Casareccio alla Genovese

Another sunny day in Sorrento, although Mr and Mrs Philadelphia warned us that there might be a storm at 5 p.m. about which the BBC weather forecast had neglected to tell us. This habit of naming people that we meet on holiday is an old one, going back to the 1980s in Maiori when we met a couple who had named many people in the hotel. For example they called a man “Tepid” because he asked them how the pool was and when they said “Cold!” he dipped in a toe and said dismissively “Hmm - tepid!” then jumped in and gasped at the cold. They called his family “Tepid wife” and “Tepid son” which I thought was very funny. Soon James and I adopted the habit although we don’t make a point of it, we only do it if it feels appropriate. On this holiday, as well as Mr & Mrs P, we called a couple “Young Susan and James” because they reminded us of our younger selves, and of course we refer to the head waiter as Mark Rylance because of his resemblance to that eminent actor. 

Before we could head down to the sea, James wisely decided that we should do our Covid tests, which need to be done less than forty-eight hours before our flight home. Luckily they were negative, and we then proceeded to fill out our Passenger Locator forms, to which we needed to upload our negative Covid tests. Finally we checked in for our flights, and went down to hotel reception where they kindly printed it all out for us. This all took nearly two hours!  

We then went down to the sea and swam around together, chatting and enjoying the views and watching all the ferries and boats. Vesuvius was invisible in the haze. After lunch we went to the pool and sure enough large white clouds rolled in and piled up high above us. The resultant few spots of rain were rather disappointing, because I do love a good storm. We had dinner in the old town and I had the above mentioned Casareccia alla Genovese which consisted of short lengths of folded over pasta with a delicious pesto, made from basil, pine nuts, walnuts, garlic, parmesan cheese, pecorino cheese, and of course extra virgin olive oil. 

Piatto di frutti di mare

After the rather upsetting day yesterday we decided to spend today at the sea and the pool. It was a lovely contrast to the heat and dust of yesterday. I love swimming in the sea and of course here it is almost as warm as a bath. We were in the water for over an hour and James was diving in from the top of the steps; I love to see him so happy and relaxed. 

We were chatting to a very pleasant couple from Philadelphia and they recommended dining at the Marina Grande. This is a part of Sorrento which we had not discovered - even though this is our second visit and Sorrento is quite a small town! 

I love that our beautiful Hotel Grand Royal overlooks the main ferry harbour because we can watch the boats coming and going all day, and it had never occurred to me that there might be another, older harbour. 

So after a delightful day of swimming and reading, we set off in the early evening for the Marina Grande, only about fifteen minutes walk from our hotel, past the busy shopping and dining streets, down a wee road, through an archway in what was the old city wall, and finally down a set of steps. Wow! It’s absolutely beautiful, lined with little seafood restaurants. On the recommendation of Mr and Mrs Philadelphia we chose the Trattoria Emilia and we were given a lovely wee table for two right beside the water. Sophia Loren dined here in 1954, while making a film called “Pani Amore e …”

waited on by a very young Emelia. I enjoyed my aubergines and ravioli, and James ate a large amount of seafood that would have made Tom cat very jealous. In fact there was a tabby cat near our table who was watching us very intently for a while! 

After dinner we strolled back through the town to our hotel where we had drinks on the terrace. Even at 10.30 p.m. there was no need for a cardigan or jacket, it was so warm. 

Cornetto alla Nutella

This was not the best day of our holiday, unfortunately. Foolishly emboldened by how well I thought that I managed in the heat yesterday in Procida and Naples, I was keen to attempt “The Path of the Gods” which is a 7 km path from Bomerano (high on the hills above Amalfi) to Nocelle (high on the hills above Positano.) Bomerano is an attractive village with a little square with restaurants and benches. The Path of the Gods is clearly marked and we encountered quite a few people walking it, either in the same direction as us, or from Nocelle. The views from up there are absolutely stunning, and the path is quite vertiginous in places. But that wasn’t my problem, I’m generally ok with heights. My issue was with the heat. There was a slight breeze but it was not cooling; it was more like a hairdryer on a warm setting. There was not much shelter; there were a few groves of trees but the walk was mainly in full sun and I felt as if my skin was burning off (although it wasn’t - when we got back to the hotel later I could see that my trusty Factor 50 sun cream had protected me completely.) I had thought that the second half of September would be cooler here than during the height of summer, and it is only 27 deg C compared to probably at least 10 degrees hotter in July or August. 

