Alchemilla

Happy birthday to me! And it has been a good one despite the dreich weather. We went for lunch with Ally, Cat and Davie to another new restaurant; Alchemilla in Finnieston. It serves Middle Eastern food which you are encouraged to share. The chef has worked in well known London restaurant Ottolenghi and has now decided to open her own restaurant in Glasgow. The staff are really enthusiastic about the menu, and the food was freshly cooked to perfection.

I was given some lovely presents, including from Cat the book and DVD of Noel Streatfield's "Ballet Shoes." It must be about forty-five years since I read it and I can't wait to read it again and then watch the film for the first time. I was really touched by her thoughtfulness.

Chanel has arrived to bring in the New Year with us and Davie is just opening a bottle of Prosecco - here's to the New Year that lies ahead of us! 

Fondue

It has been another jolly day of leisure in Casa Anderson. James and I got all manner of useful things done - shopping and admin - which was very satisfying. The younglings all amused themselves during the day and then, at James' suggestion, we had a fondue Savoyarde for dinner.

We like our fondues and usually have one on the last night of a ski holiday, so we purchased Gruyere and Emmental cheese which I grated and we then mixed with a little garlic, a little white wine, and a dash of schnapps (because we didn't have any kirsch). James stirred it vigorously in the fondue pot over its flame. It tasted both authentic and delicious, served with crusty French bread chopped into cubes by David. Lovely! The cheese is now reconstituting itself into a block inside my tummy, but never mind, it tasted great. 

Fun dining

James and David wanted to go into town this morning to buy the hill-walking boots that Davie wanted for Christmas. I accompanied them to the Outdoor Experience, recalling how it first opened when the boys were very small and they enjoyed marching round the stone path for testing out boots. Davie said that he remembered the place as being really huge and thinks that it must have shrunk! He also said that he used to think that the fountain poured down from the ceiling! (It never did). Having successfully purchased some three season boots, we drive to Partick Station to pick up Ally and Cat.

We then went for a late lunch to a restaurant recommended by one of James' friends called Nico's at 111. What an interesting menu! The food was delicious and very unusual - for example Cat and I had a starter which included pasta filled with crowdie, accompanied by caramelised cauliflower. And James had the most amazing starter which was a tiny fried ham hough sandwich served on a bed of piccalilli. The whole thing had been suffused with applewood smoke which billowed out when the bell jar was lifted off the plate. I won't list them all, but the dishes that we ordered were really interesting with delicious combinations of tastes. It was excellent value for money and also fun to try. 

Princess Leia's Mum

It is so relaxing to have these unstructured days between Christmas and New Year; it is a surreal time of year. Yesterday James and I felt the need for some fresh air and exercise, and decided to go for a walk to that old favourite of ours, the Greenock Cut. We were rewarded with mild weather and panoramic views of the Clyde during the six and a half mile walk. Later we went with David to see "Rogue One" which is a Star Wars franchise film explaining the story of how the rebels manage to procure the plans for the Galactic Empire's Death Star, and give them to Princess Leia, who appears very briefly at the very end of the film. The princess is played by an actress with a young Carrie Fisher's face digitally portrayed onto her own face. It is a rather spooky moment in light of Carrie Fisher's very recent death. The film was very enjoyable with a solid plot and good special effects. When we got home we heard the news that Carrie Fisher's eighty-four year old Mum, Debbie Reynolds, had taken ill while planning her daughter's funeral - and she died a few hours later in hospital. How sad. Apparently she had been saying "I just want to be with Carrie."

Festive entertainment

We have been watching a bit of festive television over the last few days. Not all of the time, I hasten to say! But there tend to be a few good quality programmes on the box at this time of year, as well a few Christmas specials of old favourites.

