Not a Buckfast Beach Party

We had a leisurely Sunday in the garden yesterday. The weather continued to be very hot and sunny, so I spent a lot of the day in my hammock. Ally and Cat had been hill-walking near Kinlochleven and arrived home late on Saturday evening, so they joined us in the garden, as did Tom and Flora. Ally ran round and round the garden trailing a piece of string, chased by Flora, until the poor wee cat got all hot and bothered and had to lie down in the shade. Then Ally climbed up one of the pear trees with both cats and they had a fine old time running around on the branches. No wonder they love Ally, he is much more fun than James and me!

Later Grandma came round and we had a barbecue and enjoyed the evening sunshine.

Today we decided that we wanted to go to the seaside and headed for Troon beach with Ally and Cat. Gerry and Christine joined us and we had a picnic. I changed into my swimming costume and bravely went into the sea. It was freezing! Properly bone chilling! It was actually painful to the skin. Ally came in with me and I was gratified to see that he also found it horrifyingly cold. And this was when we were only in up to our thighs. Ally said that in order to count it as a proper swim, I needed to swim along while he slowly counted to fifteen. And I managed it! According to James (safely back at the picnic rug) there were some people strolling along the beach who heard my scream as I plunged under the water, and were amazed at my courage.

Ally had brought his Ray Mears Survival Guide and spent a long time starting a fire using wood and string. It was a very hot afternoon, relieved by a welcome slight breeze, and we chatted and enjoyed the very pleasant company.
Later I saw on the Scottish News that two thousand drunken teenagers had congregated today on Troon’s main beach (we always go to the quieter beach near the golf course.) It was some sort of gathering arranged on social media and apparently there was a large police presence with some arrests made. According to the Daily Record it was a “Buckfast Beach Party” Well, I much preferred our own beach party!