetched?

No welcome home

We all crammed into the car to set off on the journey home today. I felt really sad to be leaving Lochinver and would definitely like to book the cottage at the pottery again. David Grant came to say goodbye; he was telling us about the celebrations that are taking place next week to celebrate 40 years of Highland Stoneware - the guest of honour will be Princess Anne. The weather was fine and sunny, with no sign of the storms that were forecast. After a couple of hours (I agree with Ewan that it is a long journey home from Lochinver!) we stopped for lunch in Inverness and Ally and Cat then went off to catch a bus to Invergarry. They still have another week of their holiday ahead of them with Gerry and Christine who have rented a cottage in Glenelg. This created considerably more room in the car, not because the very slim Ally and Cat take up much room, but because they took their big rucksacks with them, which they had been carrying on their laps because the boot was full.
The remaining three of us still had three hours of travel ahead of us, and by Perth it was grey and raining, although no thunder and lightning I'm glad to say.
But when we got home there was no Jack to greet us. The cat flap in the door is still, his bowls and rugs lie neglected, the whole house feels lonely without him. He will never walk casually round the side of the house again as we arrive home and roll around on the slabs so that we can pat him, or come running down the stairs when we open the front door. How can such a small cat leave such a big empty space?

Breabag

What an amazing day we have had today. James wanted to bag a Corbett and chose Breabag near Inchnadamph. Meanwhile Alasdair was keen to climb two Munros; Conival and Ben More Assynt, and persuaded Davie to accompany him. This tied in nicely with our plans because the start and end points of both expeditions are near to each other. Cat came with James and me because she has had a sore knee since last week and she didn't want to overstrain it.
The route to Breabag goes past the Bone Caves of Inchnadamph, which we have visited in winter by trudging over snow and ice. The valley looked very different today in the height of summer; green and full of birdsong, with underground springs bubbling up into rock pools. I felt a bit hot and bothered so after about half an hour I asked James and Cat to go on without me because I didn't want to hold them up. But after a rest I felt that I had given up too soon and decided to continue my walk and I met up with them at the ridge. I found the ascent to be quite rough; first across boggy moorland and then up through heather and boulders. I decided to go on to the summit (James and Cat had already been there) and when I got there it was so windy that I was almost blown off my feet, but I was rewarded with panoramic views for miles around. On the slopes near the summit there were several groups of deer watching me, they were lovely but timid and cantered off as I approached.
The trouble started when I set off back down the hill. There was no path at all, and it took ages to pick my way down a steep quartzite boulder field. The rocks were in no way attached to the hill and it felt very precarious as I slipped and slid. There were large slabs of rock too which provided some relief but they were very steep. Even when I got low enough to walk on patches of heather I could feel the rocks scraping together underneath, like the edges of a broken bone grinding against each other (and yes I do know what that feels like!) I felt as if I would never get down! I still really enjoyed the walk though, and doing two Corbetts in two days is amazing for me. Today was another 700 metres of ascent and about 5 hours of walking.
I got back to the Inchnadamph Hotel only ten minutes after James and Cat, whose descent via another hill was equally arduous, and Ally and Davie arrived soon after, tired but happy. We had a drink as we compared our adventures.
I had an embarrassing incident where an insect crawled down my t shirt. I set off for the ladies toilets to shake it out but since the hotel was so quiet I just pulled off my top in the foyer. I don't know what possessed me because immediately two male guests walked in through the door. I dived behind the reception desk but this must have looked strange because they came straight over and looked over the desk where I was sitting wearing my bra and trying to put my top back on. Luckily I will never see them again.
Anyway after a quick shower we went for our last night dinner to the Riverside Bistro where we had a hearty dinner and talked about our holiday. It has been great.

Ridge walking on Quinag

We set off to climb Quinag today, looking forward to a sunny day promised by the weather forecast. As we approached the hill however, we saw that it was wreathed in low clouds, and wondered if we would see any view at all. As we made our way up the large stone slabs on the slopes the cloud lifted above us and by the time we reached the first summit the day was fine and sunny, and we had stunning views all around us of the beautiful mountains and lochs of Assynt. My favourite part of the day was walking along the narrow ridges between the tops of the hills before Cat and I descended from the bealach and the boys went on to the other two main summits. I gave Cat (and myself) a fright by stumbling and falling on a narrow part of the ridge and for a moment I really thought that I was going to tumble for hundreds of feet! I had to sit down for a minute to recover! It was a good four and a half hour walk with about 700 metres of ascent, which is a lot for me.
On returning to the car, Cat and I nipped off to the Kylescu Hotel where we sat outside and had a refreshing drink while watching huge bags of mussels being unloaded from a boat onto the jetty. It was really hot and sunny and we had a nice chat. Later we collected our sweaty boys and had a delicious tea back at the Kylescu Hotel.

