Between Christmas and New Year

The time between Christmas and New Year always feels to me like a strange no-man’s-land, when it’s hard even to remember what day of the week it is. However during this time we were invited to some very pleasant social occasions.

On the 27th Heather and Ewan invited us to go for a walk and then for an early curry at 5 p.m. This sounded like a splendid idea and I suggested that we go for a walk in Mugdock Park. I even printed off a map but there was no need, Heather knew her way about very well and if there was any doubt James whipped out his phone and consulted his Ordnance Survey App. Although it was a dreich day the proper rain held off for about 95% of our walk which was very lucky. We walked for an impressive 14 km, by the end of which I was just beginning to feel my legs getting tired, so it was a good length. Near the end of the walk we found ourselves at a dead end where the road was blocked off with fencing and stone walls. Rather than walk all the way back to the way we should have gone (which admittedly wasn’t very far!) we opted to climb over the wall to the pavement of the main road. James went first and prepared to steady the rest of us as we dropped down. Heather and I scrambled over unscathed although we got our fleeces a bit dirty on the wall. However as Ewan swung his leg over the walk, he pulled a muscle in his thigh and had to retreat. I happened to take a photo at the very moment that this happened and it was unintentionally very amusing; in the snapshot James is oblivious, Ewan’s face is a study as he realises what has happened to his leg, and Heather (who doesn’t yet know what has happened) is laughing heartily in the background. Luckily the pain in Ewan’s leg eased off as he continued walking. Back at Heather and Ewan‘s we had pre-dinner drinks before heading down to our favourite Indian restaurant, Rasoi. Alistair and Andrew both joined us, and the six of us had an absolutely delicious meal, chatting and laughing all the way. It was really nice to spend the time with our close friends, walking and relaxing together at this festive time of year.

Christine and Gerry invited us to Dunlop for lunch on Tuesday 28th, and to an Archery session beforehand at Crawfurdland Castle. It was the perfect activity for a rather grey day at the end of December. There were eight of us including Cat’s lovely 82-year-old uncle Dave, who turned out to be one of the best of us at archery. Cats brother Euan is home visiting from Canada (for the first time in more than two years due to Covid travel restrictions) and he also turned out to be extremely good at archery, having used to compete in it at a high level. The rest of us just did our best! The instructor was very pleasant and encouraging, although she seemed a little nervous when she realised just what an expert Euan is and kept consulting him on whether she was doing things correctly. After a few practice rounds we entered into several different competitions which were great fun. James and I (we chose “The Hoods” as our team name) didn’t disgrace ourselves, however we were nowhere near the amazing score of the winning team of Gerry and Ewan, who had rather confidently (and prematurely) named their team “The Winners”, although it did turn out to be appropriate! The last competition was an elimination round where we had to aim for different circles on the target . It ended up being a shootout between father and daughter as Gerry and Cat were the only two left in. Cat was the eventual winner. Back in Dunlop we had a delicious lunch prepared by Christine and Cat and then repaired to the lounge for a very convivial afternoon beside the warm wood-burning stove, where there was much chat and hilarity.