Onward Christian Soldiers

Ewan’s Dad’s funeral on Monday was a fond and fine tribute; Ewan and the family did him proud. The hymn was Onward Christian Soldiers which I haven’t heard for ages. I like those rousing old hymns which portray Christians as soldiers fighting the good fight, like Soldiers of Christ Arise, and Jerusalem. There was an excellent purvey at the golf club afterwards, just where Ewan’s Dad would have expected and wanted it to be, in the place where he enjoyed spending his leisure time. 

After dropping Ally off at Dunlop and capturing the cats without too much trouble we set off to Ullapool, arriving at about 7.30 p.m. James switched on the heating and lit a fire to warm up the cottage. 

On Tuesday we decided to go for a cold and sunny walk along the River Broom, the same walk that we went on in September when Ewan had an unfortunate fall. There were no mishaps this time and we completed the 4 km circuit with pleasant and frosty views along the valley. I would like to explore that side of the river and loch further. 

Our four young folks arrived together late in the evening; Chanel had very kindly driven all the way. It was exciting to see them and we all had a nice cup of tea before bedtime. 

A Boxing Day doggy visitor

Janie, Julie, Abigail and Graham came round for Boxing Day lunch. It needed to be a gluten free, low FODMAP lunch and it went well; the main dish was gluten free pasta with tomato and basil sauce and I had dishes of fried onions, mushrooms, and grated cheese which people could add according to their tastes and needs. I also served gluten free rolls and cheesy bread. Dessert was gluten free chocolate brownies with raspberries and a choice of double cream or dairy-free cream. Everyone was chatting happily and seemed to enjoy the meal. 
The drama came afterwards; Abigail and Graham had asked to bring their good-natured wee Westie Rowan, who trotted around the house happily. Both cats were outside when they arrived and I hoped that they would eventually make their way up to our bedroom for dog-free peace and quiet. However they must have worked out that there was a dog about, because at the end of the meal we heard Rowan barking at the back door, and there was Floof sitting on top of the fence staring down balefully at her! We all went back through to the lounge with Rowan, and after a while Abigail decided to take her out to the garden for a wee. I accompanied her, however we didn’t know that Tom and Floof were lurking in the hall, no doubt listening to the doggy sounds in the lounge. So suddenly they all met face to face and all three got a huge shock; the sound of barking and yowling was deafening as they all rushed through to the back room, claws scrabbling and skidding on the floor. Tom and Floof escaped out of the cat flap into the garden, but to my surprise Tom immediately jumped back in again! His back was arched, his hackles were up, his eyes were like burning coals, and his tail was like a bog brush. He ran at poor Rowan who scarpered to the other end of the back room. Ally had arrived to help and he gently pushed Tom back through the cat flap and locked it, so that cats and dog were safely separated. But it didn’t end there! Rowan still needed that wee, so Abigail and I took her outside on her lead and strolled round the garden. Suddenly Tom appeared at the garden steps; hackles, angry eyes, bog brush tail, and he launched himself at the innocent Rowan. He ran to within an inch of her nose and then veered towards the fence and climbed to the top of it to hiss angrily at our canine guest. For the rest of the visit the cats remained outside so Rowan could relax with the humans, but oh my goodness I never thought that Tom would attack a dog! I don’t know whether to be appalled or secretly rather proud! 
When our guests left later there was no sign of either cat for a good half hour, and then they came back in, Tom and then Floof, looking around warily. A peaceful evening of eating Christmas leftovers ensued. 

A lovely Christmas

We have just had a very happy and traditional Christmas Day with Ally. Also Tom and Floof of course, and I popped over to Uddingston morning and evening to feed Skye and Harris while Davie and Chanel are in Liverpool and then Warrington. We started by opening our Santa presents in bed; Ally seemed delighted with his gifts and we wear very happy with the thoughtful present that Santa had brought for us. Santa’s handwriting on our gifts was strangely similar to Cat’s handwriting! Forrest and family arrived in the morning and we had a good chat and exchanged presents. Meanwhile, the turkey was cooking and filling the house with delicious smells and soon it was time to watch the King’s speech on television at 3 p.m. Then came the main event, Christmas dinner. The turkey, I am told, was well cooked and moist, and all the accompaniments turned out well. However, in an embarrassing faux pas I totally forgot to cook the Brussels sprouts, which we did not discover until after we had finished eating when Alasdair casually asked where they were! Oh well, they can be cooked and consumed over the next few days with the leftover turkey. After we cleared up it was time for me to try out my Christmas gift from James, an ice plunge pool! James and Ally had very kindly constructed it in the garden for me earlier. I managed to get right in on my second attempt, and oh boy was it cold; the thermometer said 4 degrees C. When I exited the tub my skin felt like it was on fire! We spent the whole evening in the lounge chatting, with Christmas music playing and the cats coming and going. What a lovely Christmas we have had. 