One of these was a one off festive edition of "Outnumbered", a situation comedy which started about ten years ago about a family with three children (hence the title, because the children in the family outnumbered the parents, much like our own!) The issues faced by the Mum - bringing up three lively children while taking care of an elderly parent and dealing with work issues - always seemed to echo my own life, and there were times when a situation would be so similar to things in my life that I was left gasping! In last night's Christmas edition the children are all grown up and they are on their way to scatter their Grandad's ashes. The episode was gently amusing, and at the end the parallels with my own life continued when the eldest son announced that he was going to go to work in New Zealand for a couple of years! Let's just say that the Mum's upbeat brave face, with her cheerful talk of FaceTiming, was very familiar! I miss Jamie very much.

This evening James and I sat down together to watch the Disney film "Frozen" because we had never seen it and felt that the this was a good time to remedy the situation. It did not disappoint and I can see why it has been such a huge hit since it was released in 2013. The animation was brilliant and the music was great, especially "Let it Go", and I was so glad that I watched it.

Intimations of mortality

With apologies to William Wordsworth, the year 2016 has brought more news of mortality than immortality. The media has been banging on all year about the high number of celebrity deaths. Apparently this can be explained by the fact that there are more "celebrities" (who will eventually die) nowadays because of global television and media, and also there can always be statistical blips. I have blogged about a few of these "notable deaths" during the year, but there have been two over the last few days which have really resonated with me.

George Michael was found dead on Christmas Day at the age of fifty-three - he was the same age as me. George became famous as a very young man which means that I have been aware of his stellar career and roller-coaster of experiences throughout my own adult life. He always seemed a very honest character who wore his heart on his sleeve. The last time that he was seen alive was when he was watching the Christmas Eve procession in his village from his window.

Carrie Fisher's death was announced on the BBC news only a couple of hours ago. She suffered a heart attack on a plane on the 23rd December and never regained consciousness. At 60 she was a little bit older than me, but, like George, her joys and troubles were lived very publicly since I first saw her as Princess Leia in Star Wars nearly 40 years ago. 

Life is short. 

Glenkinchie

Davie's Christmas present to James was a tour of Glenkinchie Distillery near Edinburgh, so thence we journeyed on this fine sunny morning. The Distillery is quite small and neatly laid out, and we were given the tour by a very personable and knowledgeable young man named Tom. It has been a long time since we have been on a distillery tour and it was genuinely interesting, even to a non drinker like me. At the end there was a tasting session in which James and Davie partook enthusiastically. 

In the way home we stopped at a garden centre for tea and scones - it was a great wee day out.

Peaceful

This has been the most peaceful day of my entire year so far. Not even our brilliant holiday in Sorrento in July was as relaxing as today. This was because I had absolutely nothing to do; not even a meal to attend nor a place to be, no matter how pleasant. Furthermore, the weather outside was dreadful - rainy and windy - which lent a cosy feel to being inside. 

So I pottered around; reading, watching Christmas television, making turkey risotto for dinner, playing with the cats. And it was all very companionable because James, Ally and Davie were all pottering about too. James made a miniature Lego model of Venice which Ally had given him for Christmas, and Ally and Davie played a computer game called "Civilisation." 

I do enjoy many of the more active aspects of my life, but a day like today is so rare that it is a real joy. We all gathered on the couches to watch the Dr Who Christmas Special together, and we are now watching the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture which is about different types of energy. I don't understand a word of it, but that doesn't bother me at all. 

Family Christmas

This has been a lovely family Christmas, and who could ask for more? Everything was very traditional, and the only exception was that our Jamie is far away in New Zealand, so this was our first Christmas in nearly twenty seven years without him. However we are very lucky that (really quite recent) technology such as FaceTime means that we can dial up and chat to him, free of charge, almost as if he was in the same room. When we were Jamie's age the only way of contacting home from abroad was by expensive phone calls using a pile of coins in a phone box to pay!

