Moonwalkers and Brontës

We set off from Ally and Cat’s flat this morning to the Lightroom at King’s Cross, stopping for coffee and a croissant on the way, and feeling like Londoners as we sat outside a café on this fine May morning. We have been to the Lightroom before to see the David Hockney film, so we knew the routine, and were in good time for the show to start at 10 a.m. It was narrated by Tom Hanks, whom we heard talking about this on “The Rest is History” podcast last week. It is about the Apollo programme and the twelve astronauts who have landed on the moon from 1969 until the early 70s. It was fascinating and the photos and film from that era have been cleaned up and sharpened, and looked fantastic. It was an excellent show. Then we decided, since it was a lovely morning, to walk the hour to the National Theatre. On the way, we stopped for another coffee at my favourite coffee spot in all of London; Caffe Tropea in Russell Square. It was delightful as usual; I chose a table in the dappled shade of a tree and it felt great to sit there enjoying the atmosphere. Onwards to the National Theatre where we saw Underdog: The Other Other Brontë, which I booked mainly because I like the actress Emma Whelan. She has been in Upstart Crow, Killing Eve and even Game of Thrones. She was indeed brilliant and so was the play. Inevitably the ending was sad, however it also made me think about the Brontës in a whole new way; I thought that I knew the story of the Brontës pretty well but I now realise that there is a lot that I don’t know. It was an interesting and excellent experience. 

We did a wee grocery shopping at Canary Wharf and went back to Ally and Cat’s flat where we made dinner of cooked meat, fish, salad, dips and pitta bread which Cat grilled. And then we looked at some of Ally and Cat’s Grenada holiday photos before watching this week’s episode of Race Across the World which we all thoroughly enjoyed. 

Musée de Cluny and Eurostar to London

We knew from the weather forecast that today was going to be rainy, so we decided to go to the Musée de Cluny, the national medieval museum. First we had breakfast in a wee café along from our hotel. It felt so Parisian as we munched our croissants and drank our café crèmes. James expertly navigated us to the Musée de Cluny which wasn’t too busy (yet) and we went to see the “Les Arts en France sous Charles VII (1422-1461)” Exhibition. It was absolute fascinating; the Art Renaissance was beginning in the Netherlands and in Italy but France was embroiled in war with England, so the arts didn’t have the same chance to flourish. However there were some interesting developments as artists brought ideas back from Europe, and some great paintings, sculptures, stained glass and of course illuminated manuscripts were on display. We went through the rest of the museum but lingered most at the six “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries, which are still so colourful despite being woven so long ago (early 16th century.) As well as the Lady and her trusty lion and unicorn, each tapestry has lots of different animals like dogs, monkeys and rabbits. The tapestries are in the style of “mille-fleurs” so have many different small flowers all over the background. They must have taken so much time and effort to make, and they were much more beautiful in real life than in paintings I have seen of them. When we left the museum in the early afternoon there were many more people arriving, so we were glad that we had gone in the morning. It wasn’t far to walk to the Tuileries and the rain had stopped so we had a nice stroll through the gardens. I spontaneously suggested that we go to nearby Angelina on the rue du Rivoli, since we had enjoyed the Louvre branch so much last year. We only had to wait a few minutes and had a lovely light lunch. And then onto the Metro to our hotel to collect our case before walking to the Gare du Nord, which didn’t take long at all. The Eurostar waiting room was nicer than the London one, and we sat and read our books for a while before being called to board the train. Again we had good seats; this time I was more awake as we whizzed though Northern France and James kept track of where we were, using Google Maps. So we saw the River Somme as the train crossed it, not too far from where we were in April. At one point I noticed on the train information display that we were going at 295 km per hour; so fast! When we went through the Channel tunnel it was so strange to think that we were underneath the English Channel with all that water pressing down on us! We got back to the flat in less than forty minutes from St Pancras station and had a cup of tea with Ally and Cat before bedtime. They ate some of the macarons that we made in Galeries Lafayette and said that they were delicious! What a whirlwind of two days we have had! 

Eurostar to Paris and Macarons

We got up very early and took an Uber to St Pancras Station. Cat came with us because she had a screen to drop off at her office which is near the station, so our journey turned out to be convenient for her too! We have never been in the Eurostar or through the Channel Tunnel before, so we were both very excited. The Eurostar has pros and cons. To start with the cons it’s pricey, although it’s cheaper if you book quite far ahead, as we did. You have to arrive 90 minutes before the train’s departure, to go through passport control and security. which means that we needed to be at St Pancras at 6.30 a.m. for our 8.01 a.m. train. This is just about as early as you need to be at the airport to catch a plane. The pros are that you travel from the centre of London to the centre of Paris, which is very handy, and also you go through two passport controls at the beginning of your journey, so when you get on the train you are have already changed country, and you can just stroll off at the train at the other end. 

Our seats were comfy, forward facing and beside a window (carefully booked by me!) however there wasn’t much to see except flat countryside. And once we entered the channel tunnel there was nothing to see at all of course! We were only in the tunnel for twenty minutes until we emerged into France. I dozed a bit and the two and a half hour journey flew past. It was very exciting to arrive at Gare du Nord and walk into the streets of Paris. 

First of all we went to the Louis Blanc Hotel, which I booked because it’s only 15 minutes walk from the station. We were very pleased to find that our room was ready early so we could put our cases straight into our room, which was smart and clean. 

And then off we went on foot to Montmartre, one of our very favourite places in Paris, and had lunch sitting outside a café in the Place du Tertre and wandered around the streets and it was blissful. Later we walked down the hill through Pigalle and onwards to Galeries Lafayette, where we were in good time for our Macaron making class. What great fun it was! There were twelve of us in the class and our lovely French teacher, Marie, was so kind and helpful. All of the other students were American and very friendly. Marie was absolutely precise in her cooking and instructions and I really felt that I learned a lot from her. We each made two pistachio macarons and two chocolate macarons, and took them back to the hotel in little boxes. Excellent experience! 

Our final plan for the day was dinner in the Café Les Deux Gares, situated between the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est. We had dinner in a restaurant with the same name several times more than forty years ago and we thought that it would be fun to revisit it. But alas we didn’t recognise it, and the location seemed slightly wrong. So I think that our old café, with its red and white checked paper tablecloths where the waiters used to write the “additions”, and ceramic carafes of very cheap wine, probably closed years ago. The new one is very nice though, and we sat outside in the evening sunshine and had a very tasty meal. We were both exhausted when we got back to our hotel! 