However it was still far too hot and humid for me to walk, and I shouldn’t have attempted it. I was keen for James to do the walk so I convinced myself that I would be ok which was stupid of me. The walk had lots of steps both down and up, as it undulated its way around the several headlands between our start and finish points. 

I started ok but quickly overheated and felt worse and worse. It must have been awful for James, who was very patient and kind. One day this will be a funny story to tell but at the moment it just feels like another failure in my life. In the end I had to be rescued from the mountain by helicopter and taken to the hospital in Salerno where I was put on a drip to rehydrate me. James collected me later by taxi. I felt really sad when I got back to the hotel where I had a lovely shower to wash off all the dust.

This holiday has been brilliant in many ways but it is also overshadowed by the illness of my friend Doreen, who is in a hospice with her family at her side. I realise that I will not see her again and that also makes me sad. 

By the way, a Cornetto is not an ice cream here in Sorrento, but a breakfast pastry like a croissant. 

Pizza Marinara

What a day we have had; an island, a city, and three ferries! 

We were up bright and early for the ferry to the beautiful little island of Procida, our first visit there. It is so pretty with pastel coloured houses around the harbour. We walked around the narrow streets and gradually made our way to the top of the island, stopping for coffee beside the tiny domed St Maria’s Church on the way. Every view was more stunning than the last. The film Il Postino was filmed here in 1994, I must watch it again now that we have been here. Back at the harbour we had cool drinks at a café before jumping on to our next ferry to Naples. 

I have never been to Naples except for the airport; it was very hot we decided just to visit a couple of places. We took a taxi to L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele and the taxi driver insisted on taking my arm to help me across the busy road which I thought was very funny. We went there because it’s somewhat of a Naples institution, founded in 1870 and with a reputation for excellent pizzas, allegedly the best in Naples. There was a crowd outside when we arrived and it all seemed a bit confusing, but we worked out that you have to take a numbered ticket and then when your number is called you joint a short queue to enter the restaurant. We waited about 30 minutes and it was worth the wait - the pizzas really are fantastic. There is only a choice of four; James had pizza margerita and I had pizza marinara. Once you’re inside the service is very quick. The decor is very plain and there are photos on the wall of various celebrities who have dined there, such as Julia Roberts and Jude Law. It is very well known and therefore extremely busy but the pizzas are absolutely delicious.

Next we visited the Capodimonte museum. It’s an old palazzo situated on a hill above the city, in a pleasant park. It houses a huge collection of Neapolitan and other Italian paintings and is very impressive. 

There are so many paintings, but of course Caravaggio’s Flagellation of Christ stands out. It looks almost graceful at first but the underlying violence is frightening. I also thought that Botticelli’s Madonna and Child and Two Angels was amazing, I loved the expressions on their faces. I would love to return to the Capodimonte some time, because although we spent a reasonable amount of time there, there’s so much to see. 

A hair-raising taxi ride through rush hour Naples took us back to the port and our ferry back to Sorrento in the hazy twilight, in which the land and the sea were many shades of blue. 

Pasticciotti

We have been enjoying the Italian food very much on this holiday. It’s just as well that we have been walking and swimming every day to at least partly counteract the calories that we have been consuming! At breakfast we always start with fresh fruit and then head for the pastry counter, which always seems to have something new to tempt us. This morning’s treat was pasticciotti. These are tarts made of shortcrust pastry and filled with cherries and custard, then topped with glazed shortcrust pastry. They are absolutely delicious.

In Sorrento, it’s all about bread and cheese and tomatoes; the local dishes, whether they be ravioli, gnocchi or spaghetti, are filled with or covered in local cheeses and tomatoes and served with little bread rolls or sliced country bread. I love that the restaurants serve fresh food sourced in the area, and it certainly tastes good. I haven’t tried any pizza yet, but James has and said that it is excellent. James has also tried various meat and fish dishes like pork and tuna and has found them to be cooked to perfection. There are lovely salads such as insalata caprese, or prosciutto e melone. 

Desserts are specialties of the region too. Delizia al limone is an orange flavoured sponge cake with lemon cream. Tortino Caprese is a dense but moist flourless chocolate tart which is on offer at breakfast, lunch or dinner. And there is plenty of panna cotta and tiramisu on offer too. 

