Best Big Birthday ever!

I can’t believe that I’m 60! How lucky I am to have reached this age! And what a lovely day I have had so far. It had snowed overnight so I woke to gorgeous wintry scenes with snow quite far down the hills opposite the cottage; I really like it when it snows on my birthday because there was a lot of snow on the day that I was born. After breakfast I was planning a quiet day while the young folk were talking about going up Ullapool Hill, when Cat turned to me and said, “You could come with us?”

I haven’t been taking much (any!) exercise since I broke my arm; it has been very painful so not conducive to striding out anywhere. However when Cat suggested that I accompany them I suddenly realised that this was exactly what I should do on my 60th. So, with a little trepidation, I set off up the hill. My gorgeous girls Cat and Chanel walked at my slower pace, claiming that it suited them too, and chatted to me the whole way. Davie & James took a longer route, and met us near the top. It was a really pleasant walk, and I was so glad that I did it, it felt like a very positive start to my next decade. The views at the top were pleasingly monochrome with snow capping the hills as far as the eye could see. 

Cat had ordered a birthday cake for me with a photo of me with my four boys on it! She had then decorated it further with chocolate icing. It was absolutely delicious and everyone sang Happy Birthday to me. What a great day! 

Blowing a hoolie

Well here we are back in Ullapool and the weather is absolutely horrible; very wet and windy. James and I drove up yesterday afternoon with the cats and switched on the heating and lit the fire to warm up the cottage. This morning we did a food shopping at Tesco for the next few days; we are going to spend the end of 2022 and the start of 2023 here with Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel. From there we walked down to the front to look at the progress of the construction work there, at which point the rain became even heavier and we scuttled to the shelter of the Bothy café for lunch. When we turned the corner from West Shore Street into West Lane the wind blew the rain hard right into our faces. It was very cosy in The Bothy and our table was right beside the wood-burning stove. Now we’re back in the cottage where James has lit the fire.

Update in evening: Davie and Chanel have arrived safely in Ullapool despite snow falling heavily around Aviemore and lying on the road between Inverness and Ullapool. 

Sticky toffee puddings

Ally and Cat had planned to go hill-walking today, however the weather was absolutely appalling; heavy rain battering down relentlessly. This meant that they were available to join us for an early dinner at ours with Christine and Gerry, which was very pleasant, but it was a pity that they didn’t get to spend the bank holiday outdoors as they had wished. Davie was unwell and spent the whole day in bed, possibly with the flu. I checked in on him and brought him drinks and lemsips, he wasn’t hungry at all, and I felt worried about him. 

All of the three courses that we made for dinner turned out well. James made carrot and coriander soup to start, and I had made a venison casserole which seemed to go down well with the boys; Cat, Christine and I had a mushroom stew with crème fraîche and paprika. However the pièce de resistance was the dessert of sticky toffee puddings. It’s a long time since I have made these and they turned out very well if I say so myself! I had worried that they looked rather dark but they were delicious, as was the sauce that was poured over them. I kept one aside for Chanel when she returns from Warrington because it’s her favourite dessert. Good food and good conversation made it a very happy afternoon and evening. 

Boxing Day with the Rennies

James, Ally, Davie and I travelled through to Abigail and Graeme’s today for Boxing Day lunch. Today would have been my lovely Uncle Bill’s 83rd birthday had he not died in October. If he had lived to be 83 he would have lived a longer life than both of his parents as well as all of his siblings, however his mother (my grandmother) was slightly older than him when she died. I will always remember Bill’s distinctive and very pleasant voice; his speech often punctuated with a little laugh on the intake of breath. We all missed him at the lunch, and he was mentioned often throughout the meal, but it was still a very upbeat, happy afternoon. As well as Abigail and Graeme, Katy, Janie and Julie were there. Robert should have been there but is unwell, in fact he was in hospital last week. It was good for Ally and Davie to spend time with some of the Rennie side of the family in a small group to get to know them better, because they usually see them in a cast of thousands at larger family occasions. I was proud of both of them, they were charming and polite. Julie (who is a physiotherapist) warned me that I have been doing too much with my broken wrist and said that I should wear my wrist support more. I have been lifting and carrying casserole dishes and trays of food and drink a great deal over Christmas; James would have done this for me if I had asked, but he was also busy serving and carrying food, so rather than wait for him I would just do it myself, which with hindsight was foolish: my wrist is now sorer than it was when the cast was taken off. I have resolved to be more careful.

