Anthropomorphising

As we strolled along the Kelvin Walkway this afternoon, James accused me of anthropomorphising when I was talking about Floof. I was shocked. Firstly because I don’t often hear James using a six syllable word (just joking!), and secondly because I completely refute the allegation. Flora really does feel emotions like love (for me) and respect (for James) and hero-worship (for Tom of course!)
Tom himself is well known for his ironic glances and wry sense of humour. But then I don’t believe that these emotions are exclusive to humans at all. The two West Highland Terriers that I lived with as a child (Mandy and Judy) had completely different characters. Mandy was loyal, responsible, conscientious, and suspicious of strangers, whereas Judy was care-free, fun-loving, and distrustful of other dogs. And the lovely cats with whom James and I have shared our home since we got married have all had their own feelings and emotions too.
We had had a pleasant lunch in Matilda’s on Byres Road before deciding to walk via the river into Kelvingrove Park and then on to the Art Galleries. We had a wander around the Impressionists, the Scottish Colourists and the Dutch 17th century old masters before wending our way back through the park to University Avenue. Then we went home to an affectionate welcome from our feline friends. 

Aye Write 2018

This year we booked two events at the annual Aye Write book festival, both with a hill-walking theme. The first one was on Saturday lunchtime at the Tramway; the venerable climber, Chris Bonington. It was a bright and sunny, not-quite-spring day, so we decided to take the train to King’s Park and walk the rest of the way, which took about forty minutes. We arrived in plenty of time and were queueing to buy some lunch at the very nice but very slow café, when we received the bad news from a lady wearing an Aye Write t-shirt with an Aye Write badge and lanyard. Before taking off, Chris Bonington’s plane had developed a fault, and the climbing legend, who was already feeling unwell, had to leave the flight. At least I think that’s what happened, I may have picked it up wrongly. We were disappointed but could not be annoyed, after all he is 83 years old. So we had lunch (sitting outside in the sunshine, it was just about warm enough) and had a wander round the Hidden Garden.
What to do next? A quick search on our phones revealed that the film “The Greatest Showman” was scheduled to start at the Springfield Quay cinema in about half an hour - just nice time to walk there by a strangely pleasant urban route under motorways and through industrial estates.
I was quite keen to see the film because I had heard that it has been panned by critics but is loved by audiences, so I wanted to have a look myself. It turned out to be a very jolly and traditional musical, which of course I love, and the singing and dancing was absolutely excellent, by all of the cast including the delightful Hugh Jackman. I can see why the critics didn’t like it - it was a very sanitised version of Barnum’s circus, and the undoubted exploitation of disabled people was presented through a sympathetic (to Barnum) modern lens as a sort of inclusive celebration of difference. But after a slow start, the film is increasingly drawing in the audiences, I think probably due to the genuinely good music and choreography. We rounded off the day with an excellent curry in Dakhin.
Anyway, back to Aye Write. The next day (Sunday) I drove straight from my lunch in Ardrossan to the Mitchell Theatre, where I met Heather and Ewan, who had just been to an event. James arrived and we all had a good chat, and then James and I went in to see well known Scottish hill-walker and broadcaster Cameron McNeish talking about his autobiography. I have seen him speak before years ago, at a school event, and he was very good then, although after his talk one of my pupils accidentally hit him on the head with a chair which was unfortunate. He was very good-natured about it though.
Cameron McNeish’s talk on Sunday was absolutely brilliant, and in fact I found it very inspiring; he talked about how he had become a hill-walker and fulfilled his dream of making a living by writing and broadcasting about the outdoors. He showed lots of beautiful photos and video clips which enhanced the talk, and I  found it fascinating. He mentioned that he will be going to Yosemite with his grandchildren in July, which is when we will be there! James said that we can say hello to him if we happen to see him on a hill, but that we shouldn’t disturb him if we see him in a restaurant with his family, which I think is fair enough. His talk has made me look forward even more to our hill-walking holiday in Ardnamurchan next week.