I don’t think I could ever get tired of eating here. 

Caponata Contadina

Today was all about swimming in the sea and the pool. The waves were a bit stronger today so as we swam along Vesuvius appeared and disappeared behind the azure water. It doesn’t seem quite as hot to me here now, but the weather forecast tells us that the temperature has remained at 27 degrees throughout our holiday, so James thinks that we’re just becoming acclimatised to the heat. This could be unfortunate if it’s cold in Scotland on our return in a week! 

Lunch on the upper terrace was caponata contadina; caponata is the sweet and sour stewed aubergines that we first tasted on Sicily, served on a thin slice of bread with little cubes of cheese scattered over it. It was very light and refreshing. I looked up “contadina” and it means a peasant woman, so I suppose that it means “rustic” referring to the bread base. 

In the afternoon we moved to the pool and listened to music, read our books and so on. Before dinner we went back to the LaVilla Café on the Piazza San Francisco Severio Gargulio for drinks; it’s the terrace along in Sorrento overlooking the sea with the bathing decks down below it. We sipped our drinks and chatted and watched all the people strolling by. Many people seemed to be particularly well-dressed this evening, some were downright glamorous. I wonder if it’s because it’s Saturday evening? 

Torta ricotta e pere

Today we had a bit of an adventure. When we were on our way to Herculaneum on Tuesday, James noticed a cableway beside the station at Castellammare di Stabia. He investigated this and found out that it provides access to Monte Faita which has lots of forest paths and viewpoints over Naples and on the other side to Sorrento with Capri beyond. So off we set this morning by train, alighted at the little station and were soon being lifted up the mountainside in the cable car. Naples was laid out below us with the blue sea sparkling, and the mountainside was covered with chestnut trees. There was hardly anybody else there, but since there’s a restaurant at the top of the cableway I presume that it must be busier in the summer season. It was beautiful up there and pleasantly cool in the dappled sunlight beneath the trees. We went for a walk towards San Michele and were rewarded with gorgeous views over the bay. There were wee pink flowers growing on the forest floor which James thinks are cyclamen, as well as pine cones strewn everywhere, bright blue butterflies flitting around and little lizards scurrying about. Then we turned and walked in the other direction down many steps (which meant having to climb back up them!) to the viewpoint at Belvedere. We had cakes and cool drinks at the little Café Sant’Angelo - mine was a ricotta and pear cake that was light and sweet. We gazed at the stunning views of Sorrento and Capri, blue and purple in the heat of the afternoon sun, the sea shining like a mirror. 

Frolla

At breakfast the waiter wanted me to try a new pastry; a sweet shortcrust pastry roll stuffed with ricotta called a frolla. It was very good, but I still like the sfogliatelle best.

We spent all day at the pool, and had lunch on the upper terrace. James wanted me to listen to the new Killers album Pressure Machine on Spotify (Ewan had recommended it to him) so I did, and I enjoyed it very much; it’s about life (and death) in small town America and each track is introduced by someone talking about their life there. It was great just lying back on the sun lounger and listening to a whole album, something I hardly ever do. This got me into browsing around Spotify and making a playlist of songs I came across that I haven’t listened to for a long time. 

So I spent the day swimming, chatting to James, reading, listening to music and taking photos with my camera (not phone camera) of the hotel gardens and sea views. Later we had dinner in the town centre and then walked around the streets in the warm evening. It was an excellent day. 

Spaghettoni alla nerano

We went to Capri today - such a beautiful island like a jewel in the Mediterranean! As soon as we arrived by ferry we bought tickets for a round-the-island boat trip which included swimming from the boat. It was great to see the island from the sea. We passed the white grotto, with its little Madonna inside on a ledge, and the emerald grotto, but we couldn’t get into the famous Blue Grotto, because it was closed today. Apparently this was because the waves were too high, which amazed me because they didn’t seem high to me at all - I presume it’s because the cave mouth is very low and narrow. There were lots of other small caves, one of which the skipper pointed out was a rather rude shape, although I wouldn’t have noticed without him exclaiming many times in English and Italian, “I won’t tell you what it looks like!” This produced much ribald laughter from the passengers, who were mostly Italians. The swim was great fun. The skipper lowered a little ladder over the side of the boat and in we went. James dived in beautifully and I was very proud of him. The water had a bit of a current so if you didn’t swim quite hard you were swept behind the boat. One man couldn’t swim fast enough and the skipper had to throw him a rope and pull him aboard! It was so refreshing and the sea was azure blue. Once we were all back in the boat we continued round the island and as we approached Capri town again, the skipper led the Italian passengers in a loud sing-song, I didn’t recognise the song at all and I forgot to ask him what it was. They certainly all enjoyed it!