Abigail’s house is warm and inviting, which is just as well because it was cold and dreich outside, and a convivial family lunch was an excellent way to spend the afternoon. 

Christmas Festivities

Merry Christmas from Casa Anderson. We have had a really lovely day, all about family and tradition. Santa did indeed visit us and left presents for James and I as well as the young ones. We opened them under the tree and then dashed around to get ready in time for Forrest, Marjory, Jenny, Neil and Lucy arriving for our Christmas morning meet up. We had champagne and sausage rolls (both meat and veggie!) and then Christmas cake and coffee and we all chatted and exchanged yet more gifts. I reflected on how lucky we are to be safe and warm on Christmas morning. 

We watched the King’s Speech at 3 p.m. it gave me a pang to hear God Save the King instead of the Queen. Charles made a good job of his first Christmas address as monarch; he kept it short and sweet, and he broadcast it from St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. After raising our glasses to the King it was time for dinner. Christmas dinner went very well, there were no culinary disasters and Ally, Davie and Chanel were very complimentary about the meal. We had a rest before dessert, and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the lounge, playing board games and generally relaxing. I didn’t play the first one, Betrayal in the House on the Hill, because it’s quite complicated. However I was persuaded to join in Codenames, which was great fun and very lively, we had a such a good laugh. 

However someone wasn’t all that happy; our Flora. She is a creature of routine and was most dissatisfied that we were in the lounge instead of the living room. Tom wasn’t bothered at all and came and went as he pleased all day, but Flora did a bit of shouting and when Ally took her to the utility room to see if she wanted food, she asked to get into the living room and was most annoyed when Ally returned to the lounge. She’s a funny wee creature. And so another Christmas is over. We felt the absence of our parents, and we also missed our Jamie (who is having a sunny seaside Christmas with the Appletons in Waiheke Island), however it has been a really great day, both fun and relaxing.

Elf and Cooking

Ally and Davie went to the butchers at 10 a.m. to collect the turkey that we had ordered, as well as gravy, two kinds of stuffing, and chipolata sausages. Ordering the turkey from our local butcher is a Christmas tradition of Grandma’s, and going down to the butcher’s at the beginning of December to order the turkey reminds me of her. I miss her especially at this time of year. 

We went into town for a bite to eat before going to see Elf at the St Enoch Centre Vue cinema. I haven’t been there before because it’s fairly new, and it’s very smart with recliner seats. Andrew came along too, after lunch with Ally, and after the film we went to Sloan’s for drinks. We were lucky to get a nice wee table where we all chatted. Andrew was telling me that he has recently finished reading “A la Recherche du Temps Perdu” and I look forward to discussing it with him. Andrew and I share a love for Russian writers too; I think that he likes Chekhov best, as do I, but I’m developing a taste for Turgenev. 

Home from town we got down to some serious preparation. James stuffed and sewed up the turkey, and made the sherry trifle (to Grandma’s recipe of course.) Chanel made some lovely ginger biscuits in the shape of Christmas jumpers which we decorated later, and I made sticky toffee puddings which turned out a bit messy but tasted good. Ally made a steak dinner and we ate it while watching quiz shows on television. 

The young ones laid out their stockings at bedtime, and hopefully Santa will remember to visit Casa Anderson during the night! 

The Burrell

I have only been to the Burrell once since it reopened earlier this year, and it’s many years since Davie has been. Chanel has never visited it. So it seemed like a good venue for a wee pre-Christmas outing. And indeed it was, it’s an interesting collection of miscellaneous artefacts that caught William Burrell’s fancy on his travels, although James rather harshly refers to it as a jumble sale! We started off with a light lunch in the café, and then went for a wander around the galleries, chatting and using the interactive games which were good fun. There was a particularly lovely tapestry which I hadn’t noticed before, embroidered with a field of flowers among which lurked dragons and griffins and a creature with a dragon’s body and a chicken’s head which is called a “cockatrice.”

