The Game of Life

Heavy rain arrived as expected this morning but we were not downhearted and went to the Kylescu Hotel for lunch. Despite the dreich weather we enjoyed the autumnal colours of the mountains on our way north. The loch at Kylescu was choppy and a churned up turquoise colour that was quite spectacular. The lunch was very tasty, and we benefited from the slightly lower prices resulting from their bad publicity on social media earlier this year! It was still pricey, but an excellent meal. On the way back to Ullapool we saw quite a few deer on the lower slopes of the hills and then suddenly came across a stag and a doe grazing right beside the road. They were beautiful and since there was no other traffic on the road we stopped the car to take a few photos. The stag lifted his head, four points on each antler, and looked at us calmly while munching away, his jaw going from side to side. We relaxed beside the fire before enjoying a pleasant evening including playing the Game of Life Board Game with much hilarity. For the record, Ewan won the Game of Life! 

Asparagus Risotto

The weather remained dry today so we headed to Corrieshalloch Gorge in the morning to try out the new path to the falls from the visitor centre. It is better than the old one, a bit longer and through pleasant woodland with the river descending over a series of small falls towards the main event. The Gorge surprises me every time with how deep it is; from one side of the bridge the drop is fairly dramatic, but from the other side you can see the water plummeting to rocks hundreds of feet below. We spurned the outdoor café at the visitor centre (why did they not plan an indoor café which would have been more appropriate for the majority of the Scottish year?) and returned to Ullapool where we walked along the front, did a bit of shopping and had a pleasant lunch in the Cult Café. 

Later James made his delicious asparagus risotto and we all watched Strictly Come Dancing, of which Heather and Ewan have always been fans, as have I. I used to love watching it with Grandma but since she died I haven’t seen it much because James isn’t keen on it. In fact I haven’t seen any episodes this year. So I was thrilled to get the chance to watch the show and thoroughly enjoyed it. A very pleasant evening in front of the fire. 

Small Steps

We are enjoying our time in Ullapool with Heather and Ewan this weekend. The weather is rather blustery but we set off up Stac Pollaidh this morning because the forecast was for dry weather. The other three are more than a little bit fitter than me, in fact they are in a different league! So when I got tired I decided to head back down the hill, which would mean that they didn’t have to keep waiting for me in the chilly wind on their way to the summit. I was a bit disappointed with myself but not very; better to go half way up than not attempt it. 
Similarly I only went half way up James last Donald, Croft Head, last Saturday 21st. That time I was with James, Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel; the young ones had turned up to celebrate with James which was very sweet. Kenny, Cornel and Bob had also come along. I could easily have made my excuses and stayed at home, but I’m pleased that I went on the walk even though I turned back. On the way home we stopped in Moffat for coffee and scones at the Rumbling Tum café, and we went to the famous Moffat Toffee Shop where not only did we purchase many tins of toffee but also some Moffat Toffee Ale. James tells me that it’s sickly sweet which isn’t surprising!
That evening we went to see Lindisfarne with Gordon and Morag, and Davie and Chanel came too, which was very good natured of them considering that they hadn’t heard of them until we played them some of their music last weekend! It was an excellent concert, Lindisfarne always put on a great show; and soon we were all singing along. Interestingly we had never been to the venue before; the Mackintosh Church in Garscube Road in Maryhill. Designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, it has all of the features that you would expect in the shapes of the windows and the stonework, and is very attractive. 

Gaza and Israel

I suppose I should say something about the current situation in Israel and Palestine. It’s terribly sad and has proved to be a very divisive subject in the UK and no doubt all around the world. Most people blame one or the other “side” but as far as I can see the people who are suffering are innocent people, men, women and children, on both sides. I do feel that the October 7th attacks by Hamas on Israeli civilians have made a bad situation even worse. I know that there is a long and complex history in this conflict but surely there was just no point in suddenly attacking Israel like that. What on earth did Hamas think was going to happen next? And now more and more people are being murdered on both sides by bombs and rockets, and no sign of an end to it. This evening communications have gone down in Gaza and it looks like a large land invasion may be about to begin. It must be terrifying for the people in Gaza. My heart goes out to them and to the people of Israel too. 

Culloden Battlefield

James headed to Ullapool with the cats on Tuesday but I stayed behind in Cambuslang because I had a few things on. On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings I took Vinnie for a walk in the morning, he’s such a lovely boy; on Wednesday Suzy and Harris came too. 

