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. 

Miso Leeks

Today I was at the dentist for the first part of fitting a crown to replace the tooth which had root canal treatment last year. He drilled away at it and then filed down the remains, and then took an imprint of it using rubber stuff. It took ages, about an hour, and cost me £175. I could have spent that money on much more fun things! But hopefully when it’s finished the tooth will last for a long time. 

I found out some exciting news this evening; the young couple who moved into no. 17 in February had a baby on 29th February. The baby is called Theo and he was nine weeks early, but he is doing well and putting on weight. No wonder I haven’t seen them about to say hello to them. The reason that I met them is that they had a bouquet of flowers delivered but the florist handed it in to us because they were out. I saw them arrive home after dinner and nipped across the road with the flowers. I will look forward to meeting Theo when he is a bit less new and tiny! I did some cooking earlier, a recipe that I saw online; Miso leeks with white beans. Hmmm. It was straightforward to make but I was a bit underwhelmed; it tasted fine but so many beans! I don’t mind beans but they are not my favourite food. I had boiled eggs with mine and James had a salmon fillet. I also made a marinade for tomorrow night’s curry, it’s a while since I have made curry, this one is butter chicken (and in my case butter paneer.) It will be interesting to see how it turns out. 

The Hidden Tearoom

James arrived back from a hill-walking weekend in the Lake District yesterday afternoon and today at lunchtime we met up with Marjory and Forrest at the Hidden Lane Tearoom. This was to use a birthday voucher given to me by Marjory and Forrest. I went there straight from David Lloyd and James arrived by train. The afternoon tea was delicious and there was plenty of it (which is why we booked it for lunchtime rather than have it later as an addition to lunch.) Marjory and I had the vegetarian option for the sandwiches, which were delicious. The scones were very good and were served with butter and really tasty rhubarb jam. And there were so many little cakes that we couldn’t finish them. We were able to choose from a long list of specialty teas. It was a lovely birthday present and we very much enjoyed our afternoon. 

The Clyde Valley with Gran Jan

I had a really lovely lunch and afternoon out today with Gran Jan, my Dad’s cousin. We had been going to have lunch in Bothwell as usual, but at Janet’s suggestion I picked her up and we went for a run along the Clyde Valley for a change. First we went to the Rosebank Garden Centre where Janet insisted on buying me a tasty lunch, and we had a browse around the shop. I also bought a rose bush called “Absolutely Fabulous” for part of Forrest’s birthday present (the other part is a voucher for Alpaca Trekking, inspired by our experience last Tuesday.) I know that the roses will smell great because it’s the same fragrant yellow rose that we saw in Tralee in Ireland last June, which James then purchased for our own garden. 

Janet then suggested that we go to another garden centre just above Garrion Bridge which has an antiques section. It was really interesting, firstly because it had lots of things like teasers and figurines that were very familiar to me from my Mum’s and Grandma’s houses, and secondly because the prices were very good. I resisted temptation but might go back some time for another look. Janet pointed out some washboards whose scrubbing surface was made of glass and demonstrated how to use them; I’m sure that my Grandma’s washboard was made of wood and metal. Back at Gran Jan’s house we had a cup of tea and more chat. I really like Janet, and I enjoy her stories about her life including her youth in Coatbridge. 

Lunch and coffee out on the same day!

The Spring can’t seem quite to decide when to arrive; one minute it is sunny, the next minute it is showery. The overall temperature is definitely warming up, because we can now sit comfortably in the back room, which is too big for the weak winter sun to heat. But now it is a pleasant temperature, no doubt it will be far too hot in a couple of months! I met Alasdair for lunch on Friday at Halloumi on Hope Street. It was our only opportunity for a chat because he arrived late on Wednesday, was out on Thursday at a client dinner, and then would be returning to London late on Friday afternoon. We had a very pleasant hour together talking about plans and holidays. 

Then I went back to Cambuslang where I picked up Alison T from her house and we went for coffee to Rutherglen. James had been recommended a brand new coffee shop so we looked for that; however I think we went to the wrong one. It didn’t matter, because it was very pleasant with excellent home-baking. We had a good chat. James has gone on a hill-walking trip this weekend so it was just me and the cats in the evening. 

Dune 2

In 2021 James and I went to see Dune, based on the 1960s science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. This was a must see for James because he enjoyed the Dune series of books very much. I hadn’t read any of them but I went along anyway. For some reason I found the plot to be very convoluted and I had trouble working out who was who among all the different factions. Anyway, this evening we went to see Dune 2. I resigned myself to 2 hours and 47 minutes of further confusion, but to my surprise and pleasure, I followed it all perfectly! And enjoyed it. I must have picked up more than I thought from the first film. Like its predecessor the film was stuffed with luvvies; I liked it when Zendaya and Florence Pugh were staring at each other in a hostile fashion near the end, as competitors for Timothee Chalamet! The plot was by no means resolved and I predict several more films to come. 