Ayrshire excursions

I was just bringing the emptied bins up the path just now when I remembered the Great Bin Debacle of last week. In our street everyone follows the lead of our lovely neighbour Dougie when it’s time to put out the bins. This has always worked very well - until last week when Dougie got it wrong. The whole street was thrown into confusion. Some people put out their paper recycling bins, others their main bins. There were huddles of confused residents at their garden gates. James looked up the council website to check which bins were scheduled to be emptied and while he was still debating whom to trust, the doorbell rang. It was Dougie, who was calling round all the neighbours to apologise for his mistake! He’s such a nice chap, and after all, it’s not in any way his responsibility to be bins monitor!
In other news, I had a couple of most pleasant trips to Ayrshire last week. The first was to visit Cat’s mum Christine in Dunlop to go for a walk. We left Gerry pruning a tree and went on an undulating forty minutes walk though the gorgeous Ayrshire countryside to Dunlop Dairy, which is on the Stewarton Road. This family run enterprise has revived the Dunlop cheese tradition and makes several different varieties of cheese as well as having a traditional tea room, where Cat used to work when she was a student. We had a delicious lunch there before walking back, chatting all the way. It is a beautiful area; our walk took us along country lanes and across little bridges that were hundreds of years old, and we could see the sea with the snow capped mountains of Arran across the water. When we arrived back at their house, Gerry had not only finished pruning, he had impressively cut down another whole tree that Christine wanted rid of, bringing more light to their plum tree.
Then on Sunday I drove to Ardrossan to meet Maggie and Wendy for lunch. This was handy for Maggie to get the ferry back to Arran afterwards. I have driven through Ardrossan to the ferry terminal many times over the years, but have never dined there. Cecchini’s is a smart wee restaurant with delicious Italian food, and we had a good catch up. Wendy and I walked Maggie to the ferry before I set off back to Glasgow to see Cameron McNeish at Aye Write. But that’s another story.

Parakeets in the park

We woke up to a chilly London on Sunday morning. It had snowed lightly during the night, and the outlines of the buildings were highlighted prettily in white. After a slap up breakfast in the Premier Inn, we all set off by the DLR to Greenwich where we walked around the outside of the Naval Museum and then up the hill to the Observatory. I had to give credit to the enthusiastic London sledgers who were sliding down the hill even though there was more grass evident than snow! Cat had obtained a leaflet about the history of the area and gave us an excellent guided tour on our way. We heard a squawking sound as we ascended the hill and, to my surprise, saw several parakeets flying around and landing on the trees. We have seen parakeets in the city of Barcelona before, but never in London - I wonder if it is a sign of global warming.

Back down the hill, we had a wander through Greenwich Market before setting off back to Southwark where we installed ourselves for drinks in the cosy St Christopher pub. Our final port of call was Ally’s fantastic London pad! It’s a company flat and it’s right in the heart of the city, very close to St Paul’s Cathedral and only a six minute walk from his office. It’s really gorgeous and beautifully decorated with wooden floors and white walls throughout. 

All too soon we had to set off home. While we were waiting for our flight at City Airport a fellow traveller recognised James; it was an old friend, Andrew, from our Youth Fellowship days. He moved away after university and we hadn’t seen him for more than thirty years! We had a lovely chat with him and his wife, it turns out that there have been many similarities in our lives! 

Our flight was delayed by an hour but we had time for a cup of tea when we got home and were reunited with the cats, who seemed very pleased to see us.

Hamilton!

We had a brilliant time in London last weekend. Six of us (me, James, Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel) all met up to go to the musical “Hamilton.” We booked the tickets more than a year ago, when super fan Chanel told us about it. I even did my homework by reading the Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton, who was a brilliant but flawed man; ideal hero material. So I was very excited when our long planned weekend rolled round at last.

We all met up for breakfast in a café beside the Thames on Saturday morning - Davie and Chanel had flown down from Dundee the night before, us from Glasgow, and of course Ally and Cat are already residing in London. Then we walked to the Imperial War Museum where we met up with Jennifer, Josh and Ben. This was our museum of choice because James and the Anderson boys were interested in going there, and, as it was going to be a cold weekend, a museum is a good place to wander around and have lunch! It was actually more interesting than I thought it would be, with different sections for various conflicts and it addressed their causes and history. We split up into small groups and met up for a convivial light lunch in the café where we managed to nab an excellent table big enough for nine in a quiet alcove.