Christmas lunching

We met up with Ewan and Heather on Sunday for our traditional Christmas lunch. The food was great at the Anchor Line although the service became slower as the quite large restaurant got busier. This wouldn’t have been a problem, except that the start time for lunch had been changed so I had already pushed back the booking time for the pub, when the young folks would be joining us. Luckily my heroes Chanel and Davie came to the rescue; they secured the table at All Bar One for us until we arrived. Thank goodness they did, because it was busy and there were ten of us to be seated. We got the table I had requested on the ground floor beside the Christmas tree and it was all very festive. Jennifer and Ryan get on so well with Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel. Of course we missed Andrew, who had not yet arrived home from London for the holidays, and Jamie and Kerry in New Zealand. It was a great afternoon and evening. 
Since then I have wrapped all of the Christmas presents and this afternoon I baked gluten free, low fodmap brownies for our Boxing Day guests, and sticky toffee puddings for New Year’s Day dinner. The food is all organised for Christmas Day so we are ready to party. 

Christmas songs

James and I went for a lovely walk today in Chatelherault Country Park on a surprisingly sunny morning in between all the rain we’ve been having. We ended a few errands and on our way home we had a lively discussion about which is the worst Christmas song. James content that it is “Little Saint Nick” by The Beach Boys, mainly because of the lyric “Christmas comes this time each year” which I admit is a good point, although I think it’s one of those “so bad it’s actually good” lines. However, for me, the worst Christmas song has to be the dirge-like “Mistletoe and wine“ by Cliff Richard. It’s poor both in melody and lyrics, with the most annoying line being “Children singing Chris-tee-an rhyme” Christian is elongated to make it scan, but I think it sounds clunky, and what does “Christian rhyme” mean? I presume it’s just an awkward way to say “carols” and it is really jarring. 

My best Christmas songs in order: (not carols, that’s a whole other category) 

1. Merry Christmas Everyone by Shaking Stevens (also Ewan’s favourite)
2. All I want for Christmas is You by Mariah Carey
3. White Christmas by Bing Crosby
4. It’s Christmas by Slade
5. Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty McColl

and a very recent addition which I really like -

1. Merry Christmas by Elton John and Ed Sheeran

Heather’s favourite is Step into Christmas by Elton John. 

Flora does not enjoy her visit to the vet

I took Tom and Flora to the vet for their annual booster vaccinations and it wasn’t a pleasant experience for any of us. First of all I turned up at the wrong vet. We always go to Cathkin vet, and I hadn’t looked at the email reminder carefully enough to notice that our appointment was in scope right. However, the pleasant vet in East Kilbride waited for us, examined the cats who were both fine, and give them their injections. I asked her to clip Flora’s claws because they seem particularly jaggy just now and she keeps getting them caught on things which must be annoying for her. I held her gently while the vet clipped her claws, but she was understandably horrified by what was happening because the noise that emanated from her small body was extremely loud and quite unearthly in quality; proper screaming. The people in the waiting room must’ve thought a murder was being committed. However, the job got done and I was home in time for lunch before going over to visit lovely Gran Jan for a wee afternoon coffee. 

Christmas Tree

Davie and Chanel came with us to Aberfoyle on Saturday to choose our Christmas trees at David Marshall Lodge, now known as Forest Lodge. Despite there being only a tiny selection of trees left, we managed to choose two very nice seven-footers and lashed them onto the roofs of our cars. Then we had our traditional lunch in the café overlooking the wintry Trossachs hillsides. Having purchased two trees were entitled to two hot chocolate drinks, however the lady in the café kindly allowed us to have four free hot drinks! The weather was dreich and it rained heavily on the way home so we allowed the tree to dry out before decorating it today, while listening to Christmas music. 

More festive occasions have included lunches at the Burrell Collection and walks in Pollok Park, the always joyful Òran Mor Christmas Panto with Gordon and Morag, and a Christmas Quiz at the Rowan Tree Inn with Davie and Chanel. All great fun. Ally and Cat arrived this evening to spend Christmas and New Year in Scotland and we collected them from the airport, it was so great to see them. 

Ten Million Steps

James set himself a target of walking ten million steps this year. He sets himself a target every year, and this is the highest number of steps that he has aimed for. It was a huge undertaking and several times during the year he wondered if he had been too ambitious. He kept a running total of how many steps he needed to walk each day; this started very high at more than 27000 steps per day. Often he exceeded this, however sometimes if we were on holiday or the weather was particularly bad, he wouldn’t quite make his daily target. As the year went on, and he continued to achieve high numbers of steps, James could calculate that the number of steps that he needed each day to keep on track was steadily falling. He described this as “the dragon eating its tail” which I think means the feeling of acceleration when you approach the end of a task. By a couple of weeks ago it was clear that he was going to make the ten million, and today, Friday 12th December, more than two weeks early, James took his ten millionth step of 2025. What an amazing achievement. 

