Reflections on an expedition

I'm just home from a Duke of Edinburgh expedition and it went really well. We camped at Auchengillan, a place I have seldom seen without my view being obscured by torrential rain. However this time the weather was kind to us; we had a mixture of sunshine and clouds with just a couple of very light showers yesterday evening. We even saw a beautiful rainbow arching over the Campsies. It was a good temperature for walking; neither too warm nor too cold, although quite a few of us developed very rosy cheeks due to the sunshine. The pupils were great - it was a Bronze Practice so potentially there could have been a lot of mistakes and anxiety. However, apart from a few navigation mistakes, which are to be expected at this stage, the pupils were really good-natured and coped with the walking, camping and cooking extremely competently. 

I was pleased with the amount of exercise that I got too, and the leader group all had a laugh as we chatted around the campfire. I woke up cold in the tent a couple of times during the night, despite wearing my thermal undies as well as all of my clothes! I am so tired now, and I am blogging from the lovely bath that James has run for me. 

Enjoyable Sunday

It has been a very pleasant and satisfactory Sunday. James and I had a bit of shopping to do in town, and it occurred to me that it would be an excellent idea to combine this with meeting Heather and Ewan for lunch. I was delighted to find that they were available and we arranged to meet for lunch at the Riverhill Café in West Nile Street. James and I started out at the Outdoor Experience where he kindly treated me to new hill-walking boots, because my old ones have started to come apart at the seams. There is a circular stone path inside the shop for testing out boots; it is realistically rough in places and I was a bit nervous that I would embarrass myself by falling down while I marched round it. With my recent track record this was a real possibility! However I made it round with no mishaps and am very pleased with the lightness and good fit of my boots. Then we went to Tyrwhitts where James bought himself a light raincoat; he will be moving to his new office in a couple of weeks and is looking forward to travelling by train instead of car. The raincoat will keep him dry on the walk to and from the station. 

The Riverhill Café was recommended to me recently, but I had not been there myself, so we decided to go along a bit early to check it out. It seemed ok and was very busy, which I thought was a good sign, so we got a table and soon Heather and Ewan joined us. The menu was interesting - a mix of traditional and exotic flavours - and the service was good. It was nice to try somewhere new and I would definitely go again.

Back home we relaxed for a while before making Grandma's tea. Ally arrived home from Dunlop and we all had a convivial meal. Grandma was on good form and enjoyed looking on Google maps at the new housing developments around the area. It came as no surprise that she didn't approve of them! 

Sunny

I I am lying on a bench in the garden and it is so lovely and warm in the sunshine. Tom is rolling on his back on the slabs beside me; James crumbled some dry catmint leaves on the ground for him and he is enjoying their aroma. It has been a funny old week; I have now set some plans in motion and I will blog about them as soon as they are no longer confidential. So I'm feeling unsettled and I don't like that. There have been some good things this week. I hosted book club on Wednesday evening and it was fun. I took Grandma food shopping this morning and got the ingredients to attempt to make a Beef Wellington for dinner tonight. I got the idea because we have some left over pâté which I will be able to use up, however the meat was expensive so it isn't really an economy! And this afternoon James and I took Grandma for a run in the car up the Clyde Valley. We browsed around the Silver Birch Garden Centre and had a nice cup of tea. And today is Cat's 23rd birthday - she and Alasdair are celebrating it in Dunlop. 

Shakespearean

It has been a rather Shakespearean week. My 3rd years have asked if they can learn about Shakespeare, now that their assessments are finally over. We have chatted about it during the session from time to time and they are really keen to do Macbeth. So we have made a start and they are totally loving it so far. Coincidentally the 4th years in the wider school have started on Romeo and Juliet, so I have been in my element! It's ages since I last read it so it's fun to revisit the play (including the details of the priest's unnecessarily complicated arrangements which were bound to lead to disaster!) 

I think that I have blogged before about what a privilege it is to support pupils in various subjects so that I see lots of great teaching all around the school. This week in Modern Studies the teacher captured the pupils' interest so well by his teaching methods that they were absolutely fascinated by the topic - this being worthy of note because they are an extremely challenging class. It has been a good week in many ways but I'm also very tired and glad that it's the weekend! 

Snap election

Back to school today, and by break time we heard the surprising news that Theresa May has called a general election for 8th June. No one seems to have guessed that this was coming. Here we go with seven weeks of electioneering!