Grandma really enjoys talking to Jamie by FaceTime, so after our Christmas dinner (Boxing Day morning for Jamie who is thirteen hours ahead of us) we set up the large computer screen and were soon chatting and hearing about his Christmas adventures. It's summer there, so they had a Christmas Eve barbecue, and then had lamb for Christmas dinner. During our call it was dark and rainy here in Scotland but Jamie took his laptop out to the balcony of his house to show us the beautiful sunny morning that he was enjoying in Dunedin! 

Risk

Christmas Eve has been a fun day. It is lovely Noah's 8th birthday, so I went over to his party at Jackie's this morning, then in the afternoon we watched James' favourite Christmas film; "Elf." I like it very much too but James absolutely loves it and laughed uproariously throughout.

Then this evening I was encouraged by Ally and Davie into playing my very first game of Risk. It was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be, and I got off to a tremendously good start. However Ally and David soon got the better of me, and in the end Ally achieved world domination, which surprised no one! 

So now we had better get to bed before Santa arrives.

Festive Evening

After my haircut today I met up with Davie in town and bought him some new shoes before having lunch together at TGI Fridays. The meal was ok (I have never felt the same about it since they took chicken quesadillas off the menu) and we had a window table with a great view over Buchanan Street. Best of all was having a lovely chat with my boy. However the service was appallingly slow. 
Later on we went to see "It's a Wonderful Life" at the GFT with James, Ally and Cat. We have seen it so many times before, but I still love it. I noticed that the young woman beside me was leaning on her Mum's shoulder fast asleep for most of the film though! We then had a pleasant meal at Red Onion before heading home. It was really nice that Cat joined us for our festive evening. 

Christmas holidays have arrived!

So here I am on the first day of the Christmas holidays, sitting in the hairdressers listening to festive music. The last few days have flown by. I never get as much done as I want to at work by the end of term, but this year wasn't too bad and I feel fairly organised for January. This week has been quieter socially than last week thank goodness and I have sorted out the last of the Christmas presents including the New Zealand ones. All of the Christmas dinner food has arrived except the turkey, which Ally and Davie will collect tomorrow morning.

Margaret came round last night and we lit the fire in the lounge and caught up on news and ate delicious soft amaretto biscuits. And then this morning I had a celebratory long lie in my bed before heading into town. A good start to the holidays so far! 

Traditions

When we got home from Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon, I went down to Morrisons to do a small but urgent food shopping, while Ally and James sorted out the tree and decorated it. I must say that it looks splendid. On top sits the Christmas star that James made the first Christmas that we were married thirty-two years ago. It is showing signs of age but we would never replace it. James put on a CD of Christmas music and we admired the tree. We brought the cats through from the back room to see it but they were not impressed and ran about the room until they got the chance to escape. Later on we watched the final of Strictly Come Dancing; it was excellent and Ore Oduba was a worthy winner.

On Sunday we went into town for our traditional Christmas lunch with Heather and Ewan. I have such fond memories of this occasion over the years; it is always fun, marking the Christmas season with good friends who know us so well that we can truly relax with them. As is customary, we then went on to The Metropolitan for more drinks and chat. When we got home Ally made dinner but we weren't very hungry after our big Christmas lunch, and sensibly went for a fairly early night.

Afternoon tea at the Balmoral Hotel

Friday evening was our staff night out at my new school. In a strange déjà vu feeling I found myself sitting in almost exactly the same seat at the same venue that I had been a year ago for the Christmas night out of my previous school! I have had a cold all week so after the meal I said my goodbyes and set off down the road to walk home; James walked up to meet me.

Despite leaving the night out early I was still very tired on Saturday when we set off to Aberfoyle to choose our Christmas tree, and I kept dozing off in the car. Alasdair was also very tired, because he had spent Friday taking part in a Glasgow tradition of which I had never heard until this week; the Sub Crawl. This involves buying an all-day ticket for the Glasgow Subway, disembarking at each of the 15 stations and having a drink in the nearest bar! Ally and his friends had had a convivial time, however he was distinctly delicate on Saturday and lay down for a sleep in the back of the car. James stalwartly did all the driving!