Mamma Mia the Party

A delightful start to the day with a sunny breakfast on Ally and Cat’s balcony, overlooking the River Thames. Then we met Gosia and Mitchell for coffee at the Wetherspoons opposite the Mamma Mia experience at the O2. 

How to describe Mamma Mia The Party? Well it was amazing, and felt very joyful. It was also very professional; despite the fairly large number of guests, the staff were very efficient and attentive, and our meal was served timeously. It was a Greek meal of course, very tasty, and the restaurant was just like the restaurant in the film Mamma Mia, so the whole afternoon really did have a Greek feel. The event was centred round a musical drama which took place all around the “taverna” which had a fountain in the centre and steps leading up to a bar area; a British waiter has fallen in love with the daughter of the owner of the Taverna, love and drama ensues. All of the actor / singers were fantastic with great voices and of course all of the songs were Abba! There were lots of wee Abba jokes in the script but I won’t mention them because I wouldn’t want to spoil it for others. The whole event was great fun. Four hours later we emerged blinking into the sunshine in the Wetherspoons beer garden, where we had a couple of pints with Mitchell, Gosia and their friends Sean and Kirsty. Then we went back to Ally and Cat’s where Cat rustled up a very delicious salad which we ate out on the balcony. 

Player Kings and Keane

After breakfast yesterday morning we caught the 9 o’clock train from Braintree into London, getting off the train at Stratford, where we stopped for coffee and pastries. James pointed out a Café Nero up the stairs with lots of seats beside it, and it was an excellent choice, we were able to relax in a little oasis of peace, overlooking the busy station. The day was heating up already. We journeyed onwards to Cat and Ally’s flat, and thence to an Italian restaurant in Holborn with outdoor seating which Ally sometimes frequents. The service was slow but we had plenty of time so it didn’t really matter, and it was nice and cool in the dappled shade of the trees. Onwards to the afternoon performance of Player Kings, an interpretation of Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. I was worried that it might be a bit dull, but in fact it was very good and full of action. Ian McKellen stole the show; he has such stage presence. It’s hard to believe that he’s eighty-five. The Prince was played by Toheeb Jimoh who played Sam in Ted Lasso and he was very good too. Ally and Cat  also enjoyed it. It was quite a long play; the first half was two hours and the second half was one and a half hours, but it held our attention. 

By the time it ended it was time for James and I to head to the O2 to see Keane, pausing for a quick bite to eat at one of the many restaurants there. I was amazed yet again at the sheer size of the O2; so much bigger than the Hydro in Glasgow. Keane were full of energy on their 20th anniversary tour. The audience was of all ages, however although we weren’t the oldest by any means, I noticed that most people were in their thirties and forties; I missed Keane first time around and have only started listening to their music in the last five or six years. The queue for the underground was massive after the concert so we went for a walk along the Thames, enjoying the city lights, and then joined the end of the queue just as it was it was diminishing. At their flat we found Ally and Cat watching the end of Eurovision with Iain; they were all full of the joys and showed us their favourite songs which were the usual outlandish mix. Apparently the contest has been full of drama behind the scenes this year. We joined the young folks for a drink, the chat was excellent and we ended up rather late to bed!  

Visit to Essex

We were already all packed so we had a leisurely start to the morning before catching an EasyJet flight to Stansted Airport. We almost never go to London via Stansted; we prefer London City or Heathrow. However this time we were not going straight into the centre of London, we were going to visit Gosia and Mitchell in Braintree in Essex, and Stansted is their local airport. It was so warm when we arrived and took a bus to Braintree, where Gosia and Mitchell met us. We had a lovely afternoon at Braintree Village where we had coffee sitting outdoors, mercifully in the shade with a slight breeze which helped me to cool down. Gosia and Mitchell then took us for a drive in their fabulous VW Eos convertible, through beautiful tree-lined country roads to a gorgeous wee village called Finchingfield. We sat outdoors at the little pub overlooking the village green, which had a river running through it, and ducks waddling around. It was very pretty, even though the road which ran right through the centre of the village was quite busy. I wonder why the inhabitants haven’t lobbied for a bypass or even traffic calming measures; none of my business I suppose, since I don’t live there. Back at Braintree, Gosia cooked us a delicious barbecue in their garden and we sat outside all evening talking and laughing. 

A Garden Centre in Gartcosh

Today I went to the Homegrown Garden Centre in Gartcosh with Gran Jan. I always enjoy meeting up with her, partly because of her close link with my Dad (cousin) but mainly because she is great company and so wise. I don’t think that every elderly person is wise but Janet really is. If she gives advice it is only when asked for, and it is very measured and kind. After looking around the very smart but very expensive garden centre we went upstairs to the Café which is extremely nice. It is beautifully decorated but most importantly the food is very tasty. We both had French toast and it was delicious. We had a good chat about all sorts of things. Unfortunately the news about her wee great-granddaughter (Rachel and John’s daughter) is not good. I was very sad to hear this. 

We decided to take a cross-country route home by following signs to Uddingston instead of going back on the motorway. It took a little bit longer but was a pleasant drive through places that Janet knows, like Bargeddie. The surrounding countryside is all very lush and spring like. After I dropped her off I did a wee bit of food shopping and admin, and then James and I packed for our trip to London. 

A Night at the Opera

We set off home this morning. Unusually Flora became suspicious before Tom did and she hid in the bedroom cupboard while he was still strolling around the garden, blissfully unaware of the journey ahead. So I picked him up and carried him to the car, and Flora didn’t put up much resistance when we came to get her. I would like to think that they are getting used to the four hour journey, they don’t seem so upset when they are taken to the car; more resigned. The journey was pleasantly uneventful which is the way we like it.

In the evening we went to see La Traviata at the Theatre Royal. We got the tickets on a whim about eight months ago; it’s many years since we have seen an Opera, not since we were in our thirties I think. La Traviata was a good choice because it has great songs and is visually very attractive with much partying and dancing. It has a sad ending of course, but the singers, whom my Dad would have described as “well built,” looked so hale and hearty that it was difficult to believe that Violetta was in anything but robust good health!  The singer who played Alfredo was so moved however that he was still crying his eyes out at the curtain calls! 