Then it was time to do the last of the Christmas food shopping; I went to both Sainsbury’s and Marks and Spencer’s at Kingsgate to get the last few items I needed for Christmas dinner, and also some venison for a casserole that I made later, for the Reid’s’ lunch on the 27th. Both shops were busy but not unreasonably so, and I felt quite efficient as I drove home in the happy knowledge that all of my festive errands are done. 

Casablanca

James and I watched Casablanca this afternoon, while Davie and Chanel were wrapping their presents in the lounge. It was excellent from start to finish. It was released in 1942 and I can hardly believe that it’s eighty years old! It has aged really well, and it’s amazing that it was made during the 2nd World War, when the outcome of the war was by no means clear. I enjoyed its many iconic lines and of course its famous song “As Time Goes By.” Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall were brilliant, but I think that Claude Rains stole the show as the cheerfully corrupt but good-hearted chief of police. To my surprise James had never seen it before and he loved it. 

Earlier in the day we went to May Anderson’s funeral, she had a good and long life, born in 1934, but it was still a sad occasion, especially for her four daughters and her grandchildren. I didn’t know (until the eulogy today) that her mother had died the day after she was born. May loved music and we left the service to “Unforgettable” sung by Nat King Cole. 

Wrapping

This afternoon James and I wrapped all of the Christmas presents in the lounge. James put on some Christmas music and lit the fire, and we had a very pleasant and productive time. Apart from one gift that I’m still waiting to be delivered, we have now purchased, wrapped and labelled every present. We have had most of our Christmas food delivered too, although we have a few bits and bobs to pick up. 

Flora didn’t have such a nice day as we did. It was time for her annual jag so I took her to the vet just before lunch time. I got the cat basket down off the shelf very quietly so that she wouldn’t suspect, but she’s so clever that she knew something was up, and was just heading under our bed to hide when I managed to scoop her up and took her downstairs to the basket. We didn’t have to wait long at the vets; she got her jag and was declared healthy. She has not put on any more weight, which is good. The young vet gave her a couple of Dreamies after her jag, and she looked down at them and then up at the vet with absolute contempt, as if to say, “How dare you try to placate me with cat treats?” She was very glad to get home, and when Davie and Chanel arrived home from their Christmas shopping she snuggled into David’s lap. 

Chocolate!

Today was a very special day. Christine collected me, Cat and Chanel at 10 a.m. to take us to a mystery destination, for a girls’ day out to celebrate my 60th birthday. Christine had organised the whole thing in collaboration with Cat, and did all the driving on this rather wet day. We headed north up the A9 and stopped at Perthshire Foods for a bit of shopping and an early lunch. I have never been there before and the gift shop is absolutely lovely, with lots of festive and unusual items. Lunch was great, with friendly staff, and it was just as well that Christine had booked a table because it got very busy. Then onwards to our special treat - a chocolate tasting at the Highland Chocolatier near Pitlochry. What a brilliant idea from the Reid girls! It was fun from beginning to end. First we had an audio described tour of the premises, and then we were ushered to the table where our “chocolate flights” were laid out for us. Christine had cleverly ordered two dark and two milk chocolate flights, which meant that we could share them and get double the tasting experience. The tasting was also audio described, and as the narrator (who is the owner) deplored the quality of “tasteless supermarket chocolate” for the umpteenth time we couldn’t help but have a wee smile at each other! The chocolates were laid out in order on a placemat, which gave descriptions of each but left out one or two flavours, which meant that we really had to concentrate to try to discern what we were tasting. The flavours were carefully thought out and unusual; for example raspberry paired with a just a little black pepper to bring out the flavour. I won’t mention any other ingredients in case one of my readers wishes to visit the Highland Chocolatier themselves - which I would thoroughly recommend. What a fun afternoon we had. Of course we ended up in the shop where we purchased some of our favourite chocolate. And then sadly it was time to depart, and Christine took us safely home despite being held up by a traffic jam caused by an accident near Perth. I had a brilliant time. 