Later we walked to Victoria where I had booked an early dinner in Zizzi’s. We had a fantastic waiter who made sure that we were all fed and watered in plenty of time for our show, and he even took some lovely photos of the group. It was a very happy occasion and we all laughed and chatted, I love how the cousins (and girlfriends) all get on so well.

We said our goodbyes to Jennifer and the boys and then it was time for Hamilton! The paperless ticket system (intended to prevent people from reselling their tickets for inflated prices) involved producing an email, credit card and I.D. and we were soon ushered into the lounge beside the dress circle. I thought that the show was marvellous. The music was mostly hip-hop, which contained a great deal of really excellent and witty dialogue. The cast were exceptionally talented and I felt that the whole concept of the show was very original and yet worked so well. The story, which was true to Hamilton’s biography, was funny and thoughtful and sad. I wonder what on earth Alexander Hamilton would have thought of it? 

On leaving, I posed for Chanel to take a photograph of me outside the theatre doors. As I hesitated about whether I was raising the correct arm to imitate the poster behind me, I was reassured by the watching crowd, “Yes, that’s the right one!” which I thought was very funny.

We didn’t want the evening to end just yet so we took the tube to Leicester Square, and went to a pub. It had a great atmosphere with music and even a magician who came to our table and did card tricks! I’m not sure if he was an employee or just another customer who enjoyed doing magic! It was a good finish to a great day.

My Generation

On Wednesday evening we went to the cinema to see a documentary that James had heard about. In fact it was the premiere of a film fronted by Michael Caine, entitled “My Generation”. It turned out to be one of James’ good ideas, and we both enjoyed it very much. Michael Caine narrated the story of some of the young successful people of the 1960s who cast aside their expected roles in life (Michael Caine had been expected to be a porter at Billingsgate fish market like his Dad) and forged new and exciting paths for themselves. The film cleverly blended in footage of both young and old Michael making their way around London. There was also lots of footage of his contemporaries such as David Bailey, Jean Shrimpton, Twiggy, Paul McCartney, Roger Daltrey and more. They also provided commentary in the form of conversations with Michael Caine but you didn’t see them in their present form, which I thought was quite clever because the comparison would have been distracting. There was plenty of very interesting archive film of the 60s and the music was good and plentiful.

My slight objection is that people who were young in the 1960s always go on about how they were the first ever generation to rebel, and I’m not so sure about that. I bet it has happened lots of times throughout history. What about the young artists and writers of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of the 19th century? I’m sure they also thought that they were the first young folk to rebel against the grey old men of the establishment. In fact I’m reading a really good biography just now of Isabella of Castile and her husband Ferdinand of Aragon - they started out as very rebellious teenagers of their time (the 15th century) and, much to the disapproval of the Grandees of Castile, they overturned a lot of centuries-old traditions when they fought their way to power. Admittedly not all of their changes were for the better; for example the Spanish Inquisition! 
I will, however give the sixties generation credit for being the “stand out generation” of their time - just not of all time. Also, the film offered no definitive explanation or analysis of why these young people had broken away from tradition, although it did suggest a reaction to the remnants of post war austerity, or to the threat of nuclear war, which I suppose could have triggered a “nothing to lose” attitude.

At the end of the film there was a question and answer session with the great man himself, transmitted live to 400 cinemas around the country. After a short delay we were treated to both sound and vision and watched Edith Bowman interviewing Michael Caine in the South Bank theatre in London. He was very personable and told some good stories, and then Edith announced that it was his 85th birthday that very day! All 400 cinema audiences were persuaded to sing along to Happy Birthday.

As I was driving to work on Thursday morning I heard Chris Evans talking on Radio 2 about how much he enjoyed the film; he must have been at the London showing. 

By the way, I remember when Jamie was a teenager he was singing along to “My Generation” on the radio, and James told him,

“It’s not your generation Jamie, in fact it wasn’t even our generation!” which I thought was very funny!