We are about to go to pick up Ally from his delayed train; it was due at about 11 p.m. but is now arriving at Motherwell at two minutes past midnight. He’s going to be in Scotland on business for a couple of days and it will be lovely to see him. 

Alpaca Trekking and cute Harris

We have had such a great day. We went Alpaca Trekking at a farm near Blanefield, using the voucher that Gordon gave me for my 60th birthday. We have tried to book the session before but it was delayed twice by adverse weather. Coincidentally we had dinner at Gordon’s last night with Morag, John and Donna, he cooked us a delicious meal and we had a very pleasant evening. 

The Alpaca Trekking was great fun. We were introduced to our two alpacas, who were called Tim and Steve. It was just us and their trainer who was called Fiona. It took a few minutes for the alpacas to get used to us leading them, and they kept stopping, but Fiona told us to pull them gently by their leads, and they started following us along. We walked with them for an hour in lovely countryside, they have a fantastic life on the farm. Fiona told us all about their diet and their habits. They like rolling in dust and Tim had a wee roll at one point during the walk. Every time they saw long enough grass they would stop to munch it; when we encouraged them to move on they ignored us but when Fiona spoke to them they would start walking again. I think that they could tell that we had no experience with their species! Tim was a beautiful caramel colour with big eyes and long eyelashes, while Steve was creamy white and had a quizzical expression. In the animal world they are closely related to camels and their fur is incredibly thick. It was a most enjoyable experience.

This evening I popped round to Carolyn and Euan’s for dinner, they made a very tasty quorn curry. Harris is two and a half now and is absolutely gorgeous and very, very sweet natured. He’s clever too; his speech and vocabulary are excellent. He showed me his toys and took my temperature using his toy first aid kit. When he ate his dinner he put each spoonful to his teddy’s mouth first. I left before his bedtime so that the family could get on with their evening routine and he gave me a hug goodbye. Carolyn and Euan’s new baby is due at the beginning of July, I think that Harris is going to be a very loving big brother. 

Mothers’ Day

What a lovely Mother’s Day I have had. When I got back in from doing a bit of grocery shopping I found that a beautiful box of flowers had been delivered from Ally, really fresh and carefully packaged. There were all sorts of delicate spring flowers; tulips, hyacinths, roses, with small shiny leaved foliage. I put them into my crystal jug and they look wonderful. 

Later, Davie and Chanel came round with a tasty curry for dinner. They also brought flowers, beautiful bright yellow and orange gerbera daisies and green chrysanthemums, and a box of Guylain chocolates. We enjoyed our curry mightily and then sat chatting in the lounge. Tom and Flora were delighted to see Davie and Chanel, as were we! A delightful evening to round off a great Mother’s Day. 

Jonathan Pie

I went to see Jonathan Pie, Heroes and Villains, this evening with Gordon and his friend Lorna from his hill-walking club. Jonathan Pie is actually a persona created by comedian Tom Walker. He is very political, cleverly lambasting all of the politicians, especially the Tories. He went on long quick fire rants which had the audience laughing uproariously. And the end of his act was very clever too, he sort of switched around to revealing his own hypocrisy which was very funny. We were asked at the beginning not to take photos but inevitably someone did, and he stopped the show, genuinely angry, and called him all sort of names! I hadn’t been aware of Jonathan Pie before Gordon invited me along, but I was very impressed and would definitely go to see him again. 

OMD again!

The highlight of today was going to see OMD at the Royal Concert Hall. We went for dinner to Ask Italian beforehand and it was really busy, I was very glad that I had booked. The service was reasonable though, and we had plenty of time to meet Gerry and Janis for drinks and a chat before the concert. Gerry and Janis are also big fans of OMD, their favourite song is Enola Gay. It was lovely to see them and to catch up on their news. The concert was great. They have so many good songs. I’m sure that I have previously written on my blog that my absolute favourite song is Pandora’s Box, closely followed by Maid of Orleans. James’ favourite is Souvenir. When we left the concert our ears felt quite deafened by the music, although not to the same extent as when we saw Idlewild at Ullapool Village Hall! 