Hilarious

What a fun day we have had. It was our annual Christmas meet up with La Famille Black, and we started off with an excellent lunch at The Anchor Line in St Vincent Street. Jennifer joined us for lunch since Ryan was unfortunately indisposed, and then we walked down to our traditional Christmas haunt, Metropolitan, where Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel were waiting for us. As well as Ryan, Andrew was also absent; he is still in London and he was very much missed by all of us. They had already ordered some cocktails and we had such a great afternoon; everyone was on good form and at one point my face actually felt sore from laughing, as Jennifer recounted some stories from our Tuscany holidays in the 1990s and early 2000s. It was really gratifying that the young people have such good memories of their Tuscan adventures, and at one point I felt quite emotional as they reminisced about a photo scavenger hunt that I had organised for them, and talked about what fun it was. They also all made me laugh by insisting that I am notorious in the family for unintentionally revealing “spoilers” for films that I have watched; I didn’t know that I had this reputation but it’s probably a fair cop!

My arm was very achey all afternoon; the nurse at the fracture clinic had warned me not to wear my splint too much, but with hindsight I should probably have worn it for a lengthy afternoon in town. I took some painkillers which helped a bit. I also had terrible heartburn after my big lunch; Cat and Chanel ordered peppermint tea for me and Jennifer even popped out to Tesco to get me some Rennie’s heartburn tablets. These kind actions brought me quick relief from the burning symptoms and enabled me to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Meanwhile, on a big screen in the main part of the Old Fruitmarket, the young ones were able to keep a sideways eye on the progress of the World Cup Final between Argentina and France. Argentina won on penalties. 

After a convivial afternoon (and indeed early evening!) with lovely family and friends, we picked up a curry on the way home and watched a Disney film called “Disenchanted” which was very pleasant. It was very cosy in the television room and Cat made us all hot chocolate. By this time everyone was very tired and started heading in ones and twos to bed. Strangely, although I’m sure partly due to co-codamol, my arm was feeling better than it had all day, so I felt able to whisk round and tidy up and mop the kitchen floor before I went to bed. What a lovely day. 

Seasonal Festivities commence

The cold snap has receded somewhat, although it’s still chilly and dreich and icy in places. Yesterday Ally and Cat arrived in Glasgow by train, very late due to delays caused by the train strikes (which still disrupted travel even though Thursday wasn’t officially a strike day.) Their 5.30 p.m. train was cancelled and they finally left London at about 9 p.m. In fact it would be more accurate to say that they actually arrived very early this morning, at about 2.30 a.m. They had very kindly insisted that they would get a taxi from Central Station to Cambuslang rather than us collecting them, and by the time they arrived we were so fast asleep that we didn’t even hear them come in. It was nice to wake up this morning to find them safely arrived. 

Then this afternoon Davie and Chanel arrived by car from Manchester, Chanel’s school term having finished yesterday. It is lovely to have a houseful of young people, and we celebrated by all watching a film together; “Spirited” starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds. It’s sort of a modern take on the Scrooge story, with some really good original ideas. It is also a musical, with much singing and energetic dancing. We all enjoyed it, and it seemed like an appropriate way to start our festive time together. 

It has been a festive week; on Wednesday I had brunch with Jackie at the Ivy in Buchanan Street. We had such a lovely chat and she insisted on treating me as my 60th birthday present! Then last night I had my EK Book Club Christmas night out. We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” at Elaine’s house, except that some of the girls talked throughout the film which was kind of annoying. I shall not name names! We then had an excellent dinner at Arigo in East Kilbride village which redeemed the evening, and Don kindly gave Elaine and me a lift home. And then we had lunch at Hilary and Steven’s today, Heidi and Alex were there too and there was much chat and laughter. I took a musical box filled with chocolates and shaped like a balalaika for Hilary and Steven to put in their Dacha. They were very pleased with it. 