Power Cut and Art Class

Storm Bram continued through the night and into Wednesday; the winds were so strong, according to the weather forecast they reached 90 mph! However it was not until late on Wednesday, when the wind had abated somewhat at about 10.30 p.m. that we finally had a power cut. Luckily we were heading for bed anyway and James lit a candle in the bedroom, it was quite romantic! 
We set off south at lunchtime on Thursday, the waterfalls were cascading mightily down the hillsides on our way to Inverness. In the evening I went to book club at Ruth’s. At Chanel’s suggestion we were discussing “How to Kill your Family” by Bella Mackie and we had a really good discussion about it. We had two new members so there were seven of us, it was a great evening with the festive backdrop of Ruth’s Christmas tree. This morning was my last art class at the PPWH, and I finished my painting of frangipani flowers from the photo I took in Zanzibar. I like it although I think it could be better. I have learned so much from our art teacher, Jenny. At the end of the lesson we all went for a Christmas lunch in a dining room at the café, it was a happy and friendly occasion. I love our oldest member Kathleen, who is 93 years old and an excellent artist. She has had such an interesting life. All of the ladies are great fun and I would love to go to another art class there next year. 

Storm Bram

On Monday morning Heather let us know that Ewan’s Dad died in the early hours of the morning at the age of 92. I was sorry to hear it; there are not many  of our parents’ generation left and I’m sad for Ewan and the whole family.

We set off to Ullapool mid-morning with the cats; on our way back from the Post Office (we were posting a Christmas parcel to New Zealand) we met Tom who was standing on the wee wall outside Grandma’s house to greet us, so to his surprise we picked him up and carried him straight to the car! Flora was soon captured and joined him in the cat basket, and off we set. We had a good run with no delays and had fish suppers for tea. The weather was quite rainy because Storm Bram was on its way across the Atlantic, and it was very blustery this morning. However by lunch time the wind stopped for a while; I think that we were in the eye of the storm. The sky looked very peculiar; many layers of clouds lit from beneath by the setting sun. By tea time the storm was back with a vengeance and we could hear the wind roaring around the cottage and blowing down the chimney. However when I went outside to check it out I was surprised to find that, bizarrely, it wasn’t very cold. And I was right; the weather forecast later mentioned that mild tropical air is being dragged up from the mid-Atlantic by the storm. As I lie in bed blogging at almost midnight, it still sounds really wild out there! 

It’s later than you think

The weekend has been a pre-Christmas whirlwind of social activity. I went to my Art class on Friday morning and it was fun, even though I’m finding the shading a bit tricky on the petals of the flower that I’m painting. Jenny always plays an excellent soundtrack of favourite tunes such as Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, 10cc and many more. Quite often one or more of us sing along, and on Friday two of the ladies were seen doing a little dance to a Brian Ferry song! In the afternoon Carolyn came round with her two beautiful boys who were on good form and very funny, and in the evening we went to see our old favourite Jools Holland at the Armadillo, he is very talented and always puts on a good show. As usual he led us in singing “Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think” which makes sense. The support act Nick Celino was good too, and to our surprise he was joined on stage by Boy George for a duet. 

On Saturday James and Davie went to see Madness while Chanel and I went to see Hamilton. We all had dinner at the Piper’s Tryst first. James reported that Madness were brilliant, which I believe, however I cannot regret seeing Hamilton for the third time, it was absolutely fantastic! The performers were excellent and I was crying (again) at the end. 

Sunday was the annual Mince Pies outing of the hill-walking club; we walked from the Tullie Inn into Balloch Park overlooking Loch Lomond, about 7 km. The forecast rain stayed off for the duration of the walk I’m glad to say and we had a convivial meal afterwards. By then the rain had come on in earnest and the drive back to Glasgow was not very pleasant. However we arrived in good time to meet Heather and Ewan at Il Pieno for a pre-theatre meal. As ever it was great to see them, but Ewan had sad news; his Dad is nearing the end of his life and is expected to pass away in hours or days. My heart went out to him, his Dad is very elderly and frail but it’s still so sad when the time inevitably comes. We all went on to the Royal Concert Hall to see Rob Brydon’s Christmas concert. He has a nice singing voice and is a very good comedian; this was very lightweight fare but entertaining and a pleasant evening. Such a busy and festive few days! 

