Muir of Dinnet

We had a lovely, happy evening in the bar at our hotel last night. The food is very good, like really excellent home cooking, and we laughed and chatted until we realised that the clocks were going forward so we would be losing an hour of sleep, at which point we all scuttled off to bed.

This morning we were all up sharp for another gloriously sunny day in Deeside. After the eight of us had breakfast we said our goodbyes and scattered for our various walks. Today I went to the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve, just up the road from where my walk ended yesterday. I parked at the Burn o' Vat visitor centre and set off on a combination of the Little Ord and Loch Kinard Trails, guided by the informative and free leaflet. It came to about 11 km. Loch Kinard and its neighbour Loch Davan are "kettle lochs" formed by two huge lumps of ice stranded here when the glaciers melted at the end of the last Ice Age. The walk was delightful and varied; winding paths through the woods, open grassy paths across gentle hillsides, and of course down by the loch itself with the water sparkling in the sunshine. I saw a small plane towing a glider higher and higher into the sky, and I watched as they separated and the glider moved gently off on its own. I heard a woodpecker in a tree and I stood quietly for a while until I spotted it pecking away. Then it popped into a little hole in the tree trunk. Down by Loch Kinard a gaggle of geese flew low and noisily over the water. Overlooking the Loch, there is a beautiful Celtic cross, carved on a slab of granite. It's 1200 years old - I sat on the bench nearby and pondered on this for a while, but my thoughts kept sliding away to the sunshine and the delicious chocolate bar that I was eating. As I continued circumnavigating the loch, two little brown lizards ran across my path, and I saw some wee frogs too. However due to all my stops to look at things it took longer to walk round the loch than I thought, and I ended up over-heated from hurrying and a full half an hour late for meeting James by the time I arrived back at the car park. James was happy enough though, relaxing in the sunshine after climbing Morven, a nearby Corbett. 

As we set off homewards we passed Abergeldie Castle beside the River Dee, which very nearly fell into the river during the floods of December 2015. I remember the news reports; it was absolutely teetering on the edge of the bank, in fact the floodwaters had eaten away the bank so that the castle was left partly overhanging the river. We could see that now the bank of the river has been all shored up, and the road on the other side repaired. We stopped at the Glenshee Visitor Centre for a welcome coffee; we saw the Volvo in the car park because Ally and Cat were walking nearby, and just as we were leaving we saw them striding down the hill after their five hour walk, comprising three Munros. I have to say that it has been a splendid weekend.

The Deeside Way

My goodness Royal Deeside was beautiful today! I decided to walk along the Deeside Way which has stunning views of ploughed fields, tree covered hills, and the snow topped Cairngorms in the distance. The air was filled with birdsong and there were warm, floral scents, as the spring sun started to heat up the bones of the earth. I played pooh sticks (by myself) at the wee bridge over the Tullich Burn, then continued on my merry way until the path joined the River Dee, at Cambus o' May.

What a magnificent river the Dee is. As it moved steadily, burbling over small weirs, the sun shone through its clear waters to light up the stones and sand on the riverbed. I chilled out and took in the scenery while I ate a packet of mini cheddars. I even took my boots off and paddled in the icy water. It was bliss. 

The path continued beside the river and through forests of Scots pine; I could hear gentle cracking sounds which I think was the pine cones opening in the heat. I bade a cheerful hello to other walkers and cyclists. One man who passed me on a bike asked if he had heard me singing as I walked along and I had to admit that he was correct! I eventually arrived at the tiny hamlet of Dinnet where I left the Deeside Way and jumped on a bus back to Ballater. I walked along to the village green where I met Susan who was sitting on a bench enjoying the sunshine (she and Debbie were not long back from their hill walk) Ballater was jumping with happy tourists, sitting outside the numerous coffee shops. Lots of people were sunbathing on the village green - it was more like July than March! In fact it was more like July than July usually is around here! Susan and I had a coffee and a bannock before heading back to the hotel, where I found James having his shower. He, Ally and Cat had driven to Linn of Dee and climbed the Corbett Sgor Mor where they had a great walk and saw fantastic views of the northern Cairngorms. 

Ballater weekend

I was on a training course today. The sun was shining as I drove there, listening to music and singing along. My Mum used to say that "a change is as good as a rest" and it was very refreshing to be out of school, on what proved to be a very interesting course where I also ran into a few pleasant people I knew from other schools and caught up with news. The scones at tea break were a welcome bonus! The course finished on time which meant that I was at home earlier than usual and had plenty of time to finish my packing for our weekend away to Ballater. 