Also yesterday I went to my five week appointment at the fracture clinic, where I had my plaster removed. Boy is it stiff and sore! The nurse assured me that the bones are healed and that the pain is due to my arm being immobilised for five weeks. I have a list of excruciating exercises to do, and hopefully my arm will feel better soon. 

Frosty

It’s very cold! When we woke up this morning, the weather station told us that the temperature was -8 degrees, and that during the night it had dipped to below -10 degrees! Christine told me that in Dunlop, which is more rural, the temperature in the morning was -12 degrees. Although there hasn’t been much snow, * just a dusting really, the pavements are very icy and treacherous. Flora sensibly spent most of the day on our bed, but adventurous Tom made various expeditions into the frozen outdoors and returned with cold fur and feet. When James came in from his walk we made our way carefully along the treacherous pavements to Elfie Trees and chose our Christmas tree. The elves (because yes, the staff do have to dress as elves) looked very cold too. Alison T came round in the afternoon for coffee and we had a cosy time chatting beside the fire. I got a really lovely message from Andrew about the book that I recommended to him recently; “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain” by George Saunders. Andrew had loved it as much as I did, which I knew he would. The cold snap is to continue for the next few days but I think that it has passed its very lowest point. 

* however Ally and Cat have had some proper snow in London, and sent us beautiful photos of snow falling onto the Thames, and film of Ally throwing a snowball at Cat! 

Update on Wednesday morning - how wrong I was! We woke up to -10 degrees so even lower than yesterday, and a winter wonderland of frost on grass, houses and trees contrasting with beautiful blue skies! 

Winter fun in Manchester

And now I’m on the train homewards from Manchester to Glasgow; speeding past frozen landscapes in the north of England. I have had a lovely weekend with Davie and Chanel. We watched England playing in the World Cup quarter final against France on Saturday evening; unfortunately they lost but they played really well and nearly equalised several times. While watching the match we ate a delicious curry from Mrs A’s, Davie and Chanel treated me and also gave me the little cloth bag saying “Mrs A” that it came in! 

On Sunday I had a girls’ lunch with Chanel and her Mum, Rick. We went to a restaurant in Warrington called The Botanist which had great food, and chatted all afternoon. And then this morning Davie and I met up for a winter walk in Manchester which was very pleasant, there were big slabs of ice floating on the canals and the air was freezing the inside of my nose. We visited a new project in Castlefield which is the oldest, Roman part of Manchester. It’s a disused railway track across a Victorian viaduct, which is being converted into an urban nature walkway, reminiscent of New York’s High Line, although currently much shorter. It’s still in the early stages of development but already very impressive, and could be extended further. On this chilly December morning we had it almost to ourselves and it was really attractive, with a wee visitor room and young enthusiastic National Trust staff. 

David very caringly made sure that I was headed towards the correct train at Manchester Piccadilly station, and we said our farewells. There are delays on various trains due to the cold weather but so far my train is only running a few minutes late and should hopefully arrive in Glasgow around 6 p.m.*

* I did arrive on time and got straight on a low level train; James picked me up from the station and I was in the house just after 6.30 p.m. I felt as if I had ridden home on the crest of the wave of weather delays and train strikes! 

Train to Manchester

I’m blogging on the train to Manchester, on the way to see David and Chanel for the weekend. I left Glasgow in the frozen darkness early this morning, but here in the Lake District it is sunny and very pretty on the trans-Pennine express. The fields are frosty, glistening in the sunshine. It has been a social and Christmassy week. On Wednesday James and Gordon spent the afternoon at the Brew School at Innes & Gunn in Ashton Lane, where they had a fun time. We had a coffee in Byres Road first, and when the boys went to make their beer I had a wander round the shops before heading home. Then on Thursday I had lunch with Ally W which was lovely, I was hearing all about her exciting plans for South Africa in the new year. We ate in a new wee café in Dumbarton Road called Derby and the waitresses were really friendly although they managed to get both of our orders spectacularly wrong! They were very apologetic (in fact they wouldn’t stop apologising!) and gave us free coffee. I still can’t drive of course due to my plaster cast but it was very easy to get to Ally’s by direct train from Cambuslang to Exhibition Centre. 