We have bought our Christmas tree from the Forestry Commission at Aberfoyle’s David Marshall Lodge since well before the children were born. This year, with Jamie being in New Zealand and Davie being on a weekend in London, it was just three of us, but the tradition continues. We chose a fine eight foot tree and lashed it to the roof of the car before setting off to Edinburgh.

Our next destination was the Palm Court Restaurant at the Balmoral Hotel, which we reached by parking at Ingliston and taking the tram into the city centre. This involved the risk of leaving the tree on the roof of the car unguarded, but luckily the honest residents of Edinburgh did not steal it and it was waiting for us on our return. The tram into the centre was excruciatingly slow. I had thought that it would take priority over other traffic on Princes Street but the tram crawled along so slowly that we could have walked the last couple of hundred yards faster! Edinburgh was hootching, but once we got into the restaurant at the Balmoral we found ourselves in an oasis of calm.

Our afternoon tea was a gift that Jamie gave us for last Christmas, so it was taken us a while to use the voucher! It was such a treat. We were brought a sumptuous array of tasty morsels including tiny sandwiches and sausage rolls, wee scones and delicious profiteroles. All the while we were serenaded by harp music which was being played on a balcony overlooking the room. Despite being an "afternoon tea" we were absoluted replete afterwards and were unable to eat anything else for the remainder of the day! 

Wings of a Dove

On Thursday evening James and I went to see Madness at the Hydro. It was a fantastic concert. Special mention should be made of the Lightning Seeds who were the excellent support act, with many great songs of their own. Madness is one of the bands where James' and my taste in music coincide, and I have to say that it lived up to our expectations. "Our House" has long been one of my favourite songs and I was saying to James that I would quite like it to be played at my funeral because the lyrics do seem to describe our family quite well! I also particularly enjoyed "Wings of a Dove" and there were of course many more; they certainly have a large back catalogue of songs, and it was such a happy and pleasant atmosphere. At the end, before the encores, they brought on a pipe band who played Flower of Scotland and the whole audience sang along. 

RSNO Christmas Café Orchestra

We were invited to a rather lovely Christmas concert yesterday; an evening with the RSNO’s Café Orchestra. It was in a new auditorium at the Royal Concert Hall, which is very smart, and has only been open for a year, as the new home for the RSNO. The Henry Wood Hall, where Ally and Davie used to rehearse with the RSNO Junior Chorus, has now been sold. Being part of the Junior Chorus, directed by the amazing Christopher Bell, was a fantastic experience for the boys. They learned so much about music and also had the experience of performing on the stage in the choir. It was worth the long days on each Monday where we would set off for our respective schools in the morning, have tea, then choir, and then get home about 9 pm! The Café Orchestra performed a selection of 1920s Latin and Jazz Music – and the leader told us a bit about some of the composers such as Irving Berlin (rags to riches) and Cole Porter (riches to even more riches). Quite a lot of the music had a festive feel, given the time of year, and there was also a vocalist (Miriam Elwell-Sutton) who had a beautiful voice and sang “Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. We met quite a few people that we knew and chatted with them over drinks and canapés.

 

Not Jury Service

I was called in to Jury Service today. I had hoped that I would not be required because I had checked the Jury Attendance line for the last couple of days and was not needed. But last night the recorded message requested my presence today. I went to school first to sort out lessons etc, and dropped my car off back at home before heading into town by train. 

Imagine my surprise on my arrival at home to find Ally standing in the hall with the vacuum cleaner in one hand and his toothbrush in the other, while wearing only his pants! That's multi-tasking in action! 

At the Sheriff Court we were all kept waiting for ages before being sent away because none of the cases allocated to our court were going ahead. Ally told me later that the clients had probably pleaded guilty. I took the train home, or so I thought. In fact the train went to a different station than I had expected, leaving me with a walk home of half an hour instead of the usual ten minutes. It was raining and a bus drove through a puddle and splashed me. It was not really the best of afternoons, but I soon cheered up by doing rather well at the quiz show Pointless (there were questions about French books!) while having a warming cup of tea. 