An Officer and a Gentleman - The Musical

It was with the usual mixed feelings that we set off south to Glasgow this morning; sorry to leave the cottage but glad to return home. I do find it a bit confusing to divide myself between two locations. We had done all of our cleaning and packing the day before, so the cats had forgotten their suspicions by the morning and it was a very calm departure for all of us; by the time that Tom and Floof realised that we were about to leave we were carrying them out to the car. As is usual on the way south, James drove the first part on the more windy roads towards Inverness so that Flora could sit on my knee; this prevents her from being sick. We stopped briefly at HIS (Highland Industrial Supplies) in Inverness because James needed to exchange an ashes tray that he had bought for the fire in Cambulang. Flora went into the cat crate without protest and the journey went smoothly. In the evening I met Heather for dinner at Antipasti in Pitt Street before we went to the King's Theatre to see An Officer and a Gentleman, the Musical. It was a great deal of fun; the cast were great and although it did not have an original score it used various 80s songs that were appropriate to the plot. By the end we all cheered and sang along as the young officer appeared to carry his girl out of the factory! We had to move seats at the interval because the people on both sides of us were so “circumferentially challenged” (as my old colleague Des used to say) that they were literally overlapping into our seats! Luckily there were some empty seats in the row behind us. Interestingly, the lady in front of us had an emotional support dog with her. I know that these are used nowadays but it's the first time that I have seen one. She was lifting it up to let it lick her face, which I think is disgusting, my parents never allowed us to do that when we had dogs in the 1970s because it's not hygienic. I don't doubt that a very few people genuinely need support animals, but I suspect that many others have simply leapt into the bandwagon. Heather commented, "Now I've seen it all!" 

Opera in Poolewe

This afternoon we headed south to Gairloch, a pleasant drive that took us about and hour and a quarter. It was a fine, blustery day and we went for a bracing walk on Big Sand bay, from which we could see many mountains, on the mainland, on Skye and, barely visible in the distance, on Harris. We had a pub tea in the Millcroft Hotel which was nothing special but perfectly acceptable. The pub was very quiet, but we were lucky to find it because all the other restaurants in Gairloch are still closed for the winter. From there were travelled the short distance (about 10 minutes) to Poolewe Village Hall, where we had booked tickets to a Scottish Opera Highlights evening. The theme was love, and they had constructed a very loose plot about staff and guests at a wedding to give it a bit of structure. There were a couple of organisers taking the tickets, a piano player, and four excellent singers. They sang a variety of arias and duets and a few quartets, some of which were very familiar to us and some less so. It was a great evening. We set off back to Ullapool on the dark roads. There were a few other cars whose occupants had been at the concert, but by Aultbea the last of them had peeled off and we didn’t see any other cars at all, all the way to Ullapool. We did however see lots of deer at the roadside, so I had to drive very carefully so as not to hit any of them.  

Bruadar Bay

Today was sunny and almost warm so we decided to go for a walk on the beach at Clachtoll. We decided to walk to Bruadar Bay for a change, the colours of the waves were turquoise as they swept over the sand, it was absolutely gorgeous. As James pointed out, it looked like the Caribbean Sea although I bet the water is very cold! I found myself a sunny, sheltered rock outcrop to sit on and I watched the light shining on the waves and took a few photos while James went exploring to the Split Rock. With his love of geology he was so interested in all of the rocks on the beach, there was quartz pushing through the lewisian gneiss, and he thinks that the headland is made of basalt, the fault lines in it are slightly like the Giant’s Causeway in Ireland. James arrived back and persuaded me to walk around the headland with him and I was glad that I did; the huge clefts in the rocks with waves crashing through them were spectacular, as were all of the mountains in the distance. 

A break from the small screen

I have decided to have watch no television at all during the month of March, just to give myself a complete break. I actually don’t think that James and I watch more television than most people of our age. And we are much more discriminatory than we used to be; we watch series that we have chosen according to our tastes, which mostly coincide. For example we recently watched all three series of the fantastic Slow Horses. So the last couple of evenings I have been booking flights, making lists, jotting down ideas. I have also started editing my blog for typos, of which it has quite a few. I must clarify that these are not spelling mistakes because I’m an excellent speller (my one talent!), they are errors in predictive text that I haven’t noticed, or sentences that stop halfway through. The idea is to get the printed in book form as a permanent record, in case Blogger disappears from the internet taking my blog with it. This task will take at least a couple of months because I have thirteen years of blog to edit! 

It has all been very pleasant so far: James is starting a new series called Shogun, which is definitely more to his taste than to mine. He also has a World War 2 series to finish and he’s watching a science fiction series, so we are both happy. So far I am not missing television at all.