Nativity Scenes

This morning, on Gosia and Mitchell’s recommendation, James and I visited the Rynek Museum which is located under the market square. First we had a wee coffee in one of the many restaurants that line the square and we also had a look at the many colourful nativity scenes which people were bringing to display all over the steps of the Adam Mickiewicz monument. This annual event takes place on the first Thursday of December each year and the scenes were amazing. They are so detailed; on the side of one of them someone had even reproduced the altarpiece from St Mary’s Basilica! Gosia told us later that the metallic surfaces are often made out of the smoothed out foil of sweetie papers; she used to do it when she was in school. Some of them had tributes to this year’s 1000th anniversary of the Kingdom of Poland, others had moving parts such as the wise men moving in a circle. So intricate. 

The Rynek Museum was made when, during building work, the area under the main square was found to be hollow, with the remains of medieval and Roman buildings beneath. There was a huge project to dig it out, create the museum and restore the square. It was so interesting and as well as the walls and artefacts that were found, there is a lot of information about the history of Krakow from earliest times to the growth of its trade throughout Europe. We even found out about the Chort, which was a demonic entity in Slavic traditions and a great worry to medieval folk. 

Gosia and Mitchell arrived from visiting Michal and we went for lunch in the gorgeous and very popular Morskie Oko Restaurant, where we had delicious and very filling potato pancakes with various toppings. The restaurant is traditionally decorated with light coloured woodcarvings and it is very attractive. Sadly it was soon time to leave for the airport; security was very quick and efficient but passport control had a huge queue. There was nothing that we could do and unlike many people we were in plenty of time for our flight, so there was no rush. Our journey home went well and we landed on time. What a brilliant couple of days we have had, great to see Gosia and Mitchell and wonderful to be back in Krakow. 

Dragon in the mist

Yesterday evening we flew to Krakow, that lovely city which we visited with Heather and Ewan in the summer of 2023. The journey went smoothly, we were worried that Ryanair would somehow fleece us because they currently have a fearful reputation for fining people over luggage or check-in infringements, however all went well. The plane seats were a bit uncomfortable and hard, and the pilot hit the brakes very strongly three times after we landed which was slightly alarming, but we got though passport control in jig time and were soon in a taxi to our hotel. We couldn’t remember its name until we checked in my phone; James guessed “Queen Bee” and I guessed “Golden Tulip.” In fact it is the “Golden Queen” so we were both right! And wrong! We soon settled in to our clean and comfy room. 

What a day we have had in Krakow! We woke to a misty morning, which gradually cleared as the day went on. Our hotel is only about ten minutes walk from the beautiful town square and we headed through it to the Czartoryski Museum. It’s a fascinating museum, housed in an old family palace, and we had coffee in the atrium before looking around. The most famous painting in the museum is Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo da Vinci, which I loved, but there was plenty more to see, including several fine Northern Renaissance paintings for altarpieces, by Master Jerzy and Michael Lancz von Kitzingen. Also a wee painting by Lucas Cranach the Younger of The Family of Sigismund I which was a series of wee faces like passport photos! There were lots of Medieval paintings and sculptures too. 

Our next stop was St Mary’s Basilica to see the Marian Altarpiece by Weit Stoss being opened at 11.50 a.m. as it is every day. A small crowd gathered on the pews in front of it and at precisely 11.50 a nun arrived, said a short prayer and opened both sides of the altarpiece using a long pole like an old fashioned window opener. It really was magnificent! The outside was impressive and chronicled Mary’s life with Jesus, but the inside was even more stunning, culminating with Mary’s ascension to heaven. We spent ages just drinking it in, the detail and the colours. Back in the main square we had a light lunch with hot fruit tea with big chunks of fruit and cinnamon sticks floating in it, and a tub of honey to sweeten it still further if desired. Gosia and Mitchell arrived from the hospital where they had been visiting Michal, and we all went to the Christmas market which is on one side of the square. It was full of Christmas decorations, woodcarvings, ceramics, amber jewellery, and lots of food stalls. They took us to a smaller but just as pretty Christmas market in the little market square in the other side of St Mary’s Basilica before beers (and a mocktail for me!) Gosia and Mitchell then led us on a pleasant walk through the University District, past the Opera House and onto a tram to the Jewish quarter, where we had a tasty and traditionally Polish dinner. A feature of this was plum dumplings which were absolutely fantastic. Then we walked back to the hotel, via the Father Bernatek Footbridge with its surreal kinetic statues which looked very lifelike in the mist which had descended again over the city. Drinks in a wee bar followed, served in skull shaped flagons with dry ice which made them fizz and bubble. We also visited the statue of Dzok the dog, who was looked after by the citizens of Krakow in the early 1990s after his master died suddenly on a busy roundabout; eventually an elderly lady persuaded him to give up his vigil and live with her. After six happy years the lady died and unfortunately Dzok escaped from the dog shelter and was run over, but his story really resonates with the people of Krakow as it shows the kindness of the citizens. We walked back to our hotel via the river path, and saw the dragon statue beneath the castle looking disturbingly real in the mist, especially when it suddenly breathed out a huge gout of flame! 