I found myself on the train again last night as I travelled to Christine’s Choir Christmas concert in Kilmarnock. Gerry picked me up from Dunlop Station and drove me the rest of the way. I haven’t been to the concert since before Covid and it was lovely to attend it again. There were many familiar carols and a few that were new to me, a good mix. Gerry and Christine very kindly insisted on driving me all the way home afterwards which was very much out of their way but was great for me to get home in time for a nice early night, ready for my early start this morning. 

I was a bit worried that I might sleep in this morning, without James to wake me up! James left on Thursday for a hill-walking weekend based in Ullapool, with Cornel and Kenny. It just as well that the cottage in Ullapool is cosy, because it’s cold everywhere this weekend, but especially in the north.

So I set my alarm for 7 a.m. to make sure that I was in plenty of time for the 9.09 a.m. train from Glasgow Central to Manchester. When I arrived at Cambuslang station it turned out that all of the trains on the Argyll line were delayed, so I took the advice of the station manager and jumped on a bus: this went very well and I got into Central in good time for my train. The train was strangely quiet considering that most seats had “reserved” signs - where were the people? At first there was just me and a group of pleasant young girls who offered to share their Prosecco with me! It gradually busied up from Carlisle onwards, and a party atmosphere ensued, but then there was an announcement; because of an earlier (unspecified) incident, the train is short staffed and will terminate at Preston. I will need to change there to a slightly later train. Oh well. 

Seaplane!

On Tuesday James and I had an exciting day. It was really James’ exciting day, with me tagging along, because we were going on a seaplane flight, which was Heather & Ewan’s 60th Birthday present to James back in January. This was our second attempt; the first time that we booked it we got a message that morning to say that the cloud was too low and the flight was cancelled. Yesterday however we woke to blue skies and were very excited.

It didn’t take long to drive to Cameron House Hotel on Loch Lomond, the first time I have been there. I was very impressed with the hotel and the spa looked good too. We had time for a quick coffee before strolling down to the jetty for the flight. Neither of us have ever been on a seaplane flight before and it was fantastic fun. How strange it was to take off from the water; we could see the wake from the floats as we skimmed along, and then suddenly we were up and away. We circled round Loch Lomond and then headed west across the Clyde Estuary, passed Gigha, the north of Bute and out to Jura. It was absolutely amazing. The slanting winter sunshine lit up the hills and sea beautifully, and also accentuated the shadows of trees and paths and even sheep! It was such a gorgeous day. We did a wide turn past Jura and headed back to Loch Lomond, passing over Tarbert Loch Fyne which looked very pretty. We descended steeply onto Loch Lomond and taxied back to the jetty. What a trip and what a treat! We had lunch at the hotel, looking on to the loch and discussing our flight. 

Such a good cat

When Tom had his annual check up and jag last week, the vet said that he could do with a scale and polish of his teeth too. We felt that we couldn’t ignore his dental health (even though none of our previous cats have ever required such a procedure despite having visibly manky teeth) and so on Monday this week we parted with £240 for his treatment. Poor Tom. He must have been horrified to be back at the vet so soon, and even more horrified when they did whatever they needed to do, which involved a general anaesthetic! After taking Tom to the vet, James and I went back to the fracture clinic at Hairmyres. I have been very worried that I might have displaced my healing radius and ulna when I accidentally and foolishly twisted my arm last week. I was sent for an x ray and was delighted to be reassured that the bones are still in the right place and healing well. This is probably due to the Vitamin D and Calcium that Heather and Ewan recommended to me. I was out on Monday afternoon with Jennifer & Linda C so James collected Tom from the vet at tea time. He arrived home a bit agitated and very hungry (he had been nil by mouth since midnight.) He was not allowed to go outside until Tuesday morning and the vet provided special wet food to aid his post-op digestion. No dry food for a couple of days, presumably to let his gnashers and gums settle down. Tom absolutely wolfed down the wet food, and was not happy when we locked the cat flap and directed him to a litter tray, but he was still his affectionate self and spent most of the evening on James’ knee. 