Sandwood Bay, Sunshine and Seafood

We went to Sandwood Bay today with Heather and Ewan, while Ally, Cat and Davie walked to Achmelvich. It was a fine and breezy day; the hour and a half walk from Oldshoremore to the beach at Sandwood was very pleasant. As we arrived at the beach a huge rain cloud rolled over us and it looked as if we were about to get soaked. We found shelter behind a sand dune and James started brewing up some coffee, and by the time the kettle boiled the cloud had passed over us, the sky was blue and it remained sunny for the rest of the day! 

How lovely it was to be back at Sandwood Bay with Heather and Ewan; they were with us on our very first visit there eight years ago with all five children. There was a smart maroon coloured helicopter on the beach and we speculated as to the (sole) passenger's reason for being there - sight-seeing probably, but why by helicopter, and where else would he visit after the helicopter pilot whisked him off a short while later? Tempting though the thought was of being transported with such ease to the remote beach, I felt as if being "beamed in" like that would make it feel a bit less special - but maybe I am being too puritanical - arriving by helicopter would be very exciting! After some relaxing and a walk up and down the beach to re-visit our camping spot from two years ago, we set off back to the car; my legs were tired so it seemed a bit longer on the way back!

We called in at the Kylescu Hotel on our way back to Lochinver, which we stayed at two years ago and really liked. It was too late for afternoon tea so James had the inspired idea of having a drink followed by an early dinner! A quick phone call ensured that the "young ones" would arrange their own dinner (they went to the Caberfeidh). The food at the Kylescu was absolutely delicious and the main course that Heather and I chose was amazing; roasted cod with kale and ricotta cannelloni. The flavours worked so well together, and we both loved it. 

And then we headed back to the cottage where we chatted and Ally, Cat and Davie played a spirited game of Maltese dominoes. Another great day - and thanks to the surroundings and the company I felt so relaxed. I'm scared to speak too soon but I'm feeling good. 

A Jolly Pollaidh Day

Today was my second ascent of Stac Pollaidh and I felt noticeably fitter than during my first ascent last September. I was still the last of our group, but that was ok because they are a very fit bunch and I wasn't far behind. Ewan spotted the novelist Ian McEwan walking with friends; he recognised him and also heard his friends talking to him about being a novelist. He even asked James for advice about going up to the scrambly summit of the hill! Heather took a surreptitious photo but we didn't tell him that we were fans. Very exciting! The weather was grey but dry and the walk was very enjoyable. 

We then had coffee and scones at the Summer Isles Hotel Bar before a scenic drive back to Lochinver with a stop at the Achins bookshop on the way.

Later we walked down to the Peet Restaurant at the harbour in beautiful sunshine for a lovely dinner. However the weather turned and we had to walk back up the hill in pouring rain! A convivial evening ensued; we all chatted and took turns playing our favourite music to each other. A really good day; I feel the most relaxed that I have for a long time.

3BT Lochinver - Saturday / Sunday

1. Arriving on Saturday after an early start and a long journey to find that our cottage for this week is really lovely; beautifully decorated and spacious with views over Lochinver to Suilven. 

2. On Sunday, the very welcome arrival of Ally, Cat, Heather and Ewan to join us on our holiday.

3. An excellent 10.7 km undulating walk on sunny Sunday afternoon from Lochinver to the beach at Achmelvich and back. Beautiful views and mostly off road; I felt we had truly earned our hearty dinner at the Riverside Café later before relaxing and watching the World Cup final back at the cottage. Although sunset on Suilven did keep distracting us from the game! 

Goodbye Jack

Jack died peacefully in his sleep last night. His brave wee heart failed and despite the best efforts of lovely vet Gail, he didn't make it. Hugh and Ross buried him in our garden this afternoon, between his two pear trees. Ross phoned me to tell me that they chose a spot "that a cat would like." No wonder my Mum was always so fond of Ross when he was a wee boy; he has grown into a fine young man. 

I feel so sad, but have no regrets over his life. Few humans have such a happy life as Jack the cat, and I truly believe that he was contented, which is a great gift. He loved his Dad best of all, he also loved his brothers, Jill, and me. The house was his castle and the garden was his jungle. He fought other cats, killed mice, climbed trees and observed James as he gardened. He was friendly and companionable and would come out of the house to greet us on the path when we arrived home from work. He kept an eye on everything that happened in and around the house, and had lots of favourite places and routines. He was a handsome fellow, very hygienic and kept himself lovely and clean; it amazed me that his fur smelled so nice as if it had been washed with shampoo rather than cat spit! He basked in sunshine and always found a cosy corner when it was raining. 

He was a good cat and we will miss him.