When I came home from school I got changed quickly because I was going straight back out to a Duke of Edinburgh training course. Ally called up the stairs to me that he was going out to get a hair cut, and a few minutes later I jumped into the car to set off to the training centre. As I drove past Grandma's house who did I see hoeing in her front garden? Yes, Ally! I reversed the car to speak to him and it turned out that he had seen her coming out into the garden with the hoe when he was walking past, and had offered to help! It was so nice that he was helping, and also very reassuring that Grandma is feeling well enough to venture outside in the spring weather. 

Oh the crystal chandelier ...

James and I (particularly James) have been looking for a chandelier for a while now for the front room. We tried John Lewis in town and antique shops in the west end, but nothing seemed quite right. They were either too small, not enough bulbs, or we didn't like the shape. Finally James saw a chandelier on eBay which appeared to fit the bill. It has a traditional design that we both like, with room for three light bulbs, and the dimensions are a good size for the room. James put in a bid near the closing time (bidding on eBay seems to be a bit of a game of nerves and timing). He had to increase it a couple of times, but the final price he bid was within our limit and we were successful! The chandelier is a restored French one dating from the 1940s, and it was shipped all the way from Turkey. I wonder what its history and travels have been. 

It arrived while we were in Lochinver so on Monday James and Alasdair put in the new light fitting and lifted the chandelier into its new place. It took them ages, while Cat and I went shopping and made the dinner. Each strand of crystals was carefully and individually wrapped. The end result is delightful! It's so bright and sparkling; just what we hoped for.

Walks and films

The last two days have been relaxing and very pleasant. James' knee was still very sore on Sunday and the weather was wet, so in the afternoon we downloaded a film that we missed at the cinema; "Sully, Miracle on the Hudson." We both thoroughly enjoyed it. It was about the pilot who had to make an emergency landing in New York's Hudson River in 2009. The plane was struck by a flock of geese which stopped and damaged both engines; when he couldn't restart them Sully realised that he didn't have time to make it back to La Guardia airport. After his emergency landing on the water, all 155 passengers survived and were rescued by New York ferries. I remember the news reports at the time and found them very moving; he was undoubtedly a very skilled and experienced pilot. In the film he has to justify his actions to airline officials who would like to blame him, and it makes for a very watchable film. It is a bit hero-worshipping, but perhaps that is justified. I was also a bit doubtful about the way certain things were announced at the inquiry, that I thought were probably put in for cinematic effect, but that is just quibbling on my part. 

Grandma came for dinner on Sunday and was very frail and shaky. She fell off her chair at one point and we had difficulty helping her back up again. She seems to get on much better during the day than in the evening. After taking her home, James popped back round later to check that she was safely in bed.

Today we had a good walk round Strathclyde Park in the spring sunshine, which James managed without too much pain from his knee. We spent the afternoon with Ally and Cat swapping holiday stories and looking at photos. Cat and I popped round to see Grandma and did a bit of shopping for her; she seemed a lot more steady than yesterday I'm glad to say.

Homeward Bound

Our last morning in Lochinver and there was a wee dusting of snow on the top of Suilven, Quineag, Ben More Assynt and Conival. We had a leisurely breakfast then said our goodbyes to Alison and Hugh. It has been a lovely, relaxing holiday; we didn't let the mixed weather hold us back from getting out and enjoying ourselves and Alison and Hugh's company was great. James was keen to do one last hill walk so I dropped him off at Cul Mor and then drove half an hour down the road to spend a few hours in Ullapool. I am very fond of Ullapool so I enjoyed myself mightily. I had a bowl of smoked haddock chowder in the Ceilidh Place then browsed around its wee bookshop, then bought myself a waterproof hat for walking (I prefer a hat to a hood if it's just a light shower). Then I visited yet another bookshop and walked along the front before returning to Elphin to collect James. Our timing was perfect because James had just arrived at the lay by, however there was a problem. James had tripped and fallen on the hill and hurt his knee. He had managed to walk back but it was really sore and I had to help him take off his boots and waterproof trousers. It remained sore for the rest of the day, hopefully it will get better with some rest.

It was good to see Davie and Tom; we all watched the first episode of the new series of Dr Who together.

