A bit of sunshine

It was a very stormy night and the windows of the hostel seemed about to burst open in the high winds. Luckily I quite enjoy that and it made me feel all the more snug in my wee bed. We also lost an hour of sleep due to the clocks going forward into British Summer Time. However I woke well rested and refreshed to a bright morning. Again we all breakfasted and went our separate ways to various mountains and hikes. Today I headed into the village of Applecross (actually one of the information boards says that Applecross is not just one village but refers to a series of tiny hamlets along the peninsula) and up onto the hill behind it. I stopped on the way for a coffee in the pub; how very pleasant and relaxing to sit down for 15 minutes and do nothing at all, not even talk. From the hill I was treated to beautiful views of the bay in sunshine - until a heavy shower of rain swept in and sent me scrambling to get my waterproofs out of my rucksack. I took a track named Keppoch which curved round above the bay and descended through woodland to the Walled Garden restaurant where I treated myself to another coffee and dried off beside the cheerful wood burning stove. 

A few hours later, I was back there for a lovely dinner with the rest of the group. The weather has been very mixed but what a good weekend with great company.

A walk to Sand

It has been a very satisfactory and enjoyable day. The rest of the group were all planning huge walks in the hills around the peninsula, however I decided to pace myself and go on a more modest three hour round trip to an aptly named beach called Sand. It was drizzly all day but it was still really pleasant to be outdoors. There was more ascent than I had anticipated because the path climbed up the hill away from the road; apparently it was the only route to the villages in the north of the peninsula before the coast road was built. I was rewarded with beautiful views of Applecross across the bay. 

After my walk I popped into the Walled Garden Restaurant for a coffee then had a leisurely shower back at the hostel. I then drove the couple of miles to the shop at Millhouse to pick up some milk; I met a gorgeous wee red-haired boy called James who was helping his parents in the shop and they showed me their cute collie puppy who is called Mary.

On my way back to the hostel I saw a herd of deer right beside the road and I stopped to watch them for a while, they were a little nervous of me at first but I stayed quiet and still, and they resumed grazing. Lovely. Back in our wee room I had plenty of time to read my book (The Invisible Library - a very intriguing science fiction / Victorian adventure) before the others arrived back from their massive eight hour plus walks. We had a communal meal which was both tasty and hearty - special mention should be made of Alan's panettone bread and butter pudding - and we felt cosy in our hostel as the wind and rain rattled the windows.

Applecross Inn

My goodness it was a long journey to get here! At least six hours plus stops for lunch (Inverness, where we picked up some groceries) and coffee (a wee café and gallery in Kishorn). However we had a jolly time chatting and playing music in the car, while James pointed out the various mountains and landmarks as we passed them. The hostel is about 2km from the centre of Applecross, down a very track full of huge pot-holes which had James shouting frantically whenever I accidentally hit one of them - it was in fact impossible to avoid them! It's a large rambling building with simple but freshly painted and clean bedrooms and friendly hosts. We had dinner with the rest of the gang in the cheerful and lively Applecross Inn, the food was excellent and we had a convivial evening, rounded off with some cut throat games of Jenga back at the hostel. I have probably blogged before about my visceral need to be in the north west of Scotland at least once a year. It's so good to be here.

On the way to Applecross

It's Easter weekend and we're on our way to Lochalsh with the hill walking club. The weather is lovely just now but the forecast is very dodgy. Ally and Cat are in the back seat of the car chatting away - Cat has come up from Wales to join us for Ally's birthday weekend. 

I am feeling a bit sick with excitement about a couple of things, one of which is a very important decision that I will need to make over the next few days, more of which when it is decided and official.

The other cause for my excitement is that I have obtained ELO tickets for 12th April! I missed the chance to buy them before they sold out but these ones were being sold by someone who can't go and I snapped them up! So we are listening to ELO in the car during our journey,

School Reunion

I was at my school reunion today. The Park School was merged with Laurel Bank in 1996, and was finally bought over by Hutchie in 2001, so it is long gone. However memories linger on and a plucky former pupil called Jenny took on the gargantuan task of arranging this reunion. It was for the whole school rather than just our year group so the ages ranged from ladies in their eighties down to girls in their thirties. It was held at 29 Royal Exchange Square, a so-called private members club which has nothing private about it at all as far as I can see - certainly I have visited it unchallenged on several occasions! 

