Preparations

I am in the hairdressers getting my hair painted ready for our holiday to New Zealand. The cases are all packed and ready. This is probably the most peaceful part of today, because after this I will go straight to university for my French class and then when we get home we will only have about an hour before going to the airport. Our flight to Dubai will leave at 8.50 p.m.

The last few days have flown past. Our sojourn in Ullapool continued to be very rainy and windy, however we walked into the village every day and checked that all of the appliances in the cottage are working. We also met our next door neighbour, Anne, who had a coffee with us on Monday. On our way home on Monday we met Alison and Hugh for a pleasant lunch in Simpson’s garden centre in Inverness, which is huge, and then pressed on homewards through the rain. 

Since then we have been packing, doing admin, and I have managed to squeeze in a wee coffee with Marjory and lunch yesterday with Jenn F. We have spent time with the boys and Chanel too, and last night James made a delicious vegetarian curry. He is being very supportive of my foray into vegetarianism and says that he has been wanting to cut down his own meat intake. The cats definitely know that something is up and have been trying to climb into the cases. Last night they were fighting all over the bed in the middle of the night, which is something they only do occasionally and I think signals that they are a bit agitated. I’m glad that Ally and Davie will be at home to feed them and keep them company while we’re away.

Update in the afternoon - as I drove over the Kingston Bridge on my way to the west end, I noticed that the sky ahead was very dark with an impending hail storm but the buildings of Glasgow were all brightly lit by the sun which was behind me. It looked amazing.