I had forgotten that I had booked the very front row of the stalls, not a row that I usually book because it can result in having to crane your neck to look up at the stage. However this time it worked very well because we could see right into the orchestra pit and saw all of the musicians playing their instruments, the conductor expertly entwining their music with the singing that was going on above them. The stage was on a slope towards us so we could see all of the performers very well, although we did need to crane our necks a little to see the English supertitles above the stage. The singing was so expressive that I didn’t feel the need to look at the supertitles very often. However there was one unexpected outcome of sitting in the front row. At the beginning of the second interval I put my glasses on a wee shelf in front of me and they slid off and fell right down into the orchestra. Luckily they didn’t hit any of the musicians, one of whom handed them up to James. I was very embarrassed but we had a laugh about it and when I came back to my seat after the interval a man said to me “Hang on to your specs!” which I thought was very funny. James and I both thoroughly enjoyed our night at the Opera. 

Davie and Chanel visit

Saturday was a big day for Davie, who got up very early and climbed the five Western Fannichs. James did some gardening, as much as he could with his sore knee. Chanel and I went for a lovely walk to the village where we had coffee and cake in Tea by the Sea and a lovely girls’ chat. It was much warmer than I expected and I was sweltering so we sat indoors where it was cooler and we were chatting to the ladies who run it. Back at the cottage Chanel did some Maths for her upcoming exam at the end of May. She is a very hard worker and I admire that. Davie returned, tired but triumphant, from his big hill-walk and then we all had a barbecue together. 

The next few days were very pleasant. We all went for breakfast to the new café beside Deli-ca-Sea one morning, and walked down to the village several more times, chatted and watched films. Davie and Chanel were great company as usual and we were sad to see them go on Monday. I’m sure that the cats were sad to see them go too, they love having them around. Such social wee cats! 

James has a fall

It was a fine, sunny morning so James went out for a walk in the morning to Loch Achall and then around Ullapool Hill. Unfortunately he fell on his way back, just above the Royal Hotel, and twisted both his knee and his ankle. He was really hobbling afterwards; the trouble is that he has damaged both knees on several occasions which hill-walking and he certainly wants to avoid needing surgery on one or both of them. 

We went through to Dingwall to have lunch with with Alison and Hugh at the Storehouse Café right beside the Moray Firth with lovely views of the water. It was light and airy and we had a good chat; it always great to catch up with them.

Davie and Chanel arrived in the evening for the first May holiday weekend. How happy it makes me that they like the cottage so much; they are planning to come here with friends in August.  

Estuary Swim and Barbecue

This has been a smashing day. We’re back in Ullapool and the weather is very balmy with beautiful blue skies and a strangely warm wind. I washed the kitchen floor in the morning and did a bit of dusting, hung out a washing, then booked The Moonwalkers show (about the moon landings, not Michael Jackson’s dance!) at the Lightroom at King’s Cross for our London trip later this month. James cut the grass and the repair company arrived to replace the garage door, which was buckled by one of the storms in January. It looks brand new now, not surprisingly. Then we had a delightful stroll into the village and had lunch sitting outside Tea by the Sea. James pointed out to me that the hills around the loch are greening up from their verdant lower slopes towards their still pale brown tops. You can see it very clearly. Very few of the mountains still have patches of snow on them. By the time we got back to the cottage l was rather overheated, so I put on my swimming costume and five minutes later I was swimming in the estuary. Oh boy, the water felt cold compared to the warm air! But once I was in, it felt absolutely wonderful and I swam about for twenty-five minutes while James sat in his deckchair on the shore and read his book on his Kindle. This was my first open water swim of 2024! Back at the cottage James constructed the barbecue and we had our first outdoors cooking of the year. Beef burgers for James (bought from the butcher who visits the village hall on a Thursday) and halloumi burgers for me, with baked potatoes and coleslaw, yummy! Both cats joined us and Tom actually sat between us in the bench for a while! We continued to sit outdoors after dinner until the evening started to cool, and then went indoors for a cup of tea. 

Agricultural Rock

Spring continues to tease us with the outdoors temperature rising and then being replaced with chill breeze before warming up again. But I can tell that it’s going in the right direction. Book club on Wednesday at Susan’s had a few undercurrents, regarding school stuff. Teachers have a difficult job and I think it’s even harder for them now. I had a walk with Alison in Pollok Park on Thursday followed by coffee at the Burrell, it was lovely to see her but what can I do to make her feel better? Nothing at all except be there for her. On Saturday evening James and I went to Jethro Tull; James’ choice since he liked them in their heyday, although they were never one of his top choices. The Royal Concert Hall was sold out, and the aging fans (I include ourselves in that!) enjoyed the quirky folk-rock music very much. No one enjoyed themselves more than founder and lead singer Ian Anderson, who pranced about with his flute, tootling away and often standing on one leg, tapping the rhythm on it with his other leg! The songs were about countryside life, politics, religion, homeless people to name but a few. It was a great concert, much better than I had expected! 

Happy 30th Birthday Cat

Yesterday was Cat’s 30th birthday; I can hardly believe that the lovely teenager we first met has become an accomplished, beautiful thirty year old woman. She spent the weekend with her Mum and Dad in Vienna and we will celebrate with her and Ally when we visit London in May. 

James and I had a pleasant chat with Jamie this morning (his evening) about our visit to New Zealand in October. Then I had a dentist appointment. It was a fine, sunny morning. As I left the house I could see Tom standing on the doorstep of our new neighbours’ house across the road, peering into their hallway through the open front door (they are getting work done in the house so there are workmen going in and out.) As I watched, Tom stepped delicately over the threshold and disappeared into the house. How nosy and cheeky he is! I know that he once sneaked into Suzy’s house and greeted her and the children, but then left in a hurry when he met Brian in the hall; Tom recognises a fellow Alpha Male when he sees one! 

Next, I saw Duke of Edinburgh group walking along Brownside Road. They were unmistakable with their huge backpacks and maps, obviously practising carrying the heavy backpacks and doing a bit of urban navigation. It made me feel quite nostalgic to see them, but so glad that I’m not responsible for pupils’ safety any more.

My dentist appointment was to get my new crown fitted. Unfortunately it didn’t fit despite the dentist chipping away at it for ages and forcing it into the gap between my other teeth about fifteen times. So he had to take another impression of my teeth in order to get a new crown made, and back in went the old temporary filling for now.

When I got home Tom greeted me at our front door and I noticed that the door across the street was now closed; I wonder if he was spotted prowling about inside the house and had to flee? 

I do enjoy cooking at leisure i.e. not in a rush, so I enjoyed pottering about making lasagnes (both meat and vegetable) in the afternoon for Gordon and Morag’s dinner. And I made extra ragout as well to freeze. We used the first of this year’s rhubarb to make a crumble, which turned out very well. We had a very pleasant evening and good chat with our guests. Tom was so friendly to them that he tried to climb onto the table and had to be ejected from the room temporarily! 