Whose Bookshelf is it Anyway?

In festive mode, after Ally organised me into writing all of our Christmas cards, I made up an amazing quiz for Christmas book club called "Whose bookshelf is it anyway?" To be honest, I completely stole the idea from the English department at my school. I asked my book club chums each to send me a photograph of part of their bookshelf with a selection of their favourite books. Ally kindly printed these for me in little booklets; he made a lovely job of it. The aim of the game was to guess to whom each set of books belonged. 

The book club girls seemed to really enjoy it, and, after working out whose books were whose, there was a lot of discussion about the books and why they were our favourites. I was very touched that several of the girls spotted "The Shipping News" in my row of books and remembered that it is one of my all time favourites. 

Our hostess Jennifer made us a delicious supper of chilli con carne and then we had mince pies and felt very Christmassy. 

Lunch at The Ivy

Sunday in London was very relaxing after our busy Saturday. It was a fine, sunny morning and James and I walked from Southwark to The Ivy in the West End, where I had booked lunch. I did this in honour of one of my favourite authors, P.D. James, who died a couple of years ago, and who mentioned in her autobiography that she enjoyed having lunch at The Ivy! I thought that was as good a reason as any to give it a try, and I was very glad that we did, because the food, service, décor and atmosphere were all lovely. I would love to go there again.

The rest of the day was spent walking, chatting and even doing a little light shopping. The city looked and felt festive - we even saw two double decker buses packed full of Santas! We flew home from London City Airport and had marvellous views over the city as we ascended into the night sky.

Nice Fish

Later on Saturday, after a convivial meal at Carluccio’s near Covent Garden, James and I took our leave of the Smith family and we walked the short distance to the Harold Pinter Theatre. I had booked tickets ages ago for the Mark Rylance play “Nice Fish”, mainly because I’m a big fan of Mark Rylance, whose work I have admired in “Cromwell” and “Bridge of Spies.” To be honest, I had no idea what the play was about, apart from the fact that it was a comedy set on a frozen lake where some people are ice fishing. Our seats were excellent, in the middle of the front row of the dress circle. Well, I have to admit that the play was a little quirkier and more whimsical than I had anticipated. It was like a series of short monologues and a few dialogues, and it was more wistful than comic as the small cast of characters related episodes of their lives. It reminded me a bit of the reminiscences of Garrison Keillor, and in fact was co-written with Mark Rylance by a contemporary prose poet, like Keillor from Minnesota, called Louis Jenkins. The monologues had a certain bleakness about them perhaps relating to the frozen landscape. All in all, I enjoyed the experience; although it was not the best play that I have ever seen, I think it deserved credit for daring to be different.
James however had a completely different opinion, to which of course he is perfectly entitled! He thought that it was the worst thing that he has ever seen, and sat stony faced from start to finish. He did not find it in the least funny, and said that it was “The Emperor’s New Clothes” of plays! We discussed it all the way back to our hotel in Southwark, as we walked along the south bank of the Thames, with gorgeous views of the lights of London. 

