Proper warm weather

It's the last day of May and the weather has become increasingly warm and sunny over the last week. We have just had a four day holiday weekend, however I was working on the Friday and Monday in order to read and scribe for SQA exams. The good news is that I will get the time back in a couple of weeks when James and I have a long weekend in Copenhagen. And I really wouldn't have been happy without being right there to make sure that the pupils got through their exams ok - which they did! I was very proud of them. 

However it wasn't "all work and no play" and I still had plenty of time to chill out in the garden and even had a bit of a social whirl; catching up with friends and hosting book club. We also met up with Davie, Jamie and Aisling in Dundee for lunch on Sunday at our old favourite, the Bridgeview Station Restaurant, which was extremely pleasant. 

Last night James and I had a barbecue in the garden - the first of the season. It was just the two of us because Ally and Cat are on holiday doing some hill-walking. My hammock is being well used and this evening I had a truly lovely couple of hours in it reading my book. Although there was a comic moment when I was trying to lift a reluctant Tom into it with me, and I managed to tip the whole thing over and land on the grass! Only my dignity was harmed! 

Caernarfon Castle

After driving back from Portmeirion last Saturday I met James, Ally and Cat at our pre-arranged rendezvous. They were running a bit late so I dozed off in the car; when James rapped on the window I nearly jumped out of my skin! 

There was a bit of a rush for the intrepid climbers to get showered and changed after their big day, and then we set off for dinner at a restaurant that Cat had booked on Anglesey, called The Oystercatcher. It was excellent, in an amazing setting overlooking the sea. We had a great time exchanging stories about our adventures, and after dinner we walked up into the sand dunes towards the dark blue sea.

The next morning we all visited Caernarfon Castle, just ten minutes drive from Cat's lovely flat which overlooks the Menai Straits. And what a splendid castle it is! It is a medieval castle built by the soldier-King Edward 1 to secure his lands when he took over Wales at the end of the 13th century. It looks very complete from the outside but inside you can see that many parts were never finished. We joined the guided tour conducted by the very knowledgable Terry, who made the history of the place come to life with his stories. For example, after defeating Llewellen, Edward promised the Welsh people a new prince of Wales, born in Wales and who did not speak a word of English. He then kept his word by presenting them with his baby son, newly born in the partially completed Caernarfon Castle, and since he was only a few days old he did not speak any English! 

In the middle of the castle lies the circle made out of Welsh slate on which Prince Charles was invested as Prince of Wales by the Queen in 1969. I remember watching it on our black and white television.

We had lunch in a wee café near the castle, and I (appropriately I felt) had Welsh Rarebit which was delicious. With a five hour journey ahead of us we had to say a fond farewell to Cat and to Wales. What a great weekend - and what a beautiful place is North Wales.

I'm not a number, I'm a free man

Last Saturday James, Ally and Cat had planned to walk the Carneddau Ridge, which long (nine hours) and strenuous expedition meant that James has now climbed all of the "Furths" in England and Wales. A "Furth" is a mountain or top over 3,000 feet high in the British Isles that is furth of (i.e. "outside") Scotland, that would otherwise be called a Munro if it was in Scotland. There you go. 

Since there was no way that I was either fit enough to join them I was given the unenviable task of spending a hour in Bangor's Kwik Fit to get a new tyre fitted to James' car.

However my day improved greatly after this because I then drove to the tiny coastal village of Portmeirion. It was only an hour away from Bangor and I was excited to visit it because it featured in a bizarre television series that James and I much enjoyed in the early days of our marriage, called The Prisoner. It was made in the 60s - James and I discovered it in late night repeats in the 1980s and we loved it. It starred Patrick McGoohan as an ex-spy who was confined to a fictional coastal village in a strange Kafka-esque plot, and couldn't escape despite many attempts. The ending was so weird that I can only attribute it to heavy drug use in the 60s by the producers.

Anyway, the unusual and attractive village of Portmeirion was instantly recognisable as the setting for The Prisoner, and I had a brilliant time wandering around its narrow streets. It was very pretty; the houses are painted in a variety of pastel shades and it is built on a steep hill overlooking the sea. It was a very warm day and I enjoyed sitting outside at one of its restaurants to have lunch. I was surprised to discover that it was built relatively recently, between 1925 and 1975, by a designer called Clough Williams Ellis, who wanted to build a holiday village that enhanced rather than destroyed the landscape. Apparently it's very like the Italian village of Portofino although the designer always denied that it was modelled on it. However it doesn't have "the feel" of Italy for me. I can't quite put my finger on why - maybe it's too planned and perfect - but it doesn't matter because Portmeirion has its own character that it quite unique, and it is just lovely! 