The Mavericks

We have had a pleasant and even quite social time since our return from our trip to Islay and Jura. Forrest and Marjory came round on Saturday evening and we had a Chinese meal from Peking Palace, which was tasty. I had tofu with satay sauce, which I haven’t tried before, and it was really good. We all had a good chat and catch up, while Tom and Flora sat on the back of the sofa and listened intently to our conversation. 

On Sunday we met up with Heather and Ewan at Amarone because we had missed our planned curry with them due to our postponed flight. We met in town because they were going to The Mavericks concert at the GRCH later, and James suggested that he and I could go to the cinema. He had looked at going to the Mavericks too but it was completely sold out. I was not to be thwarted however and kept my eye on the Gumtree website. Mid afternoon the offer of two Mavericks tickets appeared, at a nicely discounted rate since the concert was only a few hours later. After a quick flurry of messages I arranged to collect the tickets from Renfrew on our way into town. We had a lovely meal with Heather and Ewan and a great chat, and the concert was fantastic. Our tickets were up high right at the back, facing the stage, in a seating area that I hadn’t even noticed before! They were deemed “restricted view” because a handrail crossed in front of one of them, but James could see over it easily and we thought that they were great seats. The band were tuneful and joyful and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I don’t know much of their music apart from “Dance the Night Away” and I didn’t even realise, until Ewan mentioned it, that it is Country Music. I realise now that it is indeed Country, with a bit of Cuban and Tex-Mex. It was a great evening. 

Unexpected Extra Day on Islay

We woke up to brilliant sunshine, which I felt was an appropriate compensation for being delayed on Islay for an extra day! After a very nice breakfast using the ingredients provided in the luxury kitchen of the apartment, we packed up and headed to Machir Beach on the west coast of the island. We went on a circular walk recommended by the Walk Highlands website. This started at the ruined church with its intricately carved Celtic cross in its graveyard, and continued through a field with lots of sheep and lambs, whom we were careful not to disturb, then up the hill. Eventually we arrived at the beach. Oh boy was it beautiful, a long sandy beach and blue, blue sea, with waves lapping gently on the shore. We had a picnic sitting on the sand dunes with a flask of coffee. It really was idyllic. Then we went to the nearby Kilchoman Distillery, a modern and (to us) lesser known Islay distillery. What a find! It is the most nicely set up (for visitors) distillery that we have seen so far. It is really spacious and smartly decorated with a big circular fire and comfy armchairs, and tables made out of the tops of whisky barrels. It even has a wee restaurant with a lovely display of baking. We didn’t take a tour but James was given two wee complimentary drama of whisky which he drank before his tea and cake, and we had a good look round. And then it was time to make our way to the airport for our flight, which was initially delayed by 50 minutes, but the pilot made up some time so we arrived back to Glasgow less than half an hour late. Another bonus of our unplanned extra day on Islay was that the lovely weather today enabled us to see lots of islands and coast during our flight - yesterday would have been too cloudy. 

Cancelled flight

As forecast, the sunny weather was a mere memory when we woke this morning and it was raining for most of the day. We thought nothing of this, feeling that we had been lucky with our two days of sunshine, and didn’t suspect that it would have an impact on us later. We checked out of the hotel and James went for a Distillery tour while I went to the Antlers Café and read my book. James joined me for a coffee there after his tour, and then we caught the ferry back to Islay - more terrifying reversing onto the wee ferry for me! We went to the Islay Life Museum in Port Charlotte, which turned out to be a great place to spend a bit of time on a rainy day. It had all sorts of objects from the old days on Islay; butter churns, a ship’s whistle, old Christening gowns (just like ours!), a cradle shaped like a boat, old agricultural tools and much more. It also had information on how World Wars 1 and 2 had affected the island; as well as young men dying on the battlefields of Europe there had been a bad air crash and two military shipwrecks in the 2nd World War which had unfortunately resulted in many deaths, quite a few American. The islanders had rallied round to rescue the survivors and bury the dead, for which they were praised by the American President. There were also old photographs of Islay life; dances and theatre productions and school days and milking competitions. We both found it to be fascinating. Back in Bowmore we had a mid afternoon coffee before heading to the airport. It wasn’t until we arrived that we found out that our flight back to Glasgow was cancelled because of low cloud. I had received a text message forty minutes before but hadn’t seen it. James, who knows a lot about aeroplanes, was surprised that it had been cancelled; the cloudy weather didn’t seem all that bad. However there was nothing that we could do, and more unwelcome news was to come; the morning flight tomorrow is fully booked so we won’t get home until the evening. This meant that we have had to cancel a curry at Rasoi with Heather and Ewan that we were both looking forward to (the company as well as the food of course!) To be fair to Loganair they booked us into a very nice hotel in Bowmore and arranged to transport us there by minibus. We decided to extend our car hire in order to give ourselves a bit of independence tomorrow, and set off to the welcoming and newly refurbished Harbour Hotel’s apartments, which are very smart and clean. So here we are, unexpectedly still in Islay. 

A walk at Tarbert on Jura

Today was supposed to be cloudy and indeed it started that way, but the clouds dispersed to reveal another sunny day - we have been so lucky! After another excellent breakfast at the Jura Hotel, we drove to Tarbert, the narrowest point on Jura, where sailors used to carry their boats across when sailing from Colonsay to the mainland at Kintyre. It avoided the dangerous Corryvreckan whirlpool and was a shortcut. It was a lovely walk and very peaceful, there wasn’t another soul around. On the way back to Craighouse (Jura’s main and in fact I think its only village, where there is a shop, a café, the Jura Hotel and the Jura Whisky Distillery) we stopped for a walk on Corran Sands. The colours were beautiful, the pale sand made the water turquoise beside the shore, changing into darker hues as it got deeper. It was an absolutely beautiful day. We went to the Antlers Café where it was sheltered and warm enough to sit outside in the sunshine to drink our cups of tea, and then strolled around Craighouse, down to the pier and back. During dinner we were eavesdropping (as is our wont) on the next table of young people and realised that they were executives from Whyte and Mackay, who own the Jura Distillery. They were chatting quite loudly but when their main courses were served they all became absolutely silent as they got tore into their food - a tribute to the fine cooking of the Jura Hotel! 