We had ice cream sundaes and cool drinks in a café near the harbour; they were startlingly expensive. Then we went for a pleasant walk, winding our way up the hill to the top of Capri town, where we had even more expensive drinks in the beautiful Piazza Umberto I. What a great atmosphere it has, with little streets around it lined with designer shops, and lots of people strolling around wearing gorgeous clothes. Back down the hill we went in the funicular, and headed along the pier to where we thought our ferry would be waiting for us. However there were no signs to clarify which of the several ferries was bound for Sorrento, and then we spotted another ferry approaching and hurried round in the other direction to meet it. Well, it turned out to be the next ferry after the one we were booked on to Sorrento, and by then we were far too late to make it back to the one we should have been on before it departed. So we ended up returning half an hour later than intended, but it didn’t matter because we had no reason to rush and nobody but ourselves to please. Later on we had dinner in the wee shopping street in Sorrento and relaxed while watching the world go by. Tonight I chose spaghettoni alla nerano con pioggia do caciotta, which is spaghettoni (slightly thicker than spaghetti) with courgettes and flakes of local cheese. It was lovely; quite oily with the courgettes sliced very thin. It’s a local dish, so simple but cooked to perfection. 

Ravioli Mediterranei

We spent all day today at the hotel; the morning at the sea terrace and the afternoon at the pool. We read our books and went swimming and relaxed on the sun loungers and watched the boats go in and out of the harbour. 

In the evening we walked the short distance into the centre of town to choose a restaurant for dinner. I must say that I’m enjoying the fun of choosing different places to eat each evening this time; last time we were here we were half board. The hotel dinners were excellent but it’s nice to have a bit of variety. 

Sorrento is lively in the evenings, even though I think it’s a bit quieter this year, probably due to less tourists venturing abroad yet due to all of the extra documentation required. But there are still plenty of Italians, and we hear quite a few American accents as well as German, French and British. The shops are all open until about 10 p.m. and there are lots of restaurants, some on the main shopping streets and some down wee lanes. Tonight we were in one of the wee lanes, where the tables were in a long single row against the ancient wall of a palazzo. James chose a pizza and I chose ravioli which was gorgeous. Its full name is “Ravioli Mediterranei con datterini gialli della piana del sele, noci, zeste di limone e veli di caciottina” which is “ravioli with yellow datterini tomatoes, nuts, lemon zest and layers of caciottina cheese” It’s the best dish that I have eaten yet on this holiday! 

Frittelle di fiorilli

We visited Herculaneum today and as soon as we arrived at the visitor centre we were asked for our Covid vaccination certificates. It hadn’t even crossed our minds that we might need them apart from on our arrival in Italy, so we had left them, along with all of our other paperwork, at the hotel! We were completely dismayed, but luckily we remembered that the documentation was saved on our phones so we were allowed in! Even though Herculaneum was familiar to me because we visited it on our last trip here five years ago, I was still amazed by how well the town had been preserved by the pyroclastic flow that engulfed it so quickly in AD 79. It was a very hot day so we wandered slowly amongst the ruins of shops and villas and bath houses, where we could still see the mosaic floors, statues, and terracotta pots from two thousand years ago. 

We travelled there and back by train, and it stopped at many, many stations along the way, taking just over an hour from Sorrento. So on the way back we were happy to pay eight extra euros each to go on the “Campania Express” which pulled into the station just as we got there. However it made almost as many stops and turned out to be only five minutes faster than the normal train!

We went straight back to the hotel and into the pool for a lovely swim before going out for dinner in Sorrento, in La Favorita restaurant which was very pretty because it was full of lemon trees. I had Fritelli de fiorilli which are courgette flowers stuffed with ricotta cheese and fried; they were delicious. 