Handa Island

This morning we travelled to Tarbet (a few miles north of Scourie) and took the ferry to Handa Island. Many years ago James and I and the children went on a great boat trip around Handa, but we have never landed on the island before. It is extremely popular with keen bird watchers and I was impressed with Alison and Hugh's knowledge of all the different types of birds. Special mention must be made of Hugh's good-natured bravery in undertaking the ten minute ferry ride to the island; he doesn't like boat trips at all but did it anyway. He did say that he enjoyed the island once he felt better! We saw Arctic Skuas, guillemots, fulmars, eider ducks, oystercatchers, and wheatears. The ranger told me that these birds used to be called "white arses" but the Victorians changed the name to "wheatears" because it sounded more polite! He said that the Scottish name is "clacharan" which sounds much nicer. 

There was a big sea stack to the north of the island, high and low cliffs and sandy beaches. Yet again we were pretty lucky with the weather; it was dry almost our whole way round and only rained for the last twenty minutes or so. We stopped in at the Kylesku Hotel on our way back to the cottage, but we're rather disappointed that there was no food available mid-afternoon apart from crisps, not even a sandwich or bowl of soup. The place just seems less friendly than it used to be. Never mind, we had some snacks back at the cottage. 

Also on the way back, the road ahead of us was temporarily blocked by a mountain rescue vehicle. This was because someone had been injured on the hill and a rescue helicopter was attempting to land in the lay by. However it had difficulty, perhaps because of wind, and took off again to circle round. I hope that the injured person was rescued successfully.

For our last night dinner we went to Peet's, round at the harbour. It was busy and the food was very good; I am always surprised at how popular are the several restaurants in Lochinver, because the population of the village must be small. It must depend very much on its tourism, and over the last week we have come across people of various nationalities, including a number of Belgian people. 

Achmelvich

The weather on Thursday was predicted to be dry in the morning with rain in the afternoon. So we set off fairly early to walk to Achmelvich Beach. We didn't even need to take the car because the path leaves from the top of Lochinver very near the cottage. Now, I have walked this route before, in 2014, and I remembered it as an ascent to a sort of rocky plateau with grass and lochans, followed by a gentle descent down to Achmelvich Beach, a total of about 12 km there and back. And that recollection is absolutely correct, however I had forgotten how much the path rises and falls as it meanders around the lochans and hills on the way to the beach. In other words it was  longer and more strenuous than I remembered! However I was blissfully unaware of this when we set off and enjoyed the walk very much even though my legs were very tired by the end. Hugh was able to measure the accumulated height using his GPS and it came to nearly 500 metres. 

Again we were very lucky with the weather. Apart from one short shower it stayed dry the whole time. Achmelvich Beach is so beautiful and the water was an amazing shade of blue-green. When we got to the beach there were three swimmers in the water, complete with wet suits and floats - they looked absolutely freezing! Further along the beach there was a kayaker who was struggling to get his kayak out to sea past the waves breaking on the shore - he tried again and again and managed it eventually!

Back at the cottage James lit the fire and we had a cosy afternoon before walking down to the Lochinver Pie Shop for dinner; it was a delicious meal. On the way back we saw three roe deer walking along the road ahead of us, they were gorgeous. 

Brightening

"Brightening" is a term which Alison uses when being optimistic about the weather, and is an apt description of how we felt this morning! We woke to a dry and breezy day so after breakfast we set off to walk to the nearby Kirkaig Falls, a walk of about 7 km there and back. We reckoned that the waterfall would be particularly torrential today after all the rain, and we were right; it was spectacular, crashing down the rocks. The gentle path uphill had turned into a small stream so my boots started to get a bit damp, even though James has waterproofed them recently. James and Alison walked on a bit while Hugh and I started back towards the car. As we descended the hill I lost my footing and stepped into a huge puddle of mud; I toppled forwards like a felled tree. Hugh nobly tried not to laugh and helped me as I struggled to pull my left leg out of the quagmire; it was so caked in mud that it felt much heavier that my right leg! However there was no harm done and luckily I had a pair of spare socks in my rucksack! Back at the cottage James cleaned my boots (rather grumpily I thought) and stuffed them with newspaper to help them dry.

After lunch the weather was still fine so we went out for another, shorter walk to Leitir Easaidh, which is an easy "all abilities" path suitable for wheelchairs. I really liked the fact that people in wheelchairs can use this path to get fantastic views of the surrounding lochs and mountains. Another lovely evening in the cottage followed this great day - I was well pleased with my healthy walking. How long my boots will take to dry remains to be seen. 