London fun

Well, what a weekend it has been! London certainly is a fun – and very busy - place to be at Christmas time and we spent Saturday morning enjoying the Christmas lights and window displays at the department stores on Oxford Street. Then we met Jennifer, Russell, Josh and Ben at the new BBC Television centre in Portland Place. We had a coffee together first in the Caffe Nero which is right next to it, and it was so lovely to see them all. Russell gave us a fantastic tour of the news room, which is huge and open plan with balconies going up eight storeys high. The basement floor has desks in a central hub, with rows of desks going out from the centre like a spider’s legs for each different section of the news. Also on the basement floor is the news studio and we could see the news reader broadcasting live. Eagle-eyed viewers could have seen us walking past in the background among the desks that can be seen during the broadcast. Russell showed us a huge touch screen where you can look at all the news stories together with the statistics of how many people are viewing the stories on the website. Russell’s desk on the 1st floor overlooks all of this and it’s amazing. Just along from his area is the BBC weather area, and he introduced us to weather man Darren Bett who explained to us how it all works. I got the chance to stand in front of the “green screen” and practised giving the weather forecast by pointing at the different areas while looking at the map on a screen.
We also noticed (from the big screen behind the news reader) that there was a “Breaking News” story, which was, sadly, the death that morning of restaurant critic A. A. Gill. We saw the journalists working to add more details from the first, very short reports that they got from The Times newspaper. It really was fascinating.
Finally Russell took us right up the 8th floor where we could see the stylishly decorated Radio 1 Studios and also beautiful twilight views down Regent Street, where this year the Christmas decorations are huge angels with sweeping wings.

Not a hangover

We are on the plane on our way to London to visit Jennifer, Russell, Josh, Ben, and generally have a rip-roaring festive weekend. James was out last night at his office Christmas night out, so I drove to the airport this morning just to be on the safe side, although James explained to me that he had hardly had anything to drink due to the bar service being so slow. He did however buy some paracetamol at the airport, for his "definitely not a hangover."

I, on the other hand, had rather a quiet evening. Ally had invited some of his friends round for a boys' pizza and movie evening, so I left them in peace and ate a solitary dinner upstairs and read my book. 

So here we are, waiting for the last passengers to board. Let the fun commence!

In Plain Sight

Last night I watched the first episode of a new drama on television called "In Plain Sight." It's based on true events that took place in Lanarkshire in the 1950s; the seven murders committed by Peter Manuel. He had started as a petty criminal and escalated to rape and murder - the police suspected him but it took a while to pin him down with enough evidence. I was very interested because I can remember clearly my Mum and Dad talking about the murders; they all took place very near where we live and must have had a huge impact on the community. My Dad knew someone who was at Manuel's trial where he sacked his lawyer and, with misplaced confidence, defended himself. Dad also remembered that everyone in his Glasgow office was very preoccupied with the news on the day that he was hanged, until the solemn atmosphere was defused by someone telling a joke in bad taste!
Episode 1 of the series was very well done, with the excellent Dougie Henshall playing Inspector Muncie and an actor that I haven't seen before called Martin Compston being suitably sinister as Peter Manuel. Strange that it's like a period drama with old-fashioned clothes and cars, when it all took place only six years before my birth! 

Exam time again

It's exam time in Casa Anderson and in that satellite state of Anderson which is called Dundee. The big exam that Ally will be sitting tomorrow is in fact completely optional; he has chosen to do an extra subject that will be useful if he wishes to become an Advocate in the future. Typical of Ally to plan ahead like this. It has been a lot of work but the good news is that the exam tomorrow marks the end of the course, so if he passes it he will have achieved his goal. Fingers crossed.

And fingers crossed for Davie who has exams tomorrow and Monday. He has also been working hard and I know that he's a bit nervous so I hope that all goes well for him. I'm sure that next week there will be many celebrations when the boys' exams are over! 

No Smoke without Fire

James and I were tucked up in bed last night when we noticed a smell of wood smoke wafting in the window (luckily for our marriage, James and I are like minded in our preference for having the window open while we sleep, even when it’s quite cold outside.) We wondered if it was someone’s wood burning stove – this is a topical subject for us because we have recently ordered a new fireplace. However, Alasdair then appeared in the doorway to tell us that there was a fire engine outside our neighbours’ house! Further investigation (peering out of all the windows!) revealed that there was indeed a fire – but luckily not in any of the houses; it was the boundary fence between two of the neighbours’ gardens just next to us. How strange – the weather was really wet and horrible so I can’t imagine how a fire could have started let alone taken hold. There were firemen in the garden checking that everything was extinguished. This morning I was chatting to Tina on the way to school (I have been giving her a lift since her foot surgery) and she said that she had slept through the whole thing! But her Mum and Dad had been out in the garden with the firemen; the cause of the fire so far remains a mystery.