We set off as soon as James arrived home. Ally and Cat were borrowing my car and set off just after us; the longest drive that Ally has done so far but he got on fine. The three hour drive to Ballater seemed surprisingly long even though there were no delays, and we were both tired when we arrived at our hotel, the Deeside Inn. We had a tasty dinner with the rest of the group and a convivial evening. So here I am tucked up in bed with the weather for the weekend ahead looking good! 

Westminster attack

Terrible events in London today. A terrorist drive along the pavement of Westminster Bridge, mowing down pedestrians; two have died and many are badly injured. Then after crashing his car into the fence outside Parliament he ran round into the grounds and stabbed a policeman to death, before he was shot dead himself. How stupid and pointless. That poor policeman went to work this morning, just doing his job, and was murdered so cruelly. And terrifying for the people on the bridge - I have walked over Westminster Bridge on many occasions with the family, it doesn't bear thinking about. 

I watched the news on and off with Ally during the evening, while doing some batch cooking (beef stroganoff and lamb tagine with Asian pears). Among all the sadness some things shone through. The emergency services responded very quickly and efficiently. An MP (Tobias Ellwood) could be seen trying to save the stabbed policeman by giving him CPR until the ambulance got there. And members of the public could be seen helping the injured. Among the bad there is still good.

Transient Snow

I woke up to see thick snow swirling past the window, great big flakes; it looked beautiful. There had been snow warnings yesterday but I didn't take any notice because we are so near the end of March. It lay quite thickly and all the school buses were delayed, but it was very wet snow and by the end of the day it was all gone and the sky was blue; I have never seen snow disappear so fast.

I was very busy at school with various end of term deadlines and was pleased to get a lot done. Ally is through in Edinburgh for Cat's Engineering Ball so it was just James and me for dinner, and we watched a documentary tribute to the singer Vera Lynn - it was her 100th birthday yesterday. She looks very good for 100 and is still very alert and sharp; she has had a remarkable life.

Validation day again

I totally forgot to blog about my validation walk last Wednesday. As readers may know, I have been qualified as a Basic Expedition Leader since 2006, and am required by my council to be validated each year to check that my navigation skills and fitness are up to date. For various reasons I missed the recent validation days and arranged with Max that I could do mine on a Leaders' Walk that he had arranged for a group last week. However instead of doing it himself, he arranged that the validation would be done by another outdoors leader. I was rather dismayed because this particular leader has a rather serious style that makes me feel nervous and reduces me to a babbling fool. I hoped that he might observe me while we all walked together, but oh no - "Susan, you're coming with me!" he said relentlessly. Separated from the group like an impala being singled out by a lion in the Serengeti, I had nowhere to hide. I felt under pressure as I navigated along, answering questions about the route and using map and compass to pinpoint exactly where we were at all times. I managed fairly well although I was a bit rusty on how to take a "back bearing" and promised that I would practise this. The leader asked me to identify a tree and I correctly said that it was a rowan tree. He then asked me what the fruit was called. "Berries?" I hazarded. "No, pastilles," he replied, deadpan. "They are rowan tree fruit - pastilles!*" I was completely thrown by this unexpected display of humour! I'm glad to say that I passed my validation and actually found it to be quite enjoyable. *Rowntree Fruit Pastilles! Ha ha!

Helpful

It has been a leisurely and pleasant Sunday. James and I went into town in the morning to choose a new duvet cover because our pale blue set (or according to James, pale green set - we cannot agree) has finally started to disintegrate after many years. We chose a rather attractive duck egg blue set, with a stripe of the same colour, a bit like the stripes on a mowed lawn. We also looked at couches and light fittings for the new front room. 

We then met Heather and Ewan for a very pleasant lunch at Prezzo's, they were telling us about their recent ski holiday in St Johann which sounded great. 

When we got home Ally was putting up shelves in my "Susan room" and had done a few other useful things around the house. I knew exactly where this was coming from; Ally and I had an initially trivial falling out a couple of days ago, but neither of us would back down and we have been a bit grumpy with each other since. As James explained to me years ago, Ally hates to revisit things that have gone wrong; instead he prefers to make things right by helping you out with something new. Once James pointed this out to me it helped me to understand how Ally deals with things. And indeed he was very helpful, and we had a nice chat and are now back on good terms I'm glad to say.