The Paps of Jura

We were delighted with the Jura Hotel when we arrived last night. It’s a typical old fashioned Scottish hotel in many ways, but has been well kept, is very clean, and the en-suite bathroom in our room is brand new. The location is lovely; right on the water with beautiful views of the sea and some wee islands, with Kintyre in the distance. 

This morning, after a hearty breakfast, I dropped James off at the bridge 5 km north of Craighouse for his hill-walking day. His aim was to climb the three Paps of Jura, so named because they are conical in shape, like breasts (yes, three breasts!) The highest one, Beinn an Oir, is a Corbett, another one to tick off on James’ list. 

I decided to head up as far north as possible in the island. The main, and only public road in the island, is shaped like a giant letter J. We crossed over from Islay at the bottom left of the J, and today I headed up to the top of it. The road is single track with passing places, and it’s a surprisingly long way, but I was in no hurry and took my time, enjoying the views of hills and moorland and sea. I arrived eventually at the Lussa estate, where I had a bit of an unwanted adventure. 

When the road passes the distillery and farm buildings at the estate, it then descends to an absolutely beautiful bay. I decided to park the car and have a walk around. I carefully backed onto a piece of grass, which seemed firm because I tested it first with my feet. Meanwhile, lots of mummy sheep and their beautiful little twin and triplet lambs went past me, and there were some geese on the beach. Two friendly ladies rode past me on horseback and warned me that the grass (which is actually going to be a hayfield in the summer) is not as firm as it seemed. I was embarrassed to have backed on to their hayfield and went to move my car straight away. Sure enough it was stuck fast and when I tried to move it, the wheels just span. Claire Fletcher, who turned out to be the lady laird, phoned her husband Andy to ask him to tow me out of the field. She said that it would take him a little while to arrive because he was dehorning calves this morning. The delay didn’t bother me because I was just grateful to get the help and I went for a little walk up and down the bay. Soon Andy arrived and towed me out of the field. He said that they used to live in the West End of Glasgow and if his father hadn’t died, they probably wouldn’t have moved back to Jura, but they felt that they should hand it on to future generations. They live in such a beautiful place but I bet it’s hard work to make ends meet. For example he mentioned that they have tied cottages on the estate for workers, and they are now being charged double rates because they are deemed second homes, which is really not quite true or fair. To say thank you I went to the distillery in which Claire is a partner, and bought some Lussa gin. The lady in the distillery who sold me the gin told me that they were glad to hear that we were staying in the Jura Hotel because it’s really struggling to get visitors especially with the ferry problems over the past few years, people are reluctant to book holidays if transport is going to be a problem. 

I collected James from the bridge at 5.30 p.m. arriving in perfect time when he was only about 100 yards away from the car park, he was ravenous for his tasty dinner back at the hotel and told me of his adventures including some scary sounding slides down scree fields. He had managed to climb all three hills. That was a very big walk for him today and he was pleased to have achieved it. He fell asleep as soon as his head touched the pillow. 

Flight to Islay

To the confusion of the cats we were awake particularly early and left the house at about twenty past six in the morning, in order to catch our 7.50 a.m. flight to Islay. I nipped along to the postbox to post a letter and Tom followed me all the way! I didn’t even notice because I was hurrying along but when James drove along to pick me up at the foot of Calder Drive he pointed Tom out, still standing beside the postbox, and said that he had been at my heel the whole way! All went smoothly on our journey although when we arrived in Islay it was raining and we were even treated to a burst of hailstones after we picked up our hire car. On the other hand there were also lengthy intervals of blue sky and sunshine; the weather is very weirdly mixed today. 

Neither James nor I have been in Islay since we were teenagers, each with our own families, so it was interesting to see it again. There are lots of Whisky distilleries around the coast of the island so we naturally called in at a few. First was Laphroaig, then Bowmore, and then Bruichladdich, where James booked a tour with cask whisky tasting. Each distillery was beautifully appointed next to the water, with comfortable lounges and / or tasting areas, and very knowledgeable and friendly staff. When James went for his tour I walked along to a nearby café where I got into conversation with some pleasant Ileachs (they explained to me that is the same for someone born on Islay.) But when I asked if they might have known another Ileach (Maggie’s Mum) who came from Port Ellen, they said “Oh no, that’s another place entirely!” One elderly man told me that he had been in the merchant navy and he had travelled all around the world twice before he first visited Port Ellen when his ship put in there. He then took the bus across the island back to Bruichladdich, seeing places in Islay that he had never visited before! 

I went down to the beach and took some photos of a shag standing rather magnificently on a rock, and I read my book for a while until James appeared back from his whisky tour. 

We made our way to the ferry at Port Askaig which was called “James” and after being expertly guided by the ferry man to reverse onto the boat, we had a rather choppy crossing which was great fun. This is the first trip to Jura for either of us. 

Pierogi fail

I’m in the process of clearing out our freezers by eating things that have been lurking in there for a while. One of these things is a bag of frozen pierogi, which I bought last year after our trip to Krakow. I loved eating pierogi in Krakow so on our return to Glasgow I visited our local Polish shop and bought a big bag of them. This evening I cooked them for dinner, and served them with a beetroot and horseradish sauce. The results were rather disappointing, in fact James remarked that it was a new low in my catering! We put the leftovers out on the bird table, hoping that they won’t do the birds too much harm! This reminded me of a story that my Dad used to tell, about when my Mum put out for the birds the remains of a fruit cake that had turned out to be far too heavy. My Dad claimed that he saw a bird standing with its wing wrapped around a clothes pole, and the other wing holding its sore tummy! And that another bird tried to fly away but the fruit cake it had consumed prevented it from taking off properly and its belly kept bouncing along the ground as it tried to gain height! 

In other news I had a lovely facial and head & shoulder massage on Wednesday at Ocho Spa in Speirs Wharf, which was part of my Christmas present from Ally and Cat. It was very relaxing and my skin felt glowing afterwards. 

Back to good old Blighty

Today was last day of our holiday and we had pains au chocolat for breakfast in Café Mamatte on the Rue de la Republique. Our last stop on the way to the airport, appropriately I thought, was Compiègne to visit the place where the Armistice was signed on 11th November 1918. The railway carriage is not the original because the Nazis burned that after taking it to Berlin during the 2nd World War. However it’s very similar to the original one and there are a few pieces of the original in a glass case. The railway carriage was (and is) refurbished as an office, with desks and armchairs and a conference table where the last details of the Armistice Treaty were discussed and then signed.