Wicked for Good

I have had a great few days despite the wet and windy weather. I had dinner with Heather Br on Thursday and we had a good chat which sparked for me a great deal of reflection. On Friday morning I went to my Art class at the PPWH and it was an absolute joy, and afterwards I met Philippa for lunch in the café there. As usual it was lovely to catch up with her, and Ruth joined us for coffee. The two girls had never met before but were soon chatting like old friends, we had a good laugh. In the evening I went to Mekong in East Kilbride for a very early EK Book Club festive meal. We couldn’t get a date in December that suited everyone and we didn’t want to wait until January. It really did feel quite festive and we had an interesting and very pleasant chat, again I came away feeling very thoughtful (in a good way!) I have also been working on a drawing of a zebra at home, from a photo I took on Safari in August. It’s going to take a while, it’s very intricate. This afternoon Chanel and I went to see the second part of Wicked; “Wicked for Good” which was very entertaining although I still don’t understand why they had to stretch one perfectly good musical into two films. Then we picked up Davie (we were at Showcase Cinemas which is only five minutes drive from their house) and collected a curry and arrived home for a really delightful evening of curry and chat. 

Flu jags on a dreich day

Having got the hang of submitting work to the university online, this morning I read over my northern Renaissance essay one more time and submitted it, this time there were no problems in uploading it. And that’s it! My visual assessment and essay are both finished, the essay is a whole week early. I really did feel a sense of achievement, even if it is just for my own personal satisfaction. Actually, it’s more than that; doing the assessment has made me think much more deeply about the artists of the northern Renaissance and I have done a lot of reading about them with the result that I think I have learned more. Anyway, it has been a great experience. After lunch James and I went into Buchanan Galleries to get our flu jags. Neither of us qualify on grounds of health or age yet, so we decided just to pay for them in case we catch a bad case of the flu. It was a really dreich day. We did a very small amount of Christmas shopping, but neither of us were really in the mood, so we strolled along to merchant city to scope out some venues for our Anderson and Black pre-Christmas drinks, and found a promising lead. Back at home, we started the new series of the Witcher, with Chris Hemsworth replacing Henry Cavill in the role. In his Witcher garb with long hair, Hemsworth looked almost indistinguishable from the original Witcher, which worked quite well. It’s a good series but still much more James’ taste than mine. 

Visual Assessment

Today was my last Northern Renaissance class, and also the visual assessment went online. I was a bit nervous but mainly excited. I asked Sybren how long we were expected to spend on it within the allocated twenty-four hours, and he explained that two or three hours should suffice; it’s the modern equivalent of the old exams that I sat in great big exam halls in the 1980s. I think that in a way I would have preferred to have an allocated three hour exam, because I ended up working on it for about six hours. You are allowed to look up books and resources, which in my mind made the task more onerous! We were given three pairs of art works to compare in the context of the Northern Renaissance. Finally I was ready to submit the assessment onto the University website, but it wouldn’t upload. I wonder if perhaps the system was down because when I tried for about the 20th time, by now after midnight, it suddenly uploaded which was very exciting! 

Studying and Socialising

On Tuesday I went to my second last Northern Renaissance class. We were learning about woodcarvings, and one of the most impressive ones is Veit Stoss’s huge altarpiece in St Mary’s Church in Krakow. We didn’t see it on our first visit to Krakow in 2023, although we did see lots of other things; however we will be returning to Krakow in December to meet up with Gosia and Mitchell so I am very excited about visiting it then. We had chilli con carne with Ally (and without carne for me) and watched one more episode of University Challenge which of course Ally won again. He set off to a meeting in Edinburgh on Wednesday morning and thence to London by train, it has been really nice to see him. 

On Wednesday we had lunch with Christine and Gerry at the Wishing Well tearoom in Eaglesham. We had lots of news to catch up on and the lunch was very good. On Thursday we went to see 80s pop singer Howard Jones with Marjory and Forrest, after a tasty dinner at Il Pieno in Hope Street. Howard Jones was James’ idea; I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and the whole audience were up dancing by the end. I think it’s fair to say that nobody enjoyed it more than Howard Jones himself, who changed sparkly outfits three times and was very enthusiastic. More very pleasant social occasions followed; coffee with my lovely cousins Janie and Julie, and a great curry at Rasoi with Heather and Ewan. James and I went to see the new film Nuremberg with Davie, it was very good. It didn’t in any way seek to excuse the actions of the Nazis but it was nuanced and Russell Crowe was fantastic as Goring. However I have spent a great deal of time over the past week working on my Northern Renaissance Art essay. James has rightly pointed out that when I was an undergraduate I was producing essays of this length (about 2000 words) every week, but I’m out of practice and also I want to make a good job of it. I’m enjoying the process very much. 

