Thursday 30 December 2021
Between Christmas and New Year
Sunday 26 December 2021
Christmas Cheer
Tuesday 21 December 2021
An evening with Rick Wakeman
Monday 20 December 2021
Not quite Christmas as usual
Saturday 18 December 2021
Goodbye to Longannet
Thursday 16 December 2021
I love Manchester
Friday 10 December 2021
Bookcases
No-one Loves Me
Good Bones by Maggie Smith
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways, a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways I’ll keep from my children.
The world is at least fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged, sunk in a lake.
Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind stranger, there is one who would break you, though I keep this from my children.
I am trying to sell them the world. Any decent realtor, walking you through a real shithole, chirps on about good bones: This place could be beautiful, right?
You could make this place beautiful.
Sunday 5 December 2021
An unexpectedly excellent day
Racked with guilt for not accompanying James to Australian Pink Floyd yesterday, I was determined to accompany him to the Hill-walking club’s annual Mince Pies Outing today. I was worried that I would still be feeling under the weather after my Covid booster, but I woke up feeling much better. We met the others (there were fourteen of us) at the Faerie Tree Inn in Aberfoyle, and had breakfast rolls and coffee before setting out on our various walks. While the majority of the group set off to climb a nearby Marilyn up past the David Marshall Lodge, Iris, Hilary and I went on a very pleasant low level walk around picturesque Lochan Spling. Well not quite all the way around it, because there were quite a few trees blocking the path after the recent high winds. It was a beautiful day; cold and crisp with blue skies. As we walked along who did we meet but Liz from my book club, also out for a walk with two friends on this lovely morning. It’s a small world! We ended up walking about 8 km and arrived back at the Faerie Tree Inn not long before the others. And then of course we had mince pies and mulled wine and Santa even made an appearance! I gave my “Hill-walking Quiz” which I think went down well, and Bob did his raffle. It was a fun and festive occasion. When I got home I was absolutely exhausted and am blogging in my cosy bed.
Saturday 4 December 2021
Out of sorts
Monday 29 November 2021
Bladesmithing
Sunday 28 November 2021
Dinner party and Sunday lunch
Saturday 27 November 2021
Storm Arwen
Tuesday 23 November 2021
The cats have a trying journey
Thursday 18 November 2021
Wind and gutters
Monday 15 November 2021
From Ullapool to Edinburgh
Saturday 13 November 2021
Rainbow over Loch Dubh
Friday 12 November 2021
COP26 continues
Thursday 11 November 2021
Armistice Day
Wednesday 10 November 2021
The Pie Run
Tuesday 9 November 2021
Forest Walk
Sunday 7 November 2021
Tom and Flora arrive in Ullapool
Thursday 4 November 2021
Catching up with a friend
Tuesday 2 November 2021
November Miscellany
Friday 29 October 2021
Goodbye London!
Here we are waiting to take off on our flight from Gatwick to Glasgow. It should have taken off a couple of minutes ago but it came in late (from Basel) and people are still boarding. This gives me time to write a quick blog post. Our last day in London has been very pleasant. We went for a tour of the Royal Courts of Justice with Cat; unfortunately Ally was too busy at work to join us, he had hoped to take a half day of holiday. The tour was very interesting although it was interrupted by one of the tour members fainting - luckily one of the duty police officers outside one of the court rooms caught her before she hit the floor. We had lunch in a wee Pret A Manger then Cat went off to view a flat and we headed to Piccadilly where we bought tea and chocolates in Fortnum and Masons and browsed in Waterstones before taking the tube back to St Paul’s. We had time for a last quick drink in Madison. Ally’s new office is right beside St Paul’s so we had a quick look over there from the roof terrace but we couldn’t see him at any of the windows! Soon it was time to retrieve our case from the Premier Inn and to take the train from Farringdon Station to Gatwick Airport.
Thursday 28 October 2021
Diagon Alley
Wednesday 27 October 2021
Abbey and Palace and Globe oh my!
Tuesday 26 October 2021
Hokusai at the British Museum
Today we had our traditional breakfast in Prêt à Manger in lovely Paternoster Square, then walked to the British Museum, which we have rejoined in the anticipation of a few visits to London over the next year.
We went to the Hokusai exhibition and were gratified that, as members, we were allowed just to swan in even though it was fully booked. I enjoyed the exhibition very much; it consisted of 103 very intricate and beautiful brush drawings, so detailed and amazing. The drawings were intended for an encyclopaedia to be called “The Great Picture Book of Everything” which was never published (if it had been, these drawings would have been destroyed as part of the print-making process) and covered many subjects such as animals, birds, Japanese legends, stories of Buddha and more. He was such a great artist. His famous work “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” was also on display, of which the British museum has three versions - I didn’t realise (until today!) that it was a woodblock print and that the versions differ according to how worn the woodblocks were by the time each print was made. There were originally about 5000 but many have been lost or damaged over the years.
Monday 25 October 2021
Much walking in London
Ally leaves Cambuslang
Saturday 23 October 2021
Davie leaves Dundee
Monday 18 October 2021
Davie’s Football Birthday
Thursday 14 October 2021
Bond, James Bond
Tuesday 12 October 2021
October visit to Ullapool
Friday 8 October 2021
Two concerts
Sunday 3 October 2021
A Robin
Friday 1 October 2021
Tortino Caprese con gelato alla vaniglia
Thursday 30 September 2021
Casareccio alla Genovese
Wednesday 29 September 2021
Piatto di frutti di mare
Tuesday 28 September 2021
Cornetto alla Nutella
Monday 27 September 2021
Pizza Marinara
Sunday 26 September 2021
Pasticciotti
Saturday 25 September 2021
Caponata Contadina
Friday 24 September 2021
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.