Weekly round up

So it has been a busy old week but the signs of spring continue apace so I'm in a good mood. Jamie sent us some amazing photos of himself in a helicopter when he was on the way to treat an unwell baby who had just been born in a remote area and needed urgent treatment. After he stabilised the baby they were flown back to the hospital. What an amazing (and scary!) job he has! 

I had a couple of really nice evenings with friends during the week. It was great to meet up with Jennifer G for an Italian meal on Tuesday and we had lots to catch up on. I really miss working with her. And I also miss working with Jackie, with whom I met up on Thursday, when she made me a delicious dinner. They are both amazing, wonderful friends. 

On the theme of friends, I had lunch with my school friends today - there were four of us; Helen, Libby and me, and Libby's son Euan. He is all grown up now and seemed very patient with all of our girl chat! Zizzi's has wheelchair access at the side so after lunch we exited that way and Helen and I accompanied Libby and Euan back to the Buchanan Galleries. After a quick browse I headed home. There wasn't anything that we fancied seeing at the cinema, so James, Ally and I watched a reasonably good thriller on television; Ben Affleck's "The Accountant." 

Bag Pack

After a relaxing breakfast in bed this morning, of pains au chocolat and coffee, I set off to supervise a bag packing session at a large nearby supermarket. The purpose of this was to raise money to buy Duke of Edinburgh equipment. There were only two of us to supervise a changing rota of pupils so we both needed to be there for the full five hours. The supermarket was one of the first ones in our area which opened for twenty-four hours a day. Although it has been refurbished recently, I have vivid memories of going there in the middle of the night on frequent occasions about ten years or so ago, when my Mum had been rushed to hospital. Often I would be told to go away for an hour while the doctors were attending to her at the Victoria Infirmary, and since this wasn't enough time to go home and return, I would while away the hour browsing around the supermarket at about 2 a.m. It was just me, people stacking shelves, and a few other lost souls wandering around. Strangely enough these memories are not upsetting for me; in fact I found the supermarket oddly comforting during the wee sma' hours! 

The bag packing went extremely well; we raised £937 and I was really proud of the pupils' behaviour and hard work.

When I got home the weather was beautiful and I sat in the garden for a while and looked at all the signs of spring - miniature daffodils, buds on the quince tree, and the camellia was flowering. I love this time of year. 

Hair Rescue

Yesterday afternoon Cat arrived through and bravely (and enthusiastically) tackled the task of sorting out David's hair. When he had arrived in the morning he was sporting a very strange haircut that included a startling diagonal fringe. I don't know if this is the fashion or if it was just a shockingly terrible haircut! David had tried to correct it himself already so it all looked very lopsided. He was as going to go to our local barber for assistance but when Cat offered to take on the task he accepted with alacrity. 

After finding a suitable pair of scissors, Cat started snipping away in a very professional manner. And she made a very good job of it, despite Ally making various jokes about Jim Carrey's fringe in the film "Dumb and Dumber!" The most hilarious moment was when Cat was carefully cutting a bit of hair very near David's eye and Ally suddenly appeared with the handheld vacuum cleaner in order to clear up some trimmed hair from David's neck. It roared to life and startled us all; it's just as well that Cat has a cool head and a steady hand! We had such a laugh, and David's hair looks great.

In the early evening James arrived back from his Bothy Weekend to Gleann Dubh-leigh in fine spirits and we all had a hearty curry before having a film night on our new big television in the front room, complete with drinks and popcorn. However there is only one two seater sofa in the front room at the moment, so in order to accommodate five of us, Ally and Davie had to carry through a sofa from the back room. But the internal door was too narrow so they had to bring it out through the garden and round to the front of the house and in through the front door! It was so funny! 

The film was a light-hearted spy caper called "Keeping up with the Jones" which was quite amusing and suited our happy mood. It was a lovely day. 

Shoe shopping

Today I took Grandma shopping for shoes. David came too, having just arrived home for a visit from Dundee, and Grandma was absolutely delighted to see him. David's presence meant that I could drop them off right outside Grandma's favourite shoe shop in Hamilton and then go and park the car. When I joined them in the shop the news was not good. Grandma's favourite type of shoe, comfy but smart (patent leather) with a small heel, do not seem to be in style just now. She didn't like the flat, more casual shoes that are currently on offer, and I can understand that; she has always dressed simply but elegantly and wants something with a bit of style. I will need to do some research on where to find shoes for her. 