Home again and Afternoon Tea

Jennifer very kindly drove me to Milton Keynes on Sunday morning, from where I could catch a direct train to Glasgow. I had a reserved seat again and soon made myself comfy with a cup of coffee and a pain au raisin from Prêt. The train was quite busy at first but I pressed on with my Northern Renaissance essay and by Penrith lots of people had got off the train so it was lovely and quiet. 
James, Ally and Davie have been hill-walking this weekend around Glencoe and stayed for one overnight in the Nevis Range Base Camp hotel. James had piled up lots of food in the cats’ bowls before he left yesterday morning. When I arrived home in the afternoon Tom and Flora came running down the stairs and took me straight to their bowls. There was loads of dry food left but no fresh chunks, which I remedied immediately. James and Ally arrived home by teatime and we had a curry together and I heard about their hill-walking adventures.
On Monday morning the sky was a gorgeous blue colour but it was very cold and there was frost on the ground as I walked down to the station. I met Heather at Mackintosh at the Willow where we had a delicious afternoon tea; sandwiches, scones and tiny cakes. You could choose whatever tea you wanted and I chose Duchess Grey which was very drinkable, I drank two teapots full! Heather chose different fruit teas which she said were excellent. A good old chat ensued before we headed on our separate ways home. We made lamb tagine for James and Ally, and butternut squash tagine for me, and we watched University Challenge which was great fun. James doesn’t like University Challenge so my only chance to watch it is with Ally. I was delighted that one of the answers to a question about art was Vasari! I have learned about him in my Northern Renaissance art course! Ally won of course, although we were both a bit out of practice.  

Injera and candlelight in Oxford

Russell impressed me in the morning with his tiny frying pan which is exactly the right size for one fried egg to be fried in a perfect circle. After breakfast Jennifer and I, and her lovely friend Debbie went for a stroll into the centre of Princes Risborough where we went to a craft fair at St Mary’s Church Hall, and then had coffee and brownies. We were joined by anther of Jenn’s friend, also called Debbie, and had a really nice chat. Back at the house Jennifer organised a tile painting session for us, what fun! She then baked the tiles in the oven to set the ink. 

Our next destination was Oxford, but unfortunately there had been an incident on the line near Ruislip and all of the trains were cancelled. We met two young Oxford students called Ellen and Yelena who were also stuck, and after being unable to hire an Uber (because demand was outweighing supply because of the cancelled trains) Russ very kindly brought the car to the station so that Jenn could drop him back at home and then she drove us and the students to Oxford Park and Ride. From there we caught the bus into the centre of Oxford, the girls were very grateful and even invited us for drinks at Brasenose College bar! 

Jenn and I had dinner at Lula’s which is an Ethiopian Restaurant, and we shared a vegetarian injera dish; injera are fermented pancakes with the most amazing texture and taste. Then we had a coffee in Oxford’s Covered Market and listened to a great wee band. As we were walking to the Holywell Music Room for our next event I caught the side of my foot on a kerb and fell down full length rather painfully but luckily with only a couple of bumps and grazes. When Jennifer helped me up I felt really dizzy for a few minutes and my ears were ringing. Jennifer took me into a café and bought me a hot chocolate; I soon felt better and we went to see Candlelight ABBA versus Queen. What a fantastic concert in a stunning venue. We were in the front row and a string quartet played a series of tunes by both groups which were all excellent. At the end we had to decide whether Abba or Queen were better. Abba received rousing cheers from the audience but the applause for Queen easily and in my opinion justifiably surpassed them, so the final song played was by Queen. Does that mean that Queen wrote better songs or that the string quartet simply played the Queen songs better? This gave Jennifer and I plenty to discuss on the journey home. It was a fantastic day. 

National Gallery and Aylesbury Theatre

It was rainy today but I cared not a jot because I had already planned a morning at the National Gallery before meeting Jennifer for lunch. I set off after carefully posting Ally and Cat’s keys through their door after locking up, wrapped in a sock so as not to damage the floor. I had such a lovely time at the National Gallery and had a wee pain au chocolat in the Supporters House mid morning I met Jennifer in the Sainsbury’s Wing and we went down to the Supporters House where we had pumpkin tortelloni which was yummy. I mistakenly asked for tortellini and the waitress politely pointed out my mistake, so I looked it up later and the main differences are size and filling: tortellini are smaller and traditionally filled with meat, while tortelloni are larger and typically filled with cheese and vegetables. Always something new to learn! Jennifer and I then took the underground to Marylebone and caught a train to Princes Risborough. It was dark when we arrived and Russell kindly picked us up from the station, and we had a tasty tea of homemade soup, bread and cheese before going to see the German comedian Henning Behn at the beautiful Aylesbury Theatre. He was very funny; his main theme was what to do about global warming and he made some sharp observations and was not afraid to be quite 
outrageous!   