An Interlude in Wales

So another week had whizzed past since I last blogged. It has been a busy but a good time. The weekend after London we went to North Wales to visit beautiful Cat. I don't say that casually; she really is gorgeous and so full of life and happiness. She was dancing in the kitchen last night and I just thought "What a lucky boy Ally is!"

Anyway, last weekend James and Ally travelled down by car on Thursday night. Their journey however was not without incident; they had a burst tyre on the motorway on the way south, and had to wait on the grass verge for an hour for the AA to arrive. This was because the tyre was rusted on and they couldn't take it off. Soon they had safely arrived in Bangor with their temporary tyre.

On Friday they climbed Snowdon, but not by the normal tourist route. They went via the Crib Goch ridge. This route was rather hair-raising, as I discovered later when shown some films of it that Ally took on his Go-Pro camera. It involves scrambling along knife edge ridges with 1000 foot drops on either side. It looked dreadful although the scenery was spectacular. 

Later on Friday I rushed to Glasgow Central Station by taxi after school, and managed to catch my train with only five minutes to spare. After that however I could relax and enjoyed reading my kindle and watching the landscape during my five hour journey. I had to change trains twice, at Crewe and Chester, both of which were very attractive old fashioned stations. 

My reception committee was waiting for me at Bangor station and we had a very late dinner in a lovely seafood restaurant called Dylan's. I was immediately struck by how friendly the Welsh people we met are - I realise that's a sweeping generalisation but every single person I met during the weekend went out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. 

Croissants at Covent Garden

On Tuesday morning Jennifer came into London to meet me, and we had a lovely time. We met at Piccadilly and walked along to Covent Garden where we had coffee and croissants while listening to street entertainers playing classical music - excellent! I particularly enjoyed Pachelbel's Canon in D, an old baroque favourite of mine. Then we went for a wander and ended up having a bite to eat on the top floor of Waterstones book shop. But mainly we talked and laughed! It was great to see Jennifer and have a good old chat. 

I made my way to London City airport in plenty of time for my 5 p.m. flight and passed the time by reading. At the moment I'm reading Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan quartet as recommended by Heather in preparation for our holiday in Sorrento this summer - I am finding them very compelling, and reading them back to back is quite intense. James met me at the airport. What a great weekend - and how nice to be home. 

What was all that about?

I had booked myself a ticket to the Globe Theatre for Monday evening as a treat after my Buckingham Palace experience. The play was The Taming of the Shrew. I loved my first visit there with James last year to see the Merchant of Venice, and I was really looking forward to it. 

My seat was excellent, in the front row of the balcony, and the atmosphere was great. But I found myself perplexed and a bit disappointed with the play. I knew the plot, but I'm not sure if I have ever read it - if I have it was a very long time ago. It all started out very jolly and slapstick - the mainly Irish cast were enthusiastic. But I found the second half to be very downbeat. I didn't find the "taming" of Katherine to be believable and it seemed more sad than funny. Maybe this was partly because the actress playing Katherine was injured at the interval - I think she broke her ankle - and (after a delay) had to be carried about by Petrucchio during the second half! Perhaps that added too much pathos to the proceedings! Anyway, I made my way back to the hotel very tired after an exciting day. 

Afternoon at the Palace

Monday was my big day at Buckingham Palace to celebrate 60 years of the Duke of Edinburgh Award. But first I went for a wee wander down Clink Street and to Borough Market and Southwark Cathedral - I love this part of London. I took the underground to Green Park in plenty of time, and strolled through the park to Buckingham Palace. As I approached the gates, I could easily spot other guests for the garden party among the throngs of more casually clad tourists. Most were dressed like wedding guests and some were wearing hats. I had decided to wear a trusty Marks and Spencer summer dress and cardigan and I felt quite smart enough. I was also wearing nice but very low heeled sandals - I'm not good with heels at the best of times and I knew that there would be a lot of standing about. 

It was great fun presenting my invitation at the gate and walking round the side of the palace to the gardens. I was in no hurry to join my group (it was all very well organised with numbered balloons to show you where to gather) so I went for a walk around the gardens and down to the lake. It was really beautiful in the sunshine. 