Coming down like stair rods

Today we woke to heavy rain and it continued all day. My Dad would have said that it was "coming down like stair rods." After a leisurely breakfast we read our books and I had fun putting my new coloured paper into my Filofax - yes I am well known for my excessive love of stationery! Alison and Hugh arrived in time for lunch and once they had settled in, we all jumped into the car and went to Achins bookshop where we browsed around and had coffee and cake. Despite the rain and low cloud, the views were spectacular. The rivers were so full that they were bursting their banks and the waterfalls were torrents of white water pouring over the rocks. Our next stop was Highland Stoneware Pottery just beside the cottage, where Alison and Hugh chose a seascape dish with the voucher we gave them for their retirement - it's lovely! James ordered a vase with irises for the front room; he has been thinking about getting one since we saw a lovely one during our last visit. 

Back in the cottage James lit the wood fire and we had dinner and a cosy evening of chatting. 

Walking in the sunshine

Today James and I went for a walk directly from the cottage, along the River Inver and  then over a low pass into Glencanisp, and back to Lochinver. It's a very pleasant circular walk of about 8 km, and we were very pleased that it stayed dry for us the whole way. In fact from time to time it was quite sunny, and the many gorse bushes were a beautiful bright yellow with blue sky behind them. There were a number of jetties on the River Inver for salmon fishermen. We saw two ducks flying overhead as well as some herons beside Loch Druim Suardalain. There were quite a few clumps of yellow primroses beside the path - although as he pointed out, none were as magnificent as James' primroses back home! The views of mountains such as Suilven were stunning in the middle distance. On our way back through Lochinver we bought some rolls for lunch which we ate with pâté and cheese back at the cottage. A most satisfactory walk.

Walking in the rain

Our first full day in Lochinver, and while the rest of the country basked in warm sunshine, the north west of Scotland was chilly and rainy! But James and I were not downhearted and set off northwards so that James could bag the two most northerly Corbetts, Cranstackie and Beinn Spionnaidh. It was a five hour walk for him on tussocky grass with very rough quartzite boulder fields higher up. Meanwhile I drove onwards to Durness and after some footering about I parked at the old Church and went for a two and a half hour walk along the peninsula to Faraid Head and back. I have to say that it was absolutely beautiful despite the wet weather; gorgeous white sand beaches and huge sand dunes. And I sort of got used to the rain after a while. The northern tip of the peninsula is fenced off; it's used by the Ministry of Defence as a base for shelling Cape Wrath! There was no shelling going on today though, and there seemed to be no one on the peninsula at all except me and a bunch of sheep. I climbed up a small hill to a cairn where I got great views back to the beaches, and also saw three very striking rocks sticking out of the sea to the east. I retraced my steps and peeled off my wet jacket and waterproof over-trousers before reading the Sunday Times (purchased in the nearby Spar) in the car for a while. When I collected James from his walk later he was wet to the skin with a mixture of sweat and rain! Even his waterproofs had not been able fully to protect him from five hours of wind and rain. He soon warmed up in the car though, and we stopped off at our old favourite, the Kylescu Hotel, for a drink on the way back to Lochinver. It has been redecorated and smartened up since our last visit - but I rather missed the old, cosier decor. Later on, a tasty pub tea in the friendly Caberfeidh restaurant rounded off an excellent day. 

Lochinver

How glad I am to be back in one of my favourite places in the world; Lochinver. We have booked the same holiday cottage that we stayed in during July 2014 because we really like its comfort and style. Our journey here yesterday was not the best. We hadn't realised that there were so many roadworks on the A9 and we got held up several times. Then the tyre pressure warning light pinged on (like it did when I had a puncture last week). We pulled off the road but none of the tyres looked flat so we drove on cautiously to the nearest garage, which was at Ballinluig, to check the pressures. It was the new tyre that had slightly lower pressure so James sorted it out and we had lunch at the Ballinluig Motor Grill, a well known pit stop popular with HGV drivers, tourists on their way up the A9, and the stalwarts of the hill-walking club. It's nothing fancy but the service was quick and our filled rolls were fine. James is fonder of it than I am, perhaps because he associates it with many happy hill-walking expeditions. 

We were very pleased to arrive in Lochinver at last, and as soon as we had unpacked we set off on the familiar walk down through the village to the harbour. We had a hearty tea in the famous Lochinver Pie Shop, which was absolutely delicious. It was a pleasant, warm evening but there were ominous clouds gathering in the west by the time we got back to the cottage; the weather forecast is not good for the north west of Scotland this next week! 