On Wednesday afternoon I went to our course on Northern Renaissance Art, which I’m still enjoying very much. Our enthusiastic lecturer goes at a heck of a pace, and I have not done the reading that I have intended in between lectures in order to go into more detail about the paintings, but it doesn’t matter. It’s a pure joy to learn about the art and how it is linked to society and history. I have always wanted to understand the paintings in art galleries better, and I’m looking forward to visiting some of the Art Galleries that house them. They are scattered all over Europe but there are quite a lot in the National Gallery in London, (of which I am currently a member) and I’d love to visit St Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent to see Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece. In the evening I went to my EK book club. What a nice bunch of girls and what a laugh we had!

Heather and Ewan kindly gave me a lift to Inverness this morning where we met James at Culloden Battlefield, the venue suggested by Heather. The visitor centre has a very good café and an interesting exhibition about the battle, and we even went on a battlefield tour which was useful to understand where the troops had marched from and had clashed together. I have done a tour before, with my Mum and the boys, in about 2003, when the guide was dressed as a highland soldier complete with sword and shield. Ally got to hold the shield and was thrilled. This time the guide was informative but not quite so entertaining. 

I transferred into James’ car for the last part of the journey and when we were settled in at the cottage we had James’ sweet potato and peanut curry; it was delicious. 

Meikle Bin in Autumn

This morning James and I went to walk up Meikle Bin. It was a gorgeous day; sunny and cloudy, with a temperature inversion over Glasgow as we drove up into the Campsies. We wanted to take advantage of the good weather because Storm Babet was predicted for later in the week. We set off in decent time and walked in towards the hill, where we saw spiders’ webs glistening on the long grass beside the path. The sun was shining through the tall pine trees. By the time we reached the picnic bench at the bottom of what I jokingly call the death zone, I was ready for coffee and a snickers bar. We then pressed on for the last steep, but mercifully short, pull up to the top of the hill. The cloud was still circling around, which meant that the view appeared, and disappeared after another coffee and the obligatory summit photos, we decided to set off downhill by the longer and more circuitous route. I had some misgivings about this because I remembered reading through mud and climbing over fallen trees the last time I went there. James assured me that the route is now much clearer than it used to be. Well, how wrong he was! The path started well but soon we were sliding through mud and climbing over a burn and through trees. Admittedly we probably took a slightly wrong turning. After what seemed like ages we emerged from the wilderness and onto a forestry commission track and thence back to the car. Despite the muddy diversion it was still a great wee walk. 

Friends and family

I met up with a few old friends last week. Old in length of friendship rather than in age I hasten to say. I had a very pleasant coffee with Jennifer H in Starbucks at Kingsgate on Wednesday and we had a good chat and caught up on lots of news. Then on Thursday I met up with my lovely school friends in Zizzi’s as usual. Now that we are all in our sixties some of the chat is about engagements and marriages of our children, and even grandchildren - Wendy has a grandchild and another on the way, and Libby has a grandchild on the way. How our lives move on. 

On Friday I had lunch with Philippa at the Dandelion Café. It was great to see her and she was telling me all about Mhairi’s wedding. It sounded like a wonderful day for Mhairi, I had already seen a lot of the photos online and she was a beautiful bride. 

And then on Sunday it was family time; Davie and Chanel came for lunch. James decided to make roast beef with all the trimmings and he made a lovely job of it; he even made his own Yorkshire pudding and horseradish sauce. The horseradish sauce was so hot that it nearly took the top of our heads off! It was a happy and convivial afternoon. 

Northern Renaissance Art Course

Back in Scotland the first thing we noticed was that the temperature was about 12 degrees cooler. However the heavy rain and flooding that we had accidentally avoided by going to London for the weekend was gone, replaced by pale blue skies and sunshine. On Wednesday we went to our art class; Northern Renaissance Art. I love it but am finding it rather hard to get my head around. Every time I think that I have a grasp of it, the keen young lecturer throws in a fact that contradicts my impressions. I suppose that it’s more complex than I thought! Our first class was in the Boyd Orr building but we have now been moved to the St Andrews Building, which I like because it has many happy teaching course memories for me. I’m not kidding, I met some lovely people there. There are some lovely wee cafés around there, the best known of which is the Eusebi Deli. I used to go there with Jackie, so I felt a bit sad at first when we went in there for an early lunch on Wednesday. She loved it there; Jackie really enjoyed finding new places to eat but she will never have the leisure of retirement to explore more. Lunch was delicious and so handy to nip across the road for our art course. We’re beginning to get to know the faces; some people are very knowledgeable already and have visited most if not of all the art galleries and churches in Europe containing Northern Renaissance Art. My favourite classmate is Bruce, a very clever elderly man who asks lots of questions but in such a mumble (could be for medical reasons) that our poor lecturer struggles to understand him. The look on his face is priceless as he tries to pick out words from Bruce’s lengthy questions. Then he says “Good point, yes we’re going to cover that shortly!” 

Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms

We were due at the Tate Modern at 12.45 today, so we decided that we had plenty of time to walk the 7 km from Westferry. I was finding it a bit hot for walking so I suggested that we cross to the south side of the river, which is more shady in the morning. My timing was good because we were just approaching Wapping Underground Station, so we took the tube under the river to Rotherhithe. What a beautiful (and pleasingly shady) walk we had along the river to Southwark. There were some pretty little pubs and historic places, such as the poignant statues of “Dr Salter’s Daydream” which featured a realistic cat. I have never walked along that stretch of the river before. Eventually we arrived into familiar and busy territory at the Golden Hind and Clink Street, and continued past the Globe to the Tate Modern. We were just in nice time for our time slot to see Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms. No spoilers for anyone going to see them, but if you like mirrors and lights you will love this exhibition! And I did like it, although I was somewhat bemused by it too. Our tickets included lunch in the Bar & Kitchen on the 6th floor and, since I hadn’t really cooled down yet from my walk, I was absolutely delighted that the restaurant was air-conditioned. It also had splendid views across the river to St Paul’s Cathedral. We relaxed over a delicious lunch and I gradually cooled down until I felt completely comfortable. 
And then it was time to start on our journey home. We took a river ferry all the way back to Canary Wharf; the journey was really lovely in the sunshine. We only had a short journey to City Airport which was nice and quiet, as was the plane. We arrived home to a very rainy Glasgow, however it was great to see the kitties. Flora seems very well after being looked after by Davie, Chanel and Angela. 

Chanel and Abba

We arrived bright and early at the V&A just after 9 a.m. this morning. A bit too early in fact, because the museum didn’t open until 10 a.m! Nothing daunted, we had coffee and pastries at a nice wee café just along the road. At 10 we joined the short queue and on admission we went straight to the Chanel exhibition. I had cleverly booked this months ago, and this was confirmed by overhearing a lady asking a museum official about it and being told that the exhibition is fully booked until the end of its run. We both enjoyed the exhibition, the dresses were beautiful, and due to watching many seasons of The Great British Sewing Bee we also appreciated the skill of the design and the precision of the sewing. 
We met up with Gordon, Sheena and Peter at Figo, an Italian restaurant in Stratford shopping centre and had a very nice meal and chat. Then it was on to the show, Abba Voyage. I had heard good things about this concert, with the members of Abba represented by avatars. It surpassed all of my expectations. At first I wasn’t sure if the figures on the stage were avatars, because they looked so realistic. It was surreal! The technology is absolutely amazing. Only in close up on the big screens did I notice, and then only a little bit, that the expressions on the faces were maybe a little too smooth and perfect. But it was at least 99% realistic. The audience, who were very much of our own demographic, were extremely enthusiastic, and the concert was sold out. In fact Sheena said that she heard it is sold out until at least Christmas. The whole experience was fantastic and I think that all five of us felt the same; at the end we were discussing it in amazement. What a great evening. As a bonus we had a very short journey back to the Premier Inn at Westferry. 

A London walk and curry

I woke this morning with a headache at about 6.30 a.m. but luckily that was early enough to take some painkillers and then get another hour’s sleep, after which I felt much better. We had a late breakfast with Ally and Cat at the Two Magpies, then walked along Regent’s Canal towpath, north from Limehouse Basin to Victoria Park. James and I have never been to Victoria Park before and I thought that it was really lovely; it has a little lake at its centre with lots of paths, trees and grass. I had a goodly rest in the shade because I was very hot, while the much fitter James, Ally and Cat circuited round the park and bought my favourite pasteis de nata from a food market. We then walked on to Stratford Stadium where we could hear the roar of the crowd as West Ham were playing Newcastle. I had genuinely enjoyed the canal path walk and the pleasant company, but my old issue with heat was back with a vengeance, so I said farewell to the intrepid walkers and took the DLR from Stratford to Poplar. The only problem was that it was very very busy with football fans who were now streaming from the stadium in all directions, so I had to wait in a big queue.
We met Ally, Cat and Andrew for dinner at Mala in Canary Wharf; the meal was absolutely excellent and we had such a happy, fun evening. After dinner we headed for drinks to the biergarten at the Munich Cricket Club, which I think is James’ new favourite pub in London! 