We then headed to Marks and Spencer for a light lunch and she got a few bits of shopping there, including her beloved Saturday Herald. 

Forest Friday

After a really good night of sleep (nine and a half hours according to my Fitbit!) I woke feeling restored and ready to face a busy Friday, including an afternoon of Forest Schools in our local park. What a great experience it was for the pupils. They were free to choose any activity and were soon making shelters, lighting fires, building swings and hammocks, learning to tie knots, playing games, and finally, toasting marshmallows in the fire. Every single pupil was full of enthusiasm and had a great time. 

James had set off this morning for his bothy weekend so Ally and I had risotto for tea and a pleasant, quiet evening. We ended up watching the first Pirates of the Caribbean film; I had forgotten how good it was when it was fresh and original - I wish they hadn't made so many sequels. In fact I think the 5th instalment is coming out this year. The first film was really exciting with some great lines, the best ones from Captain Jack Sparrow of course! My favourite is when Elizabeth is shocked that when he was marooned on the runners island he just drank rum for three days until he was rescued by chance.

She says "That's the secret, grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow? You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum?" and Jack Sparrow replies, "Welcome to the Caribbean, love!"

A tale of two headaches

James had a bad headache all of yesterday and didn't feel at all well in the evening. He even had doubts about being able to go on his Bothy weekend tomorrow. Luckily he felt better today and set off for work as usual. But here's the strange thing - I woke up with a sore head this morning and it has lasted, with varying degrees of severity, all day. Coincidence? A cold with only one symptom? Who knows.

When I got in from work I felt pretty dreadful so I dosed myself up with paracetamol and had a wee nap while Ally kindly made the tea, then I got up to watch the final, bloodthirsty and confusing episode of Westworld. And now I'm back in bed, feeling a bit better and hoping for a good sleep and a headache free morning.

Reading at school and at home

I have been spending a lot of time recently thinking about the future; something I will blog about more fully in due course. However I am also enjoying the present - certainly a lot more than I did during January and February this year, when I was feeling rather bleak due to sad times at home (the loss of our beautiful Ruby) and some difficult events at work that led me to do a lot of soul-searching. Anyway I am beginning to perk up as Spring approaches. I have got through a lot of my work targets, and am feeling quite organised at home. 

Today at school we started a new novel in an English class that I support rather than teach; "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness, based on an idea by author Siobhan Dowd who sadly died of breast cancer before she could write it. The class is taught by a fantastic English teacher and I feel inspired by her skill and enthusiasm. I am excited to be reading a new book and so are the class - and it made me reflect that I am very privileged to be able to work with so many excellent teachers around the school, as well as teaching my own classes. The novel that I have just finished reading with my 3rd years is "City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau. I chose it carefully to suit their tastes and it has gone down very well; we are going to watch the film as an end of term treat. On the subject of reading, at home I am currently reading "The Girl in the Spider's Web" by David Lagercrantz, the follow up novel to the "Millennium Trilogy" whose author Stieg Larsson died suddenly in 2004 before they were published. I don't usually read sequels written by a different writer because I think that they are a pointless imitation, but this was lent to me by a colleague so I started reading it out of politeness. And how glad I am that I have! It's a real page turner, and what is more, it really feels as if it has been written by Stieg Larsson - I can hardly believe that it was written by anyone else.

Mean

Someone was mean to Grandma yesterday. She was walking home from church and the person she was walking with got fed up with Grandma's slow pace, made a weak excuse about being in a hurry, and left her behind. When Grandma told me about it later she was crying; she said that it feels terrible to be so slow that you are holding people up. The incident made my blood absolutely boil. This self-styled "Christian" is a local busybody who likes nothing better than to boss people about - she once shouted at me in the street because she felt that I was crossing the road in the wrong place. She also once reduced a very good friend of mine to tears. And in a precursor to Grandma's experience, I was once walking along beside her with a pushchair when she saw someone more important that she wanted to speak to and ran off, abandoning me mid-conversation. I hated to see Grandma so upset.

On a lighter note, someone farted loudly during my yoga class tonight, which I found very funny.