Dinner with Cat in Marylebone

I had a great day in London today. After a wander around the busy and vibrant Borough Market, I met Rhona for lunch at Fish! which is a gorgeous bright restaurant on the edge of the market. We had a good catch up. I then took an underground train to Euston and went for an excellent walk in Regents Park. Compared with the busy streets of London it felt almost hushed, even though there were some people walking around. There were quite a few squirrels dashing about in the undergrowth and birds singing in the trees. The leaves have nearly all fallen but it was still warm enough to sit outside for a coffee at the pleasant Regents Park Café, where I eavesdropped on a beauty queen (in full regalia) being filmed by a friend talking about her life plans. Fascinating. It was getting dark when I left the park and the path was closed ahead of me so I had to go a roundabout way to get to the road; I felt a bit spooked in the twilight even though there were still other people in the park. I had a stroll along the delightful Marylebone High Street and went into Daunt Bookshop for a browse before meeting Cat for dinner at Bellazul, a great wee tapas restaurant. Ally was on his way to Scotland for a work meeting tomorrow. Cat and I had a really nice chat and had a cup of tea later back at the flat. 

Dinner with Ally in the City

This morning I took the direct train from Glasgow Central to London Euston. The journey went very smoothly although we were 15 minutes late. To my delight I got a table for four all to myself all the way to Warrington, when a quiet man arrived; he was no trouble. I do enjoy a train journey when it goes well. I spent my time writing up my Northern Renaissance notes and working on my essay, it was very enjoyable. 
When I arrived at Ally and Cat’s flat I had a coffee with Cat before she set off for a meeting in Cambridge, and I took the DLR to Bank to meet Ally at our old favourite, the Ivy Asia. When I was at Limehouse Station on the way, a drunk man tried to get my attention but I gave such a terrible scream when he grabbed my shoulder that he looked really scared - I hadn’t realised he was speaking to me until he touched me! That’s the second time that a drunk man has approached me in the last couple of weeks; the other time was in Paris. Ally and I had a really lovely meal and chat, and afterwards Ally took me into his new office above Bank Station which has amazing views from its 4th floor windows. It even has a terrace outside the window with wee tables and chairs. From the terrace we could see an amazing stained glass window, I think it’s about the Peasants’ Revolt, in the Mansion House building, which is the official residence of London’s Lord Mayor. 

Christmas Cake

It has been a good day. I am nearly finished the second draft of my Northern Renaissance essay, although the word count has alarmingly shot up to nearly 5000 (it should be around 2000 words) so will require some vigorous trimming. James and I went over to the picture framers in Carntyne after lunch and put in a painting of Mum’s and two Tingatinga paintings that we brought back from Tanzania. On the way home we shopped for ingredients for this year’s Christmas cake and then James carefully weighed them all out and made the cake. Meanwhile I made a recipe that I noticed in my Ottolenghi Simple cookbook; cornbread with cheddar, feta and jalapeño. It was made with flour, polenta, spring onion and of course corn, and it had a lot of spice in it such as cumin and nigella seeds. It turned out very well and we had it for dinner with eggs (me) and bacon (James.) It was very companionable cooking and baking together in the kitchen, and the Christmas cake smelled gorgeous during its four hours in the oven. It’s Grandma’s recipe that we use so it’s a nice reminder of her. I came across a lovely photo the other day of her and I having lunch in the sunshine outside House for an Art Lover in the summer of 2018. 

Aye Write 2025

This afternoon James and I went to two events at Aye Write, the Glasgow book festival. Both were in the Strathclyde Suite The first author was the likeable and chaotic comedian Helen Lederer. I read her autobiography “Not that I’m Bitter” in preparation for her talk and she is very open about her life, both good and bad times. Her talk with Bryan Burnett was hilarious; she flitted from subject to subject and it was hard to keep up! We went downstairs to the café and Bryan Burnett and his producer Barbara and her husband were behind us in the queue; we introduced ourselves as long time fans of his radio show “Get It On.” They were very pleasant. 
The second event was Julie Wilson Nimmo and Greg Hemphill talking about their book about wild swimming, following on from their television series, which we have watched. Bryan Burnett again conducted the interview and they were great fun, telling lots of anecdotes about their lives and how outdoors swimming has helped them during times of change in their lives. 
After an acceptable dinner across the road in Ask Italian, James set off to the Hydro to meet Gordon; they are going to see Australian Pink Floyd again. I headed home where I binge-watched all three episodes of the Victoria Beckham documentary on Netflix; it was a good opportunity because James has no interest in watching it! 