Our onwards journey to the airport went smoothly, but we had a worrying moment when the car hire official found a big scratch on the front bumper of the car which she did not have noted in the paperwork from when we hired it. Luckily our hero Davie had taken photos of the car when we picked it up and one of them showed that the scratch was already there so we were in the clear. It was a slow process through baggage drop, security, and passport control, to the extent that we were beginning to be worried that we wouldn’t arrive at the departure gate in time for the flight! But we got there and shuffled on at the back of the queue. By 3.45 p.m, only a quarter of an hour late, we arrived in a drizzly Glasgow, noticeably cooler than France and Belgium have been. When we got home and said our farewells to Davie and Chanel, I dived into bed absolutely exhausted; my sleep last night was disturbed by early morning deliveries and bin lorries right outside our hotel. Flora was extremely affectionate and cuddled on top of the duvet beside me. Meanwhile James and Tommy were having a loving father / son reunion, it was all very heartwarming! I got up for some supper later and I’m now back in bed looking forward to a good night’s sleep. 

Amiens

After such a warm and sunny day I was surprised to hear it raining hard during the night. We woke to fresh blue skies and sunshine and had another delicious and huge breakfast. The owner of L’Histoire de L’Eclair, Annick, told us about the history of the house which is more than eight hundred years old! 

The owner of the house in the Middle Ages was a tailor, and he also rented out rooms. He rented out a room to a handsome foreigner who caught the eye of his two daughters. One of the girls had a fiancé, the local baker, who was jealous of the stranger, so one night he followed him. The stranger went down to the canal (which in those days went under the house) and mysteriously stayed out all night. The two sisters went into the stranger’s room one night while he was gone and found that he had left his trousers behind. The trousers had no opening at the front and a hole at the back; this led them to believe that he was the Devil and the hole at the back was for his tail! The family kept the discovery of the trousers quiet because they did not want their fellow townsfolk to think that they were in league with the Devil, so they tried to burn them. But instead their house was set ablaze (presumably by the vengeful Devil.) The baker fiancé kindly sold pastries to raise money for the restoration of the house, the stranger / Devil never returned, and they all lived happily ever after. Outside the house, there is a carving on the wall deputing the two girls holding the Devil’s trousers! 

Annick then took us down to see the cellars of the house which they are carefully restoring; the intricate brickwork is absolutely beautiful. 

Our next destination was south to the Thiepval Memorial to the missing of the Somme, near Amiens. We looked  around the informative small museum, and then we walked the short distance to the memorial. It was very quiet and this made it particularly moving. Onwards to Amiens where I had booked a boat tour of the Hortillonages, which we first visited in 2018 with Heather and Ewan, and where a scene near the beginning of Birdsong by Sebastian Faulkes is set. We arrived at the place where the boat tours depart only to find out that I had somehow booked with a different company! I hadn’t realised that there was more than one company! Luckily this was only five minutes along the road and we got there in time. It turned out to be a one boat company run by the very pleasant and handsome Rémi. He is taking delivery of another boat next week (and presumably will be employing someone to drive it.) The tour was an hour long, fifteen minutes longer than the other company, and it was excellent. We were pleased to get the boat to ourselves (plus Rémi!) because I reckon that there was room for eight. It was so peaceful and quiet; we saw moorhens and ducks and coots, and we saw a jay fly past us. Davie and Chanel, who had watched the Birdsong mini series in preparation, thought the boat trip was very enjoyable. 

We checked into the Mercure hotel which is very central, in fact we have a splendid view of Amiens Cathedral from our balconies, and had a brief rest before separately going for a wander. James and I looked round the Cathedral which is huge (twice as big inside as Notre Dame de Paris) and then had a pre-dinner drink in a nearby pub with Davie and Chanel. 

Our dinner, to which Davie and Chanel insisted on treating us, was at Restaurant Le Quai (recommended by Rémi), and it was splendid. What a lovely final evening of our holiday. 

A sunny day in Bruges

A copious continental breakfast lay in wait for us on the 1st floor of the b&b, served by Nicoletta. The b&b is called L’Histoire de L’Eclair. Our rooms are up under the eaves of this traditional old house just around the corner from the main square; the rooms are very pretty with huge beams crossing just above our heads. During breakfast Chopin’s Marche Funèbre was playing, quite a coincidence because Davie had been talking about it the day before. Then when we were getting ready to go out, the church bells were chiming from all directions and one of them was ringing the tune Over the Rainbow. How lovely. This continued on and off throughout the day, with a medley of Abba tunes while we were having coffee on the open air balcony of the town museum. Before that we went on a canal boat trip which gave us very pretty views as we passed lots of church towers and buildings with stepped gables. 

The weather was very warm and sunny, and people were spoke to assured us that it is the best day of weather that they have had since last summer! After coffees and teas in the pub above the Historium, sitting out in on the balcony overlooking the main square we went for a long and extremely pleasant walk through the streets of Bruges, enjoying the slight breeze which stopped the warm day from being completely sweltering. We had lunch in ‘t Nieuw Walnutje sitting outside in the little square in the warm sunshine, and it was absolutely idyllic. Our next activity was a tour of the De Halve Maan Brewery, an excellent suggestion of Davie and Chanel’s. We were told by our enthusiastic tour guide that beer has been brewed at its location for approximately 500 years. The current brewery has been run by the Maes family since 1856. In 2016 they constructed a 3.3 km underground beer pipeline to connect the brewery with the new bottling plant on the outskirts of the town. We had good views from the roof and James, Davie and Chanel enjoyed a beer at the end of the tour. 

More adventures were to come. We climbed up the 800 year old Bell Tower in time for the 7 p.m. chimes, which were very loud! From the top we could see all the way to Zeebrugge. Then we had dinner in a pretty restaurant, where James, Davie and Chanel had mussels (not the best ones they have had, they all agreed) and I had asparagus à la Belge, and then we all had drinks sitting outside the lively Café Pick near the main square. Even though it was dark it was still warm. 

From Ypres to Bruges

Today we bade farewell to Ypres and headed north east to Ghent. I was very keen to see Jan (and Hubert) van Eyck’s Lamb of God Altarpiece in St Bavo’s Cathedral, and the other three kindly joined me in my enthusiasm. James and I learned about this in our course on the Northern Renaissance last autumn, and it was incredible to visit it. We parked in an underground car park right in the centre of Bruges and walked to the cathedral. We could hear church bells ringing and Davie recognised it as Liebestraum No. 3 in A-flat major by Franz Liszt. I recognised the tune too and was very impressed that Davie knew who had composed it. I had booked tickets for the Cathedral tour; it was augmented reality which meant that the VR images were superimposed on the real background of the cathedral crypt, which I liked. It was very informative, about both the details and the history of the much stolen altarpiece, and I was so excited to be there. At the end of the tour we saw the actual altarpiece and it was bigger and brighter than I had anticipated, I loved it. It’s the most stolen artwork in history - by Napoleon and Hitler among others! Interestingly, one of the two panels which were stolen in 1934 has never been found, and the person who stole it is long dead. Before they died they implied that it is hidden in a public place; we were all speculating about where it might be. 