Jag

Tom had to go to the vets for his annual jag yesterday. This led to an interesting discussion with Chanel later; she told me that where she lives in Warrington they say "jab" for injection or vaccination rather than "jag." I had no idea that "jag" used in this way is a Scottish word - I love language! Recently James referred to some clouds as "lenticular" meaning lens-shaped and this led me to wonder if the origin of the word "lens" was related to the shape of a lentil. I looked up its etymology and sure enough, the word "lens" in optics comes from the lentil-like shape of early double-convex lenses - lentil is "lens" in Latin. I find this fascinating.

Anyway back to Tom. He was relaxing on our bed in a happy and loving mood yesterday morning; whenever I passed by him he rolled onto his back to invite me to rub his tummy. Imagine his consternation when I produced the cat carrier, deftly placed him in it, and loaded him into the car. He cried loudly (not meowing, just wailing!) all the way to the vets (it's only 5 minutes drive!) and all the way back. Funnily enough he wasn't too upset when he was actually in the vet's consulting room, it's the journey that he hates. He got his jag and after a brief examination was declared a healthy cat with good teeth. Soon he was back home but when I then put his flea preventing drops on the back of his neck he was quite annoyed, and disappeared under the bed so that I couldn't disrupt his day any more! I'm so glad that David and Chanel will be looking after him this week so that he doesn't have to go to the cattery while we're in Lochinver, he's such a home-loving furry boy.

Another Independence Day

We have had a house full of young people for the last couple of days, which I like very much. Joel is a friend of Ally and Cat. They met him in Colombia last summer but he comes from Switzerland. He has spent the past year studying Computing at Exeter University and is spending his spring break touring Ireland and Scotland. He is such a nice young man and a polite and appreciative house guest. Ally has been showing him around Glasgow for the last few days and he is the first person to sleep in our new sofa bed! Then last night David and Chanel arrived; they are going to be taking care of Tom cat and Grandma over the next week while we are in Lochinver. So there were six of us for dinner. I made roast beef with my signature dish of gratin dauphinois and we all had a lively chat. Ally and Joel then went into Glasgow to meet friends, and David, Chanel, James and I decided  to watch "Independence Day 2" the twenty years later sequel to the excellent original. There was something about "Independence Day" that really captured the public imagination; although there have been many alien invasion films, this one was well written, big budget with great special effects, and well acted by big name actors with a nice touch of humour. Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith were both particularly good and so was Bill Pullman as the earnest and handsome President of the USA. It was a real feel good film. Only a few years later the dreadful scenes on television of people running through the streets of New York on 9/11 were eerily similar to scenes from the film. 

And so to the sequel. Well, the filmmakers had done their best and they had wheeled out as many of the previous cast as possible, and it was certainly watchable. However, inevitably it lacked the impact of the first film, and was too much of a tribute to the original to stand up by itself. My favourite character was Bill Pullman, the now dishevelled and mentally unstable ex-President. After staggering about like an old man with a walking stick for most of the film, he suddenly pulled himself together, shaved off his grey beard, threw away his stick, and started flying an aeroplane to fight the aliens! He even made another stirring speech - but like the rest of the film it just wasn't as good as last time. 

Puncture

I have had a very satisfactory couple of days of pottering around, taking Grandma shopping, and doing some useful admin. Yesterday I gave James a lift to the airport in the morning so that I could have the use of his car during the day - Ally was still up north with my car. However at some point i must have picked up a nail in the back left tyre because a warning light came on, and sure enough the tyre was getting soft. Ally had arrived back from his travels and he helpfully (although I have to say, very ungraciously) managed to remove the offending tyre and replace it with the spare one. Anyway, today I met Caroline for a lovely coffee and catch-up, then decided to go straight to KwikFit to get the tyre repaired. It wasn't until I got there that I realised that I was driving my car, not James' car! What a chump I felt!

Ally and Cat's Swiss friend Joel has arrived to spend a couple of days with us before they all head off on their Highlands holiday. He is a very pleasant and easygoing chap and Ally took him on a tour of Tennents Brewery and a walk to the Cathedral and the Necropolis. In the evening we watched a 2016 science fiction film called Arrival which was one of those films that have strange theories about the nature of time - it was good but made my brain nip. 