I soon identified the other members of the "class of 79" and got chatting. I felt a bit strange about meeting people that I hadn't seen for nearly 37 years! I have my own wee group of five former school chums who meet up regularly, but only Libby had wanted to come to the reunion and she was in the "second wave" who were to arrive later. However I needn't have worried. They were a really nice group and we found lots to talk about - it was great fun and they have done really interesting things - there were doctors, advocates, a racehorse breeder, an opera singer, a book illustrator to name but a few. And our children range from their thirties to only ten years old! I also met a lady from the "class of 52" who had been my Aunt Hilary's best friend and my lovely cousin Kari was there with her classmates. It was great but I I found the experience rather overwhelming!

I headed home at tea time while Jennifer went out on the town with the very social "class of 82!" Us 79ers enjoyed ourselves so much that we are planning to meet up again before too long.

However this evening I am socially exhausted!

Aye Write Again

It has become somewhat of a tradition for me to visit the Glasgow Aye Write Book Festival and I was glad to find myself there again this year. Catherine and I went to see two authors, very different from each other but both excellent speakers. Chris Brookmyre spoke about his book "Black Widow" which I have recently read and enjoyed. He also read out a really good short story which he had written for an event at the Commonwealth Games in 2014. It was about a group of school children who had been taken to see a performance of a Midsummer Nights Dream in the bandstand at Kelvingrove Park. Strange and surreal events, reflective of the play, take place. It was extremely entertaining but has not been published because Brookmyre feels that it is better to be performed rather than read. Which coincidentally, is how I feel about Shakespeare's plays. 

Joan Bakewell, who looks much younger than her 83 years, spoke about the changes that she has seen during her lifetime, which she has chronicled in her latest book "Stop the Clocks." She was both entertaining and informative, and fielded questions from the audience very well.

A delicious supper back at Catherine's house rounded off a thoroughly lovely evening.

Jamie is home

Jamie has a week of annual leave and is spending a few days of it with us. It is, as ever, great to see him. His zest for life amazes me. Since he came home he has been going to the gym, baking (a delicious banana loaf), and taking Grandma to hospital for her eye treatment, as well as cooking our dinner this evening. 

After dinner Jamie suggested that we watch Les Miserables, which I had recorded at Christmas time. It was a great idea, I have seen it several times but had forgotten what a brilliant film it is, with fantastic music. Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Jackman, Samantha Barks, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway - all brilliant actors. It's still better on the stage though; the first time I saw it was at the Edinburgh Playhouse when I was five months pregnant with Alasdair - must have been the autumn of 1993 - and I loved it. 

Mothers' Day Brunch

Mothers' Day when you no longer have a Mum is always a bit strange. However my three beautiful boys all turned up for brunch with us today and that made me feel a lot better. The venue was Bill's in West Nile Street - when we visited Bill's in Southwark three weeks ago we didn't realise that there are about 60 of these restaurants around the UK! So, since we liked it, we chose to go to the Gladgow one today.

It was a really lovely occasion and I was so proud and happy to be with my four favourite boys. Back at the house the boys played a lively tournament of table tennis and we had a relaxing afternoon. The cats napped in the back room, occasionally opening their eyes to watch the boys - I'm sure they also enjoy having them all at home. In the evening we had a curry to round off an excellent day. Jamie is staying with us for a few days but Davie needed to head back to Dundee because he has lectures and labs tomorrow. It wasn't until I gave him a lift to the station that I noticed that he had come home without a jacket - I hated to see him setting off into the cold night without one. Hopefully he is back and cosy in his flat now.

Our version of date night

Every year I need to do a navigation day to be validated as a Duke of Edinburgh leader by the council that I work for. I have to demonstrate that I can still use a compass and map to find my way around the hills, and also that I am fit enough to take groups of pupils out on D of E expeditions. 

Work is so busy that I didn't feel I could go on one of the mid week days this year, so I signed up for a Saturday evening night navigation. But it seemed a bit sad to spend a Saturday evening out hill walking while James (who loves walking much more than I do) sat in the house.

So I asked the organisers if he could come and that's why we have just spent the weirdest Saturday night ever, navigating around in the dark using head torches!

We met the rest of the group at Abington Service station; I knew nearly all of them from previous expeditions and events, they are a pleasant crew and we were soon taking turns leading the group, under the diligent and enthusiastic direction of Ray. We walked around the hills just to the east of the M74 there.