Still summer in London

James flew down to London on Friday as planned but I booked a new flight for this morning so that I could keep an eye on Floof for a bit longer until our heroes Davie and Chanel arrived to look after her for the weekend. Floof seemed absolutely fine. The weather in Scotland and around Glasgow has been getting increasingly rainy to the point that there are now yellow weather warnings for much of the area. As I set off by taxi to the airport this morning there were huge puddles across the roads, and from what I have seen on news and social media website this continued to become more severe until roads were blocked by floods and there were overflowing rivers and landslips. So it felt particularly strange to arrive in a warm (24 degrees) and sunny London, it was as if I had travelled back in time to summer. Luckily I had checked the weather forecast and I have packed summer dresses! I met up with James, Ally and Cat at the Munich Cricket Club, a German pub and restaurant in Canary Wharf and we had lunch sitting outside. Then we went back to Ally and Cat’s flat where I saw their completed kitchen and living room floor - what a difference! The flat is so very nearly finished and it looks fantastic. We also sat out on their balcony overlooking the river; such amazing views. Later, after a lovely tapas dinner in the little Andalusia Restaurant, we went to the Harold Pinter Theatre to see Mark Rylance in Dr Semmelweis. It was very intense and moving. I really enjoyed it and so did Ally and Cat. James was not so convinced. It happened to be the very last performance of the run and the cast were quite emotional and Mark Rylance made a wee speech thanking everyone. After we left the theatre we walked to Bank Underground Station in the warm evening that was just like summer, I think that it’s unseasonably warm even for London. 

Wee Floof

We have had a frightening cat incident here. Flora got up from a nap yesterday at about tea time and screamed and hissed and then her front legs sort of collapsed and she fell down. She lay on the floor frightened for a couple of minutes then got up and tried to head behind the couch, but her legs collapsed again. 
We scooped her up (James had the presence of mind to grab the cat carrier on our way out) and rushed her up to Taylor Vets at Cathkin and they were great; we were taken straight in and they immediately did tests. The worst case is a neurological issue which would be very bad. Her bloods were fine and her x ray showed no skeletal damage but she was very constipated. So the vet, Elena, gave her painkillers and some sort of laxatives. By the time we got to the car Flora had already done a big poo (in the cat carrier!) I’m really hoping that the pain of severe constipation is what caused her to collapse, because that would rule out more serious issues. When we got home Flora was very agitated and kept chewing and biting at the bandage covering her catheter; she also ran about the house with no collapsing. We set up a litter tray in the kitchen because she was to stay indoors, which did not please her.
Back at the vet’s this morning Flora seemed fine, with no symptoms at all. It’s a mystery. The vet thought that the collapse could have been the pain of severe constipation or possibly she sniffed a toxin e.g. weedkiller which could explain the transient nature of her symptoms.
I was not happy about leaving her unsupervised so Davie and Chanel have very kindly travelled here to cat sit over the weekend so that we could head to London (almost) as planned - I delayed my flight until Saturday. Oh my wee Floof. I hope that she’s ok. 

By-election

I only occasionally touch on politics in my blog, however this week we have had a by-election in our own constituency. This happened because way back in 2020 our MP, Margaret Ferrier, was found out to have travelled by train from London to Glasgow in the almost certain knowledge that she was suffering from Covid. She was chucked out of the SNP for this, but rather brazenly refused to resign as an MP, which meant that she kept on being paid for the next two years. Eventually there was a vote by the constituents to oust her, which duly happened, resulting in this by-election. Many people, so I have heard, employed tactical voting to ensure that a Scottish National replacement candidate would not be elected. The Tories had no chance, so that meant voting for the Labour candidate, Michael Shanks * He and his team did not take this for granted and campaigned tirelessly for months. And so it came to pass that Shanks won the by-election for Labour by a landslide. We sat up late to watch the results, in the early hours of this morning. I could not possibly comment on whether I took part in this tactical voting.

* Michael Shanks knows Ally well, because Ally used to volunteer for the disabled Scouts troop that he runs. Ally says that he is a good guy.