Across the Tay Road Bridge

We had a great time in Dundee last Sunday. We went up to visit David and Chanel, and took them out for lunch to Avery and co. which was a very pleasant, modern restaurant near the centre of town. Chanel then suggested a walk across the Tay Road Bridge and back. This turned out to be the highlight of the day. In all the years that we have been visiting Dundee we have never walked across the bridge, and it was tremendous. The weather was cold but dry and the bridge was surprisingly long. A low mist swept in and wreathed around the bridge as we reached the other side, which was spectacular. We went down and skimmed stones from the beach at Newport on Tay before heading back across the bridge; by now the sun was very low and glinting golden on the windows of Dundee. The whole walk took us a couple of hours and we thoroughly enjoyed it, and well as the friendly chat and company of David and Chanel.

Country Music

After a tiring week, I was looking forward to going to Country to Country 2018 at the Hydro. I booked the tickets ages ago, with the idea of watching some top quality country music at this popular annual event. Country to Country has been going since 2013 in London, and then expanded to include Dublin, and last year Glasgow too, so it’s now a three day festival with the acts rotating around each venue. As it happens, Heather and Ewan watched the same artists on Friday night in London that we then saw on Saturday night in Glasgow. These were Old Dominion, Kelsei Ballerini, and finally the headliners; husband and wife Country royalty Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.*
Although I like country music when I come across it, I don’t know much about it and I thought that this would be a good and varied introduction.  It was certainly varied. Old Dominion seemed like a traditional country band although their music didn’t stand out for me. The very talented and enthusiastic Kelsei Ballerini reminded me (in looks) of a young Reese Witherspoon, and I liked her heartfelt love songs best out of the three. Faith Hill and Tim McGraw were very ..... loud. Their set seemed more like a rock band and I felt that they would have been much better in a smaller venue where they (particularly Faith) didn’t have to shout so much. I notice that Ewan (much more experienced in and knowledgable about country music than I) recommends smaller venues for country music in his blog. 

* Near the beginning of their set, in what he told us was his and his wife’s first ever visit to Scotland, Tim McGraw mentioned to the audience that they had played in London last night. I think that he was then going to say something along the lines that he had heard that Glasgow would be even better. However the deafening roar of boos and catcalls stopped him in his tracks, and the large screen caught a close up of Faith Hill looking genuinely shocked at the vitriolic wave of racism. True pros, they laughed it off, but I felt embarrassed for my people. 

Social Tuesday

This evening I went along to the hill-walking club’s social evening, which is usually held on the first Tuesday of each month. It was a pleasant group of nine of us who gathered in the Counting House for a drink and a chat. James and I used one of our Christmas present vouchers beforehand to have a meal at Prezzo across the road. It has been a pleasant and social day all round. Despite yet another heavy snow shower, which luckily did not lie on the roads, I met up with Heather in Lenzie and we went to her very smart local sports centre for a swim. I was very impressed with the facilities and also the cleanliness, which I feel that my own nearest swimming pool area is sadly lacking. It was really nice to have company on the swim and, despite chatting throughout, we swam a respectable kilometre before repairing to a nearby cafe for coffee and scones. When I got home Flora helped me tidy the house, by following me into every room, although she also distracted me a bit because I kept stopping to play with her. She really is extremely sweet. When I went round to see Grandma in the afternoon, she didn't feel strong enough for a walk, but was keen to go out for a run in the car so that she could have a change of scenery. So that’s exactly what we did, and drove around Hamilton and Motherwell for an hour or so while Grandma reminisced about places and people of her youth.
When I was tidying today, I came across my Clarisonic face cleaning brush, which I haven’t used for ages. I charged it up and this evening I used it to thoroughly cleanse my face. My skin feels glowing. Let’s hope that it doesn’t all fall off during the night! 