We started at about 5.30 p.m. and walked for five full hours - it got dark quickly. It was rough going; we had to be very accurate with timing and taking bearings because we couldn't see very far even with our head torches. Needless to say I took a tumble and went rolling down the hill at one point but luckily I wasn't hurt. It was such a strange way to spend a Saturday evening but we both really enjoyed it. And that's me validated for another year, hooray! 

Herding cats

This morning James and I took Tom and Ruby for their annual vaccination, as well as a health check, claw clipping and worming / flea prevention drops - a full MOT in fact. But first we had to catch them! James cleverly set the cat flap to "in only" and in due course both kitties appeared in the hall. They were quite relaxed until James produced the cat carrier and then mayhem ensued! Every time we put one of the cats in the carrier the other one would escape and make a run for the cat flap - when we retrieved them the other one would escape. By the time we got them both into the carrier we were out of breath and helpless with laughter.

Off we set in the car, accompanied by a dreadful mewling from the back seat. At the vet's both were quite quiet, but wide eyed and unhappy. I'm glad to report that both are in splendid health, and that they weigh exactly the same now - who would have thought a year ago that tiny rat-tailed Ruby would completely catch up with Tom in size? Back home, both cats took themselves up to our bed for a quick nap after their emotional trauma, but they are now striding around in the garden, patrolling their territory in good spirits.

Another evening at another book club

I was at my local book club this evening. I'm sure that I have explained before on my blog that I am lucky enough to attend two book clubs - this local one for about 20 years! There are so many book clubs now but this one was quite an early one and I'm quite proud that we have been meeting for so long. My other EK book club has been meeting for a mere 12 years - still good going though!

This evening we were discussing The Pumpkin Eaters by Penelope Mortimer and we had an excellent chat about it. What a nice bunch of girls they all are; I always come away from an evening at book club feeling inspired by all the interesting things that they get up to. 

Late to book club

This evening I set off cheerfully to my EK book club, which was being held at an Italian restaurant. I assumed that I knew where the venue was, and it wasn't until I got there that I realised that I had been thinking of a different Italian restaurant! After a quick consultation with my iPhone maps and another five minutes of driving I arrived at the correct place, and was relieved to be reunited with my book club chums. A pleasant evening was made even better by the lovely news of Rosemary's engagement. I am just so delighted for her; she is a wonderful lady and deserves this happiness. We spent the evening chatting about all sorts of things - even books! 

Tattoos

Whilst flicking through the tv channels, I have discovered a new (to me, I think it's already in its second series) programme called Tattoo Fixers. I am amazed.

The programme consists of three young tattoo artists who fix up terrible tattoos that their customers have inadvisably and impulsively had inflicted upon themselves in the past. Strong drink seems to have often been a factor in these previous tattoos and the customers often relate cheerfully that they don't remember getting the tattoos at all. Sometimes the tattoos are simply badly done, such as the picture of a baby's hand which a young Mum had wanted, which unfortunately had turned out like a scary, wrinkly old hand. Or they may bring back memories of a past relationship, now best forgotten, except for the tattoo which is of course still there. And some tattoos are truly embarrassing, like that of a football fan who had a tattoo done of a stick figure football fan urinating onto a football shirt from the opposing team.

So in come the hapless customers to the Tattoo Fixers studio where they are greeted by a chirpy receptionist who chummily joins in all of the consultations. After the tattoo artists and receptionist gasp in horror at the dreadful tattoo (we always see their open-mouthed reactions before we see the actual tattoo) they have a scarily brief consultation, do a few sketches, and set about covering up the offending tattoo - and here's what makes this programme great - with an even WORSE tattoo. 

Aye there's the rub. In order to cover up the original "artwork" the new tattoo has to be quite big - and the tattoo artists (who are well festooned with tattoos themselves) are not shy of making it very big indeed! Bigger, I think, than it needs to be.

Big and solid, with dark colours. The designs I saw this week included a wolf's head howling at the moon, a coiled up snake, and a bizarre deaths head surrounded by roses. I almost preferred the urinating football player! Well not really, but the huge tattoos on this programme are, in my opinion, very ugly. I don't have a tattoo myself although I have considered it, so I'm not against tattoos per se and I have seen tattoos that look very attractive. But not these ones!

The customers invariably say that they love their new tattoos, but I'm not so sure; I think I can see some of them flinching when they look in the mirror. Then they quickly adjust their shocked features into a big smile. I watched the programme in absolute fascination and can't wait to tune in again.