Sfogliatelle

At breakfast this morning I wandered over to the pastry table after my cheese and onion omelette (made to order) and my healthy plate of fruit. Because of Covid there is now a member of staff at each area to serve you the food, rather than the traditional “help yourself” buffet that I remember from five years ago. After choosing a croissant I hesitated over the vast array of cakes and pastries. The waitress offered me a small round pastry with lots of layers, like thin ridges. It was absolutely delicious, filled with sweetened ricotta, and I went over (suitably masked of course) to ask her what it is called. She told me that it is called sfogliatelle. 

We went down to the sea terrace in the morning and swam in the sea, which was lovely and warm, with gentle waves lifting us up and down. What beautiful views we had of the many boats travelling around the bay, to and from Ischia, Capri, Procido, Naples, and round the end of the peninsula to Amalfi and Positano. 

After a pleasant stroll around Sorrento in the afternoon I cooled off with a swim in the hotel pool before dinner. There was nobody else there at all and it was delightful. 

Insalata Caprese

Our journey to Naples Airport, and thence by taxi to our hotel in Sorrento, was straightforward. We had to wear our masks on the plane except when eating and drinking. The plane was only about half full, which certainly speeded up the process of going through border control and collecting our cases from the baggage carousel. When the pilot welcomed us aboard over the speaker system, he thanked us for going on holiday because the travel industry has been struggling so much! We arrived at the hotel at about 10 p.m. and were served supper in our room. It’s on the first floor overlooking the sea, and may be the exact same room that we had on our first visit here, 5 years ago * We could hardly believe that we had finally arrived.

This morning we woke refreshed and after breakfast we went for a stroll around Sorrento; it was all very familiar because we can remember it from our first visit five years ago. It’s such a lovely wee town with lots of little shops selling lemon-scented soaps and tea towels and bags and dresses and tablecloths and sandals. Then we came down to the pool, where we have been ever since, with Caprese salad for lunch on the nearby terrace overlooking the Bay of Naples; Vesuvius hazy in the distance. The pool is surrounded by palm trees, lemon trees, tall umbrella-shaped pine is trees, and an olive tree shading the front of the little pool bar. I carefully measured the pool using an app on my phone - it’s 16 metres long at its longest point - so that I could set the lengths for my Apple Watch workout, and I duly swam my kilometre. I really felt that I should, after the unnecessary but delicious chocolate mousse with which I finished my lunch! 

* Update - by looking a photo of James standing on the balcony (on my phone from five years ago), and then me going into the hotel garden while James stood (and danced!) on the balcony of our current room, we excitedly established that it IS the same room - room 128. 

Paperwork

Well, we’re through security and about to have a late lunch in a pub in the departures area of Manchester Airport. 

As we drove south towards Manchester we were still awaiting our Covid PCR test results from Chronomics, which is our holiday company Tui’s own test provider. We thought that this was the safest option because it is linked to the holiday company. As the miles went by there were still no results from Chronomics, even though we dropped our tests off as instructed early yesterday morning. We both started to feel very worried because without a negative result we would not be allowed to go to Italy; we both had knots in our stomachs. 

After discussing the situation we decided to book another test in case we didn’t hear anything; we booked a company online called Collinson, whose test centre is at Terminal 1. Luckily there were plenty of time slots available. We parked the car at the Clayton Hotel (it used to be Bewleys) and walked the short distance to Terminal 1. 

Things started to go better for us. We had booked an antigen test (according to current advice this is acceptable for Italy as well as a PCR) and there were no queues at the test centre and the staff were very helpful and friendly. We got our results online within half an hour (negative thank goodness!) and got them printed free at the test centre. 

We then followed the usual routine of bag drop and security, the only unusual thing being how quiet it is. And here we are, feeling a lot more relaxed. 

This is the documentation that we have with us for this holiday in addition to the usual passports and boarding cards:

Covid Antigen Test reports

NHS Records of Vaccination 

EU Digital Passenger Locator forms.

All of these required a fair amount of effort to obtain, and it has been a tad stressful for both of us. Phew! 

Packing

Due to Covid, I’m a bit out of practice in preparing for a holiday abroad, and so I have spent an unfeasible amount of time this past week making lists and packing and re-packing my case. As a result I will be extremely surprised if I have forgotten anything.