The Killing

James and I are currently exactly half way through watching the first series of The Killing; a Danish detective programme that is nearly ten years old, although until now we have never seen it. There are twenty episodes so it’s a long haul, however I am very much enjoying it. Like many Scandinavian dramas it is all about atmosphere and a slow but compelling pace, which makes for addictive viewing. It has a slightly soporific effect on James, but he is managing to stay awake for most of it – such was the sleep-inducing effect of the Wallander series on him a few years ago that I think I could have made him fall asleep simply by showing him the cover of the DVD! We do like to watch a “box set”, whether on DVD or on one of our many online television channels, as an alternative to watching any old rubbish on television. It gives you a sense of choice and as a result we have watched some really good series, often on the recommendation of friends, such as the afore-mentioned Wallander, Mad Men, House of Cards, Breaking Bad and of course the amazing Game of Thrones.

Mince Pies Outing

On Sunday we went to the annual Mince Pies outing with the hill-walking club; a not to be missed social event! As usual it was great fun. We walked from near Killin to the Mhor 84 pub at Balquhidder, along the disused railway track. We were treated to beautiful views over Loch Earn and the weather was more autumnal than wintry as we walked through woodland with the last of the autumn leaves on the ground. Andy and Gwen had arranged a photo scavenger hunt which we all entered into enthusiastically. When we arrived at the friendly pub, soup, mince pies and mulled wine awaited us. Santa of course made his appearance and was greeted by a spirited rendition of Jingle Bells. I must have been a good girl this year because I received a lovely tartan lambswool scarf! It was all very festive and a lovely day.

Jools

Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues band were excellent on Saturday evening at the Armadillo. We have been to his concerts before and they always have a great atmosphere. As well as his own performance he had some great guests. Eddie Reader has such a fantastic voice and among other songs she sang "Perfect" which always brings back memories for me of being young and hearing it played while wandering around the Glasgow Garden Festival in 1988. Pauline Black and Arthur 'Gaps' Hendrickson from ska group The Selecter played "On the Radio" but also, more interestingly, a version of Doris Day's "Secret Love" which worked surprisingly well as a ska tune! Beth Rowley was another guest with an amazing voice, and of course Jools' regular collaborator, Ruby Turner, who was magnificent as always. It was a marvellous and very happy evening. 

Friendship

I had the worst sleep ever on Friday night due to a really horrible nightmare where (without boring any readers of this blog with the convoluted details) I was attempting to board a flight to travel to Australia with Davie. Needless to say everything went wrong, including losing my luggage, being dropped at the wrong airport terminal by my Mum and Dad (yes those two have been making yet another dream appearance!) and eventually waking up in a panic. I was totally wide awake and had to read my book to get back to sleep. Tom was excited because he thought that if I was awake it must be morning so he did a bit of scampering by around the bedroom!

So I started Saturday quite tired but didn't get much chance to rest because James was on a mission to finish the remainder of our Christmas shopping. Off we went into town, where we had an efficient and satisfactory shopping trip.

I had lunch with my lovely school friends. We meet up three or four times a year and have been there for each other through the joys and sadnesses of our lives. Over the years there has been plenty of laughter and tears, and yesterday we had both. They are such good friends. 

Gut ache

Just a short blog today because I have a very sore tummy. This happens to me from time to time and eventually it resolves itself and the pain fades away. My tummy got more and more painful all day at work, and when I got home I laid out the ingredients for James' tea and took to my bed. James suggested that a nice crisp green apple might help, so he brought me it, all nicely cut up, and I munched it down. Ten minutes later I was saying a hasty goodbye to the apple as it exited upwards at speed! So I have spent the evening reading and dozing, and waiting for my gut to untangle itself. I hope it gets better soon.