After a light lunch we continued our journey onwards to Bruges. 

Bruges is as lovely as ever and it has been our sunniest and warmest day of the holiday yet. We started our evening with drinks at De Vloamse Trine, discovered by Davie and Chanel in a little square just round the corner from our quaint b&b, and it was so pleasant that we ended up staying there for dinner. We had a fun evening of chat and a great deal of laughter, finishing with a night time walk around the Market Square.  

Café de l’Erable

We went just along the road to Milk and Sugar for breakfast; a very nice café in Ypres which is so popular that you have to book for breakfast. Then we set off about an hour and a quarter south towards the Somme to visit Loos and Vimy Ridge. Having to retrace our journey south to visit that part of the Western front is the price we have paid for spending three nights in Ypres instead of moving hotels, and I think it has been good to base ourselves here, although we were all very tired by time we got back at 6.30 p.m.

It was David’s idea to visit the Memorial at Loos (pronounced “Loss.”) The Battle of Loos took place from 25th September to 8th October 1915, and despite the British using poison gas (for the first time) and bombarding the German trenches by artillery fire, the Germans were mostly able to hold their positions and the British, Commonwealth soldiers and French suffered huge losses. Again a sad and in this case unsuccessful battle. 

We then pressed on to Vimy Ridge, which we have visited before. On the way we stopped for lunch at Café de l’Erable, a small French bar and restaurant where all of the customers seemed to know each other and there was only one choice on the menu; steak and chips (I had chips only!) The steak was very rare but James, Davie and Chanel ate it bravely and with enjoyment. We wondered what Erable meant so I looked it up later; it means Maple, which of course makes sense because it’s very close to the Vimy Ridge Visitor Centre which is Canadian. We had a tour of the tunnels from a friendly Canadian student, one of fifteen who work in the Visitor Centre. The Vimy Ridge is very memorable because you can see trenches and shell holes all the way up to the striking white twin columns of the memorial at the top of the slope. 

We then set off back towards Ypres, an hour in sometimes quite busy traffic. Our final stop before going back to the hotel was the very interesting Yorkshire trench which is in an industrial estate and was excavated in the 1990s. It’s a small section of trenches and very interesting because it was completely undisturbed until its excavation so it was like a time capsule full of artefacts. 

We all had a rest at the hotel and met downstairs for drinks before another delicious dinner at one of the restaurants in the town square. 

Ypres, Tyne Cot and Langemark

Rain was forecast in the morning so this was a good opportunity to visit the In Flanders Fields Museum in the Cloth Hall in Ypres. After a tasty breakfast in a café we went to the museum; such a detailed and comprehensive museum. We made our way through the different exhibits and then headed up to the bell tower. As we emerged onto the roof the sun came out from behind the clouds, lighting up the town and illuminating the golden dragon weather vane on the spire. After coffees and teas in the museum café we set off by car to Tyne Cot cemetery and from there to Langemark German cemetery. Both were sobering experiences, and it’s difficult to comprehend the huge numbers of dead young soldiers. Tyne Cot is huge with nearly 12,000 Commonwealth soldiers buried or commemorated there, but I hadn’t realised that the smaller (in geographical size) Langemark cemetery has more than 44,000 soldiers. It seems smaller because 25000 of the dead are in a mass grave and also the graves contain multiple bodies rather than one per grave. It’s very sad. 

Back in Ypres we had a drink at the cosy Ypra pub before Davie and Chanel laid their wreath during the Menin Gate ceremony. The actual Menin Gate is currently undergoing renovation so the ceremonies take place on the adjoining bridge. The ceremony was solemn and moving and when I saw Davie and Chanel move forward with their wreath my eyes filled with tears. As we discussed later, it’s so important to remember the war dead, and also to hope that lessons can be learned. 

We had a lovely dinner and also a great chat about science and education and languages and all sorts. 

Back to Belgium

This morning James, Davie, Chanel and I boarded our 10.35 flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. We flew over London (but more to the west than Ally and Cat’s flat in Limehouse) and then passed over a long sandy beach with white capped waves and over the Channel. It wasn’t long before we started descending to Paris. After the usual footering about collecting our luggage and hire car (a smart BMW 3 series) we set off northwards towards Ypres. We stopped at Fins New British Cemetery north of the Somme to pay our respects to James’ Great Uncle Hugh and all of the other young British and German soldiers who are buried there. Then we drove the short distance to the St Quentin Canal at Honnecourt sur l’Escaut, where Hugh was wounded a couple of weeks before he died in a field hospital in October 2018. It’s James’ and my fourth visit to the 1st World War battlefields of France and Belgium, David’s second visit * and Chanel’s first (although she has visited Belgium before, with her Dad.) Our first visit was in 2009 with Ally and Davie (Jamie was already at university so could not accompany us.) We have visited with Heather and Ewan in 2018, with Ally and Cat in 2019, and we are keen to hand on the baton of the family history to our children and their partners. We are so lucky that they are all interested in History. 

Onwards another hour and a half to Ypres, we were all excited when we crossed the Belgian border. Ypres is as pretty as ever despite the damp weather; we are pleased with the smart and well appointed Ariane Hotel, and after checking in we went out for a tasty dinner at In’t Klein Stadhuis which is tucked into the corner of the village square beside the Cloth Hall. My cheese croquettes were delicious and I am assured by my three fellow travellers that the Flemish stew was excellent. 

* David and I also visited Ypres very briefly with the Duncanrig music department in 2013. 

A Spring weekend in Glasgow

On Saturday Heather and I had our afternoon tea at the House for an Art Lover. It was delicious and we were so full! This was my birthday present for Heather and Ewan. We had time for a short walk around the walled garden, which was looking spring-like with daffodils, crocuses and forsythia. We headed into Glasgow and parked at Concert Square and had a quick browse around John Lewis before meeting James and Ewan at the Tap Room in West Nile Street. A convivial afternoon and evening followed, and we sensibly didn’t make it too late a night, mindful of the clocks going forward during the night, therefore losing us an hour of sleep. I insisted on giving Heather and Ewan a lift home and when we got to the car park I handed James what I thought was the parking ticket so that we could enter. It turned out that I had accidentally handed him an old train ticket, which I thought was very funny! 