We’re currently on our way to Manchester, from where our flight to Naples is due to depart at 4.15 p.m. We’re in very good time which is just as well because we are still awaiting the results of our PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests, of which more in my next post.

I have managed to do some other activities than packing this week! Lots of swimming at the David Lloyd club, and a bit of socialising. We had dinner at Michael and Lil’s on Saturday evening, and it was so lovely to see them again after almost two years. That evening was the women’s final of the US Open, which unusually had a British finalist, the eighteen year old Emma Raducanu. Although she has been competing since a young age, her rise to the very top ranks of tennis this year has been meteoric, and she had to go through the qualifying rounds. Michael put on the tennis match in the background towards the end of dinner, which was great, because we could watch it while having dessert (delicious plum crumble) and chatting. What a match! Both young women were excellent (the other finalist was 19 year old Leylah Fernandez), however Emma won the day, the first British woman to win a grand slam title since Virginia Wade in 1977 - which I also watched! 

We went for a meal to The Ivy with Ally and Cat on Tuesday, a celebration of our last eighteen months together and possibly a farewell, because by the time we return from holiday, or soon thereafter, they will probably be in the process of moving to London. They are currently flat-hunting and are planning to make the move around the beginning of October. We will miss them very much, but we are also excited for them as they start the next phase of their lives together. 

Reunions

It was great to see Margaret on Thursday, who has been home to sort out her Dad’s house now that it has been sold. We went to the David Lloyd Centre for a swim and then had coffee and went to the spa. We had such a good chat, it was really nice to have the time together. Back home, James had set the table and we had dinner with Ally and Cat, and a pleasant evening sitting talking in the back room. 

I needed to take Tom to the vet for his annual jag on Friday; he was absolutely horrified when I carried him downstairs and put him into the travel carrier. When we set off in the car he started crying in his seldom-used croaky little voice. The vet gave him a good check over and pronounced him to be in good health, I can hardly believe that he’s almost seven years old. He was very happy to get home and went outside to lie on the slabs and relax. 

We had lunch with Alison and Bill at Vin18, the first time we have met up with them for almost two years. I have been in touch with Alison during this time but we still had lots of family news to catch up on, and it was lovely to see them in person. It was also good to go to my Burnside book club at Lesley’s house in the evening, where we discussed “Hamnet” by Maggie O’Farrell.

I don’t know what Covid still may have in store for us but it’s very nice that life is currently returning more and more towards normal. It even looks like our holiday to Sorrento will be going ahead next Friday (fingers crossed); we will have to get PCR tests just before we go, and then just before we come back, but a few weeks ago I was pretty sure that it would be cancelled. I won’t be completely convinced that we’re really going until the plane takes off! 

Sunny September

It’s very warm and sunny still, and I have continued to swim a lot in the outside pool at the David Lloyd Club. Today was particularly hot and I enjoyed slipping into the refreshingly cool water for my swim. However the good weather is apparently not to last; thunder and lightning are forecast and when I was driving along the motorway today I noticed that the overhead sign said “Yellow Warning - Heavy Rain forecast” which was hard to believe with not a cloud in the sky!

Yesterday evening we had another impromptu barbecue which was very pleasant, the second in a week, ably cooked by Ally. I do enjoy a barbecue; not for its dubious (although sometimes surprisingly good) culinary results, but for its social and familial qualities, and its association with warm summer evenings. 

We have also eaten out twice this week; Ally and Cat invited us to join them for tea at Ibrox on Monday. I haven’t been there for years and it was really nice; a hearty meal and very friendly waitresses, as well as excellent views of the floodlit football pitch below us. 

And then this evening (although you can’t really call 4.30 pm evening!) James and I went to Six by Nico to sample their “Amalfi Coast” tasting menu. It was all delicious and beautifully cooked, with the added attraction of the Amalfi cuisine reminding us of where we hope to be next week! 

A cycle from Dundee to Broughty Ferry

Davie took me on an amazing cycle on Sunday. Mindful of his old Mum’s doubts about cycling up hills, he chose the very flat route along the Tay to Broughty Ferry and back. He has a spare bicycle so all I needed to take with me was Jamie’s ancient cycle helmet (mine is in Ullapool with my bike). We set off from his flat and at first I was very nervous; his spare bicycle was quite big and even with the saddle completely lowered it was borderline too high for my “little legs” as Eric used to say about Ernie. 