Bus journeys

I walked along to Burnside to get my hair cut this morning. Although I was pleased with myself for embarking on a pleasant and healthy walk on this fine morning, it wasn't strictly speaking by choice! Ally has taken my car to go walking and camping up north for a couple of days. My hair cut was duly performed and I considered how best to make my way into town where I was going to meet Louise for lunch. I set off towards Rutherglen train station but saw a bus shelter on my way and decided to throw all caution to the winds and jump on the next bus. It was ok. I'm just not a fan of the bus. There was a very strong smell of body odour and alcohol, it was very crowded so I didn't get a seat for most of the journey, and the driving was so erratic that we were being thrown around all over the place. I had a pleasant lunch and did a bit of shopping. I got a message from Ally to say that he has completed his walk, Beinn a'Chaorainn and Beinn Teallach, in good time despite high winds and hail, and is now safely checked into Tulloch Station Lodge for the night. I headed back home, by bus again. And again it was crowded and malodorous. I will take the train next time.

Nibbles lives to fight another day

There has been a wee moose loose aboot our hoose over the last few days! We knew this because Tom was spotted playing with the unfortunate creature on Friday. We were quite surprised because Ruby was the mouse and bird catcher of the twosome - James always says that Tom is "a lover not a fighter!" So it must have been quite a stupid mouse for Tom to have caught it! However there had been no further sign of said mouse since then, neither alive nor deceased, and we presumed that Tom had taken it back outside.

However last night James noticed that one of his British Airways chocolates that he had left on his desk had been devoured right through its paper, and he and Alasdair resumed their search. Sure enough the tiny field mouse was found hiding among James' precious collection of vinyl LPs. Alasdair tried to trap it with a Pyrex bowl to no avail, as the terrified rodent dodged around inside the box. However, in a stroke of luck, the mouse (which we named Nibbles) attempted to leap to freedom and instead landed right in the Perspex bowl, which Ally deftly covered with a newspaper. Nibbles was captured! 

Before we released him into the garden we gave him a drink of water and a small piece of cheese. He ignored the cheese but drank mightily of the water - the poor wee soul must have been really thirsty! He seemed to be physically unscathed by his ordeal so Ally released him at the top of the garden and he scampered off. Tom (who had been confined to the front room during all this excitement) was none the wiser and we saw him searching around the study later. Let's hope that Nibbles has learned his lesson and avoids Tom in the future. 

Dundee for lunch

Today I did a few errands for Grandma in the morning; I'm glad to say that she is looking a lot better than she did at the beginning of the weekend when she was very tired and out of sorts. Yesterday afternoon I took her for a wee outing to the Heritage Loch for so hopefully a bit of fresh air has done her good. That and the antibiotics!

Then I went on a trip to Dundee to have lunch with David and Chanel. The weather was lovely for a drive and I listened to my iPhone music and sang along to many of my favourite songs on the way. As usual we met at the Bridgeview Station Restaurant, and as usual we vowed to try somewhere different next time. But it is such a pleasant lunch venue with really good service that I'm sure we'll end up going there again! The three of us had a good old chat and I so enjoyed it. Afterwards we went to see (the outside of) David and Chanel's new flat; it is in quite an attractive cobbled street, but it is still occupied by the present tenants so we couldn't go inside. And then we strolled around Dundee University campus for a while; David is very happy that he has just been offered a job working at the Union, starting later this month. My drive back home was not so much fun - it rained heavily for a lot of the journey and the traffic was very busy with roadworks. However I was home in good time for tea and we started watching a new series called "The Good Fight" about lawyers which seems promising. It's apparently a spin off from a well known series "The Good Wife" but since we never watched it I'm not sure what similarities there are. 

Relaxing

It is Sunday morning and I am now relaxing into my Easter holidays (or spring break which I believe is now the politically correct term!) At the end of the school term I tend to get a bit tense and over-excited, hoping that nothing will go wrong just before the holidays. It's a time of anticipation and worry which, in my case, unfortunately often carries over into the holiday itself. 

And something did go wrong on the last day - there was a particularly nasty incident, and although I was neither directly involved nor in any way responsible, it left a bad taste. So when I got home on Friday I didn't feel at all joyful even though I was commencing my two weeks holiday. However we had a convivial evening with Alison and Hugh on Friday and Saturday was a very pleasant day; we did some batch cooking and I got some shopping for Grandma, and we sat in the sunshine in the garden after a walk around the neighbourhood. On Saturday evening we went over to Lenzie to have a curry with Heather and Ewan at the excellent Rasoi, and the great food and great company dissolved the last of my tension; I woke up this morning feeling splendid.