We woke to an absolutely beautiful morning on Sunday and while James went for his customary big walk, I hastened over to David Lloyd where I had a lovely outdoor swim and then a spa. I then met James at the Finnieston for lunch; it’s very much a fish restaurant and the vegetarian choices were limited. We had a nice time and then headed home to relax with our kitties. 

Back to Glasgow with the kitties

The weather continued to be very changeable for our last couple of days in Ullapool. The cats were on good form. I’m glad to say that Flora seems to be absolutely fine and back to normal, whatever “normal” is for Flora! We heard strange noises from under our bed yesterday and when I looked underneath it was Flora, sitting quite happily and bleating like a lamb. Also yesterday, she let off a silent but deadly fart while sitting in my knee, no doubt the remnants of her digestive problems. The smell was too much for her and she left the room! Tom is his usual good-natured self, enjoying his Northern Territory outdoors and sleeping on his favourite chair indoors. When I passed him there the other day he opened his eyes and rolled onto his back, arms and legs outstretched, ready for a tummy rub. When we left Ullapool this morning we were very discreet about our preparations and by the time we lured him into the porch and confined him there briefly, he was only just starting to be suspicious. He knew that the jig was up as soon as we closed the door and he looked horrified when he saw me carry Flora past on our way to the car. Tom soon joined her in their capacious cat crate and we set off, making good time on the way home. When we arrived in Cambuslang both cats were amazed to be home, as usual, and explored the house and garden. 

This evening we had dinner at Ally and Colin’s, and what a lovely time we had. They are such a pleasant couple and like us they are members of the “three children club!” We had a really good laugh and exchanged lots of news and hilarious stories. Dinner was a delicious cauliflower curry with Gunpowder potatoes made by Colin, which were excellent. 

Visit to Kinlochewe

On Tuesday morning we woke to frost on the bedroom windows! It soon disappeared and the sky was blue, so we decided that a walk would be a good idea. At my suggestion we headed to Kinlochewe for a change and we stopped the car on the approach, to admire the classic view of Loch Maree from Glen Docherty, which was hollowed out by a the debris from a melting glacier tens of thousands of years ago. It looks stunning with the road winding down to the loch. We continued through  Kinlochewe and parked at the Beinn Eighe nature reserve to go for a walk. We soon turned off the main tarmac path to a rougher path of quartz which was more to our taste, and started walking towards Beinn Eighe. To my surprise it started to hail! There were some clouds in the sky but it was so sunny I hadn’t expected that. Luckily it didn’t come to anything. 

We visited Maud and David in Kinlochewe for lunch, the first time that we have visited their beautiful home. I knew Maud in Cambuslang when we both had young children, but life was busy for both of us and we only saw each other occasionally. It’s really nice to reconnect now. James got on really well with her husband David, who is the chairperson of a Whisky Distillery, so they had lots to talk about. The drive home to Ullapool was just as beautiful as on the way with pink clouds in the blue sky. 

Welcome to the Shit Show!

“Welcome to the Shit Show!” was the greeting from RuMac at the Argyll Hotel on Saturday evening, where we went for drinks after dinner. He is such a good accordionist and entertainer, and performed a mixture of traditional and modern music. The pub was packed and everyone was singing and / or dancing. We came up to Ullapool with the cats on Friday and are staying here for a peaceful week. Signs of Spring are all around us; daffodils and birdsong, and yesterday it was so warm that we sat outside at Tea by the Sea for morning coffee, and I spent most of the afternoon sitting outside the cottage on the bench, while James went for a big walk. However it’s chillier today and the forecast is for snow tomorrow! 

Princess of Wales

On Wednesday I went to Book Club at Elaine’s and as usual we had a good old catch up. The current illnesses of Princess of Wales and Prince Charles came into the conversation, rather unusually because we are not a particularly Royalist book club! The media have been making a big fuss about the whereabouts of Kate, because she hadn’t been seen since she went into hospital for abdominal surgery after Christmas. All sorts of ridiculous and downright insulting theories have abounded, increasing in frenzy as the weeks pass. The really stupid thing about this speculation is that Kensington Palace announced right from the start that the Princess would be recuperating until Easter; so she’s not “missing” at all, she’s just resting at home as planned with her husband and children. 

Then on Friday there was an announcement on television by Kate herself, thanking everyone for their concern and explaining that after her operation, cancer cells were discovered in the biopsy and she is now having preventative chemotherapy. I felt so sorry to hear this and also annoyed that she felt compelled to make this statement because of the press and media pressure. Immediately there was a hypocritical outpouring of sympathy from the press, who blamed the palace PR department for not communicating well. What nonsense. The press did not, of course, blame themselves for hounding this young woman who may be part of the Royal Family but is surely entitled to a little bit of privacy about her own health. 

Worried about Flora

I have been very worried about Flora. She has been vomiting on and off for about a week and didn’t seem to be keeping anything down. This inevitably reminds me of my beautiful Jill who died from a tumour in her intestine in 2010. Her symptoms were also vomiting. I really hope that Flora’s sickness is not serious. We took her to the vet on Monday and she got an anti-nausea injection, and some bland gastrointestinal pouches of chunks to take home. I will cast a veil over the unearthly noise she made when she got her temperature taken with an anal thermometer! She was then sick a bit less but she barely touched the special food - she was hungry though because she kept trying to get to Tom’s food, which we kept away from her. 

Back at the vet on Friday, before we travelled to Ullapool, Flora was given two medications; an anti-emetic and a laxative or should I say “Laxapet!” They are easy to administer because we crush the (quarter) tablet into a centimetre long squeeze of the laxative, which is like toothpaste. And here’s the beauty of it, we don’t even need to insert the medicine between Flora’s clenched jaws; it suffices to smear it on her chops and then she licks it off herself! The (hopefully) good news is that there has been no more vomiting for the past twenty-four hours and she is definitely doing poos - I know this because at Ullapool we have a cat litter tray because we don’t have a cat flap, so I can literally see the evidence! I wonder if her collapse in October, probably due to constipation, could be connected to this current seemingly digestive issue? Could it be hairballs causing a blockage, or a sluggish bowel? I really really hope that this treatment has solved the problem and that she has no serious underlying health issue. She certainly seems to be on good form.