However I was encouraged that the streets leading down to the docks were almost completely empty of traffic on this sunny Sunday morning, or pedestrianised, and soon we were whizzing along the cycle path beside the railway line and through the docks area. We emerged onto a long straight stretch which took us right into Broughty Ferry with its Sandy beach and lots of sailing boats on the water. 

The weather was perfect; sunny with a little breeze and not too hot for me; I really loved it. Davie is an excellent cyclist and waited for me if I fell behind, but in fact I made quite good speed. I fell off my bike at one point when we stopped, I was too late in putting my foot on the ground, but there was no damage to me or the bike. We saw an art installation called “The Feathers” designed by Katie Watt beside the path, and had lunch sitting outside a gorgeous wee pub called “The Ship Inn” and had a nice chat. On our way back we saw lots of people water skiing in the harbour, instead of being towed by boats, they were being towed along by overhead lines. 

I fell off my bike again just outside Davie’s flat, again losing my balance as I was stopping. This time I got a fright because as I fell I was convinced that I was going to break something, but Davie helped me up and apart from a grazed elbow I was absolutely fine! And so was the bike I’m glad to say - it’s already quite old and scratched so Davie didn’t think I had made it any worse. The cycle was 16 km and I was very happy to have done it. I really should cycle more often, which is what I always say after enjoying a cycle trip!

Davie made me a coffee and then I set off home, listening to an audiobook (by Dawn O’Porter). It was a great day. 

Oh Annette! And a robin.

Ally and Cat decided to go to see the film “Annette” whose story and music were written by Ron and Russell Mael of Sparks. It was mentioned in the Sparks documentary that we saw at the beginning of August. Ally and Cat kindly invited us along and also treated us to dinner beforehand at Sarti’s. 

The film was a surreal experience! It starred Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, and Simon Helberg (Wolowitz from the Big Bang Theory). What can I say? The actors worked their socks off; their dialogue was 99% sung and the lyrics were extremely repetitive, so for example Driver and Cotillard had to sing the lyric “We love each other so much” about a hundred times during a long sex scene where Adam Driver literally had to come up for air at one point to sing before getting back to business. The main characters’ child was portrayed by a marionette which I think was meant to look sweet and innocent but instead looked a bit creepy, which generated a bit of laughter from the audience and prompted one audience member to say loudly “Aw nooo!” as it sidled through a doorway. Even the death scenes were a tad comical. 

And yet I thoroughly enjoyed it! Full marks to Ron and Russell Mael for daring to be different and the film was whimsical and full of symbolism. And we talked about it all the way home in the car, it’s one of those puzzling films that stay in your mind long after you have watched it.

And so to the robin. James woke early on Friday morning to hear the tell-tale noises of scuffling which meant that one of the cats had captured an unfortunate creature and brought it home on a deadly play date. He found a seemingly dead robin sprawled on its front at the foot of the bed, with a wide-eyed Flora pouncing on it. It was very early so rather than dispose of it immediately, James put the waste paper basket upside down over it to prevent Flora from dismembering it, and went back to bed. When he woke up again he heard little noises inside the basket and sure enough the robin was hopping about and pooping on the carpet. He carefully took it outside and put it on the shed roof, from where it hopped onto the fence and allegedly gave him a look of gratitude before flying away. The most remarkable thing is that it was so unscathed when so many of its feathers had been left in our bedroom! 

A bit of New Zealand in Dundee

And just like that we’re in September. It’s not feeling autumnal yet though, in fact the good weather is continuing, very warm with blue skies. Yesterday evening we had a barbecue in the garden, which was Ally’s excellent idea, and it was all very tasty.

I met Kathryn’s wee grandsons yesterday while having coffee at her house, they are very cute little boys; Archie is nearly three and Hamish is four months old. 

And today I went through to Dundee to see Chanel, who will be starting back at school in Manchester next week. We had lunch in a great wee New Zealand bistrot called The Bach, which really felt just like the places that Jamie has taken us to In Dunedin. Then we had coffee at the Blend Café, where Chanel showed me how to knit. I haven’t knitted since I was in primary school, so probably about 50 years ago. But although I was pretty terrible to start with, it did spark some distant memories and I really enjoyed it. One of the baristas asked if she could take our photo for their Facebook page - at last I am famous!