Film Monday

After my morning swim, I had lunch today at East Kilbride shopping centre with Fiona; it has been too long since I saw her and it was great to catch up. It’s also a long time since I’ve been at that shopping centre, so we had a pleasant wander together around Debenhams. Later I went to the cinema with Catherine and Jan to see Lady Bird. I enjoyed it. It’s about a girl’s last year at home before she goes to college. It’s atmosphere and episodic style reminded me a wee bit of the film Boyhood, although Lady Bird only chronicles one year. What lifts it from “good” to “very good” is the tremendous acting from Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf as the volatile daughter and mother. The supporting actors are very good too, especially Tracy Letts as the understated father. One of my favourite quotes is when Lady Bird says to her father “Did you know that Alanis Morisette wrote this song in only ten minutes?” And he replies, with a wry look, “I believe it!” It’s the kind of thing that my Dad would have said!
When I was on my way to bed, I noticed that it was raining and opened the back door to see how hard it was coming down. Floof took the opportunity to dash outside - she sometimes forgets that she is now allowed outside and doesn’t have to try to escape any more! But when she found herself being rained on, she deftly ran back inside immediately! This is a big difference from Tom, who has still not worked out that rain makes him wet, and who regularly comes inside soaking wet! 

Go away snow!

I am so over the snow. It’s slowly melting on the ground but there are still icy patches and when I was up at Kingsgate this afternoon there were quite significant flurries of snow. We have had a pleasantly quiet Sunday and have got a few useful things done around the house. James has put a bunch of family photographs back up on the wall of the front living room. They all had to come down when we were decorating the room, and this has given us a chance to choose a new arrangement. It took him ages and it looks fantastic. I provided advice and consultation while I sat on the couch watching the last couple of episodes of “Big Little Lies. This is a strangely compelling murder mystery series which stars some really big names, most notably Reece Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman. It took me a while to warm up to it, but in the end I was won over by the intriguing story, the characters (who all had more depth than they first appeared to have) and of course the beautiful scenery of Monterey in California. 

A satisfying Saturday

I don’t usually go swimming at the weekend, however today I set off for the swimming pool instead of going for a walk because my feet are painfully blistered after the last couple of days of wearing my snow boots. Unfortunately when I arrived I was informed that the pool is closed every Saturday morning for swimming lessons. I decided to try my luck at Blantyre swimming pool instead, and this worked out well. They also have a twenty-five metre pool, and although it was partly roped off for lessons, it wasn’t too busy and I was able to have a good swim.

When I got home James and I spent the afternoon doing some batch cooking with the ingredients that we bought yesterday. There’s something intensely satisfying about batch cooking. We made two meals, both old favourites - Catalan pork stew and Boeuf bourguignon. We made four times quantities which means that we have lots of delicious home made meals in the freezer. It’s also a very companionable activity and we chatted away as we peeled and chopped and seared and stirred. 

Having missed our “mid-week film night” because of all the snow, we went to the cinema in the early evening to see the much praised “Three Billboards outside Ebbing, Missouri”. We both enjoyed it, and it had some very good moments, although I found some of the plot was a bit unbelievable. It is very hotly tipped for this year’s Oscars, which take place tomorrow, however despite its originality I’m not sure if it deserves to win. If it was up to me I think that would choose Darkest Hour or even The Shape of Water.

When we got home we had some of the Boeuf bourguignon for dinner and it was delicious. 

These Boots are not made for walking

Another snow day on Friday; another snowy walk with James. It has been an unexpected pleasure to spend extra time with James over the last three days. Today the roads were much clearer and in the afternoon we decided to head up to Kingsgate to get some groceries for us and Grandma, and then we went for a walk around the Heritage Park. The light was very flat and monochrome, and the loch had big patches of ice on it. As well as the ducks and geese there were two oystercatchers walking about beside the water. We extended the walk into a surprisingly rural part of Stewartfield, which was very picturesque with the paths and trees all covered in snow.

However I have found out that my snow boots, while waterproof and warm, are not designed to be worn on proper walks. Yesterday during our big 12 km walk I got a blister on the back of my heel, however I attributed this to the distance and just put a Compeed plaster on it. But today, on our much shorter walk, I managed to develop not one, but two blisters under my big toes! So my snow boots are going to be assigned to short snowy journeys only, and I will use my hiking boots for anything longer.

My instinct is that the big snowfall is over but it will take a few days for it to disappear, because cold and possibly stormy weather is forecast into next week. But just now we are warm and cosy beside the fire on Friday evening, with our cats sleeping beside us. Lovely. 