Beethoven's Eroica

Yesterday was a good day. I took Grandma shopping for food to Marks and Spencer's while James pruned the cherry tree and made a bonfire. Then I added Ally to the insurance for my car, and with some trepidation (on all our parts!) Ally drove me and Cat on a short trip to Morrisons and the sports centre. I was genuinely impressed with the smoothness of his driving, and he was suitably cautious and careful. While I was in the sports centre, Ally and Cat practised parking in the bays in the quiet part of the car park. I'm so proud of him for having the confidence to get behind the wheel of a bigger car than he learned in, and to drive around safely.

Later on the four of us had a tasty dinner at La Bonne Auberge before going to the Royal Concert Hall. The concert was Beethoven's Eroica, performed by the RSNO and conducted by Lahav Shani. It was excellent; powerful stuff. Apparently Beethoven was going both to name and dedicate the work to Napoleon because he admired his republicanism - but he became disillusioned when Napoleon named himself "Emperor of the French" and pointedly changed name to Eroica and the dedication to "In Memory of a Great Man"! 

The first half was good too, with Dvorák's Carnival Overture followed by Vaughan William's Concerto for Oboe and Strings, Adrian Wilson was the oboist and he was brilliant. 

Quiz Night

Last night I went along to my school's much anticipated annual quiz night. It was very well attended by the school staff (some of whom had even been testing each other with general knowledge questions at lunch times!) and I could tell that it is a long standing tradition, organised enthusiastically by a group of retired teachers. There was a jolly atmosphere, which became noticeably jollier as the evening went on. The organisers had clearly put in a lot of work to make it go like clockwork, with detailed score sheets so that the teams could check their progress and many rounds of questions involving music clips and visual clues. It's actually the first social event that I have attended at my new school and I was glad that I went; I do enjoy the occasional quiz night and my colleagues are a friendly bunch. My team acquitted themselves respectably, in the top half of the total scores. At least we were not awarded the prize for last place; a set of wooden spoons carefully crafted by the Technical department! 

New Hairdresser

I tried out a new hairdresser this evening. I am a creature of habit and have been going to the same place for years, the Rainbow Room in Royal Exchange Square. It is the first hairdresser that I have even mildly enjoyed going to, and I like its light and airy atmosphere and friendly (and very on trend) staff. However its location right in the middle of town can be a bit inconvenient, especially getting parked nearby when I'm running late, which I usually am. So after having a look around, I decided to try out one of the many establishments in my local area. The clincher was that I found out that on a Thursday they are open until 8 pm which means that I don't have to spend a Saturday morning getting my hair cut. I felt quite shy when I arrived but they made me feel very welcome and I have to say that I'm pleased with the results. The hairdresser soon sussed out where I live and rhymed off a list of my neighbours and friends who also go there. And it was great to be home at 7.30 pm with my hair sorted for another six weeks and most of the evening still ahead of me. James and Ally had prepared a tasty chilli con carne and we watched an episode of the interesting but strange and rather unsavoury Westworld. 

Oscars gaffe

I had an early dinner with Carolyn this evening and it was absolutely great to see her. She had booked us into The Sisters restaurant in Jordanhill which is one of her favourites, and I loved it too. It is small and friendly with delicious food and we talked of weddings and other plans. Special mention must be made of the dessert that Carolyn recommended to me; puff candy meringue with honeycomb ice cream & warm butterscotch sauce. Yummy. Very yummy.

When I got home James, Ally and I watched a James Corden sketch on YouTube about the recent Oscars fiasco, to which Cat had sent us a link. At the final presentation on Sunday night's Oscars ceremony, for "Best Picture", veteran actor Warren Beatty was handed the wrong envelope by the accountants (why accountants?) who were in charge of the envelopes containing the names of all the winners. Instead he was given a duplicate of the envelope for "Best Actress" so when he opened it he saw "Emma Stone, La La Land" After some hesitation he handed it to Faye Dunaway who read out "La La Land" which was quite understandable since she and Beatty were expecting to see the name of one of the films. The producers of La La Land got up onto the stage and started making their acceptance speeches, but then confusion reigned as the mistake was realised and the producers handed the Oscar over to the rightful winners; the producers of the film "Moonlight."

Now in the grand scheme of things this was just a gaffe which can happen to anybody, and not even very important one - after all no one was harmed and it was quickly rectified. However it was a very public and embarrassing gaffe, and it has caused much hilarity and has been much discussed in the media. So anyway, James Corden (in drag) did a spoof of Emma Stone's song "Audition" from La La Land altering the words to make it refer to the mix-up on Sunday evening. It was very well written and very funny.