On Tuesday evening I needed to post a few Christmas cards. James warned me that it was very icy on the pavements, so I picked my way gingerly down our path and then walked along the middle of the road which looked less treacherous. The pavements were glittering with frost. When I arrived at the post box I was just putting in the letters when I heard the friendly jingle of a bell. Who was right beside me but Tom cat! Such a good boy; he had escorted me all the way along the road! He was very excited and ran under the gate into the Birkmyres’ garden and then into all the gardens on the way back along the road! But as I walked along he kept coming back to the pavement to keep an eye on me; I felt very happy that he was taking such good care of me! 

More World Cup

The football World Cup continues to dominate the television, and I’m quite happy to have it on in the background. This evening England are playing Senegal. We’re not long home from the Tarbet Hotel on Loch Lomondside, where we took part in the annual hill-walking club Mince Pies outing. Since it usually takes place in the first week of December, I always think that it marks the beginning of our Christmas season. I prepared a quiz for the occasion in two parts; a general Scottish / hill-walking section and a picture round in which the contestants had to identify twelve well-known walkers / climbers. It seemed to go very well, and everyone joined in enthusiastically. As a wee joke, two of the well-known walkers to be identified were Willie and Bob; I used photos from their much younger days that I found on the club website. 

Santa aka Steven made his usual appearance with secret Santa Christmas gifts for all, and the three children who were at the outing were very excited. They were three of Heidi’s grandchildren; Meghan, Maren and Kerr, and they were absolutely delightful - pleasant and polite. I had arranged a matchbox treasure hunt for them to do during the walk and they all filled their matchboxes correctly and imaginatively, and were very appreciative of their prizes. And here we are back home watching the football. It’s just after half time and looking very good for England at 2 - 0 so far. 

* By full time it was 3 - 0. 

Flames and Jools and afternoon tea

James and I went to see Jools Holland on Friday evening. Beforehand we went to one of our west end favourites, Joia, in Dumbarton Road, where the pasta is always cooked to perfection. We had a lovely and very filling meal. However, as I stood to put my jacket on as we were about to leave, I accidentally pushed my napkin into the flame of the tea light that was burning merrily on the table. Quickly the napkin caught fire and as I tried to smother the flames with my coffee cup they kept breaking out to the side, it was scary how quickly they spread. James noticed me trying to put out the small fire and was very alarmed, but luckily the waitress assisted me and we managed to extinguish the conflagration. However there remained a strong smell of burning, which caused quite a few heads to turn in our direction, although I don’t think any other customers had seen the flames.

The concert was great; lots of boogie woogie and blues and even a wee bit of classical music. Jools was very personable as usual and chatted about the band. The singers were very good, especially the gorgeous Ruby Turner who has an amazing voice. The main guest singer was Vic Reeves aka James Moir, an old friend of Jools, they have the same birthday and are only one year apart in age. We did a double take when he appeared, because as a veteran comedian of our youth (and a very good artist) we didn’t know that he was also a singer. Well, actually he wasn’t really, in my opinion! There is no doubt that he enjoys singing very much, and he enthusiastically belted out three pop hits from the 1960s. However he was not of the standard that Jools usually invites along to his concerts (such as Eddi Reader or Marc Almond.) He’s a very funny man and he was entertaining, however when I nipped to the toilet shortly before the end of the concert, I heard some younger ladies complaining that he wasn’t very good, and sounded “like a karaoke singer” which I think was a fair assessment. 

Today I met Heather at the Grand Central Hotel for afternoon tea for two in the Champagne Bar. This was my birthday present from Heather and Ewan from last year, to which I naturally invited Heather! We had to postpone it from earlier in the year when Heather had Covid, but it was worth the wait, and we had a lovely time. The dainty sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, and a selection of cakes, arrived on a three-tiered cake stand, and there was more than enough for the two of us; we could hardly finish. We had a good chat and then joined James and Ewan for drinks at Innes & Gunn in West Nile Street.