More Snow

It’s a long time since I have had a “snow day.” The directive from Glasgow City Council for Thursday was that all schools were closed and that teachers were to work from home. This was not straightforward since my planner and resources were all at school, however I did my best by drafting some reports and doing some lesson planning for Term 3. Meanwhile James was also working from home. He was ensconced in the Study where he was involved in a conference call which took three hours. I took him in a wee cup of tea at one point.
By mid afternoon we were both ready for an excursion. James suggested an innocuous sounding walk to nearby Dechmont Hill. On went the snow boots and off we set. James decided that we should go via the golf course, which has a public right of way around it. This was certainly much more attractive than walking on the road, however the snow was very deep in places and I found myself walking in James’ footsteps in scenes reminiscent of the journey of Good King Wenceslas and his faithful servant. I tried not to laugh too loudly when James plummeted through the snow up to his waist into a hidden stream! Luckily his trusty boots, gaiters and waterproof trousers kept him dry.
It turned out that James’ rather circuitous route to Dechmont Hill (via the golf course and several fields, and then back via more fields and Gilbertfield Road) was in fact a hefty 12 km, much of it trudging through snow! And of course we also ended up climbing over several farm gates and fences. It was very windy at the top of Dechmont Hill and it snowed on and off during our journey. The views from the top were tremendous; we could see all around, from Hamilton and Motherwell all the way to the west end of Glasgow. It was good fun though, and I was pleased to get the exercise, although less pleased that my Apple Watch ran out of battery power half way through the walk so it didn’t record the full distance.
As we walked along Gilbertfield Road near Dechmont Barracks, we saw a wee cairn that we have never noticed before, in memory of the soldiers who walked down Shepherd’s Lane from the barracks to Newton Station on their way to war. The plaque reads:
“This cairn is to commemorate all the soldiers who walked this path to Newton Station to go to the 1st and 2nd World Wars. And those who didn’t return. We will remember them.”
We popped in to see Grandma on the way home; she was in good spirits and was shocked at how far we had walked. 

The Beast from the East

The weather forecasters have been proved correct with their predictions of heavy snow this week. The cold weather has apparently swept in from Siberia and has been named by the media "The Beast from the East!" There were few flurries of snow on Tuesday but nothing to speak of, however I was quite late to bed on Tuesday night and when I looked out of the window the snow was coming down heavily and steadily. The Beast had arrived! By Wednesday morning the snow was lying thickly and, unsurprisingly, James' flight to Heathrow was cancelled, so he worked from home. The Glasgow schools were closed but I don't work on a Wednesday so it didn't affect me. I visited Grandma, who was mightily enjoying the scenes of chaos on the television, and watching the snow from her warm, cosy living room.
In the afternoon James and I ventured out for a walk. It was deep underfoot and still snowing heavily. But with our snow boots on (I'm so glad that I bought nice new snow boots in Arabba!) we were able to have a good old tramp around the area and it was so good to get out into the fresh air. We walked up to Holmhills Park and were treated to dramatic snowy vistas across the city, although it was too grey to get any good photos.
The Met office put the central belt of Scotland on a Red alert weather warning between 3 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. on Thursday because more snow was forecast, which is extremely unusual. This meant that all schools were closed on Thursday too, so I am blogging this from home. I'm genuinely disappointed because today is National Book Day and I had already arranged a rather fetching Robin Hood costume for myself. This involves a green tunic with matching hat and green tights. I thought that my brown cowboy boots would look enough like medieval boots, and I have also purchased a large Robin Hood storybook to carry, to make it clear that it is a literary costume!
Spare a thought for wee Floof who has only been allowed outside for a week and is completely confused by the arrival of snow! She has loved being able to explore the garden and has taken very quickly to popping in and out of the cat flap, but is clearly not keen on the snow - to be fair the drifts are deep enough to cover her! Yesterday evening I went into the kitchen and saw her half in and half out of the cat flap, with her wee bottom still in the kitchen, as she tried to decide whether to head out into the strange white cold stuff!