I also availed myself of a cup of tea and some shortbread and consumed these as I listened to the brass band playing cheerful tunes. I noticed a group of people standing on the steps of the palace for a photo call so I drifted over and was able to spot a plethora of celebrities who had been drafted in to present the awards. Among others I identified Ainsley Harriott (the chef), Rob Brydon (the comedian), Michelle Mone (the bra tycoon), Nick Hewer (the old male sidekick out of The Apprentice) and my own personal favourite Larry Lamb (he was the dad in Gavin & Stacey.) Apparently Ronan Keating was there but I didn't see him. Although these were not what you might call "A list" celebrities, I felt that it added to the fun.

When I turned up at my group I soon got chatting to various other teachers from Scottish schools, who were a friendly bunch. The three royals that were doing the rounds of the groups were Prince Philip, Prince Edward, and his wife Sophie. Our group got Prince Philip which pleased me, and similarly to the Holyrood ceremonies in Edinburgh, he turned up, chatted a bit, and moved on. I then decided that it was time to leave and took a surreptitious photo (the instructions I had received warned that cameras / phones were not allowed and that the police would make you leave if you tried to take a photo).  I then enjoyed emerging from the palace gates to where the tourists were all looking through the gates - I tried to look like a celebrity but I think that my sensible sandals gave me away. 

Back to Kew

Sunday was another sunny day, so we went to stroll around Kew Gardens, almost exactly a year after our first visit. It was warm and pleasant, we even sat on a bench to read our books for a while. But mainly we walked and chatted, ascended the tree top trail, and had coffee at the pavilion. It was lovely. Later we had dinner back near our hotel beside the river, and then James set off to the airport. I felt quite lonely after he left, but cosy and secure in my wee hotel room. 

Sunny Afternoon

James and I had a lovely day in London yesterday; to make the most of the sunshine we made our way to Regents Park which was very pretty with Spring flowers. We had a good talk and walked for miles. James booked us a show for the evening - Sunny Afternoon - which is a sort of musical biography of The Kinks. It was excellent and the cast were brilliant. The music was great - I had no idea just how many good songs had been written by Ray Davies. Some, like Lazing on a Sunny Afternoon and Waterloo Sunset, were of course very familiar, but there were lots of others which were later covered by other people, like The Pretenders' Stop your Sobbing and I Go to Sleep, which I had never realised were originally by The Kinks. It was a very enjoyable show in the small but high (four tier) Harold Pinter Theatre. We had drinks at the interval the in a small, beautifully ornate bar just off the Royal Circle. 

After the show we received a photo sent to us by Alasdair - of Tom watching a roe deer as it walked through our garden! I have never seen that before! 

Under the weather

It has been quite an unfortunate couple of weeks and I have not had any energy to blog. After the prom at the end of April James and I went to Boat of Garten for the first May weekend with Alison and Hugh. It was a fantastic weekend - we did lots of walking and I used my new Fitbit, notching up 35000 steps a day. I really thought that it was the start of a new season of fitness for me. The weather was lovely and as well as a great meal at Andersons restaurant we went quad biking on the Monday.

However when I got home I quickly developed a cold - a really nasty cold, complete with sore head and a bad cough. I soldiered on at work - there was no way that I was going to be off work when my pupils needed support to get through their SQA exams, but I felt rubbish. I also felt strangely down. This was partly to do with feeling unwell but also i was worried about Ally.

Ally was already unlucky that he was going to have his exams over three days in a row, instead of spread over a couple of weeks. Then he caught my cold (I feel really guilty about that). Then his computer broke with all of his notes list. Then his cold went into his lungs - he looked terrible. Jamie happened to be home for the week and was a hero; he drove to Edinburgh and back to get antibiotics for Ally. We had joked the night before that Ally's train would probably break down on the morning of his exam. Well, it didn't actually break down but when it arrived at the station it was too full for Ally to get on. He phoned Jamie who drove him to the university. Unbelievable.

So it has just been a really difficult two weeks. However things seem to be looking up. Ally's exams are over; he is absolutely exhausted but relieved. And James and I are at the airport in our way for a weekend in London. When I went in to Ally's bedroom this morning to say goodbye, he told me that he had just been dreaming that he was sitting an exam - but instead of Law it was about Shakespeare's Coriolanus!