Another Book Club and first Art Class

Last night I hosted book club - but not the same one as Tuesday. This time it was my East Kilbride Book Club, and we had a convivial evening, starting with an interesting discussion about the book (There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak) and then a catch up on what’s going on in our lives. Some news was heart-warming and some was worrying. They are such a nice group of girls. 
I went to my first Art Class at the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice today and I absolutely loved it: the teacher is such a kind and helpful person and the other students are very friendly. I have decided in a botanical painting and the teacher encouraged me to start with the background. 
Later James and I went in an errand to Carntyne and as we drove back through Shettleston I noticed a street with an unusual name; Vesalius Street. A quick google search informed me that the street is named after Andreas Vesalius, a 16th-century physician and anatomist. The reason for naming the street after him is apparently a mystery. The specific reason for the Victorian street's name is a mystery, Vesalius was an eminent and influential scientist but he was born in Brussels and never visited Scotland. 

Book club, essay and fireworks

It’s fireworks night tonight but we have stayed in; I have been working on my Northern Renaissance essay all day and spent a bit of the evening on it too. I am making progress. The essay is not compulsory but I think it’s a good way to really think about what I have learned. The cats are not very happy about the fireworks, not terrified but definitely a bit spooked and staring at the windows when there is a particularly loud explosion outside. They both spent the evening in my study dozing on the couch while I played music to muffle the sound of the fireworks. 
Last night I had the newly revived Cambuslang book club at my house, it fell into abeyance a couple of years ago when Katie moved to Liverpool because she was the main organiser, but Ruth and I have decided to restart it. We talked about Margaret Atwood’s Hag-Seed and it was a really great discussion and a lovely evening. I was delighted that Chanel came along; she fitted right in and got in well with everyone. 

Home from Paris

Our Novotel hotel at Terminal 1 in Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport, couldn’t be handier for the airport; it’s actually part of the airport buildings and a very short walk to the shuttle train to Terminal 2. However it still took us a whole hour to queue through security and passport control and then our flight was delayed by an hour! Never mind, we were quick off the flight at Glasgow and were soon home and reunited with Tom and Floof, who were pleased to see us and took us straight to their food bowls. This was completely unnecessary because Angela had fed them in the morning, but I think it makes them feel secure if we do our duty and feed them when we have been away. Much unpacking and laundry was done. In the evening we decided to watch a film. We used what I now think of as the “Josh method” first successfully used by us last week, which is to choose the first film on Netflix which catches our eye instead of spending ages searching. This time we quickly chose “The Woman in Cabin 10” which was a run of the mill and yet fairly enjoyable thriller, with a stellar cast led by Kiera Knightley and Guy Pearce. It was set on a super yacht, a bit like my favourite tv programme Below Decks, but with less sex and more murder! 

Canal Saint Martin

We decided to revisit St Germain this morning so took a metro directly from Arc-de-Triomphe to Saint-Paul and then walked to Ile Saint-Louis. It started to rain just as we were passing a wee café, La Lutétia, so we popped inside and enjoyed coffee and tartines while watching people walking past under their umbrellas. By the time we were ready to continue our walk the rain had stopped and the sky was blue again. We went along past Notre Dame to Shakespeare and Company, fortuitously joining the fast growing queue about ten minutes before it opened at midday, which meant that we got straight in. The doorman put the chain across just behind us so we felt very lucky. It was nice to be back and we looked at the art books as well as going upstairs to the second hand section. We continued nostalgically along the Rue de Buci and  across the Pont Neuf where we jumped in a metro train to La Villette. We went for a gorgeous autumnal walk from the Bassin de la Villette along the Canal Saint-Martin. It was quite pretty in an urban way, with locks and high pedestrian bridges at intervals along it. Lots of people were out for a Sunday walk along the canal. We stopped for a quick coffee at a busy wee café, then continued along until the canal literally disappeared into a tunnel beneath Paris and could be seen no more. It apparently goes underground until it emerges at Bastille shortly before it joins the Seine. We walked the short distance to Place de République and took the metro to somewhere about half way along the Champs-Elysées. Then we strolled along in the evening sunlight towards our hotel, stopping for a really delicious dinner at Café L’Etoile 1903 just round the corner from the Arc de Triomphe. It was decorated in fin de siècle gilt adorned style and the waiters were very friendly, like most (perhaps all, I can’t be absolutely sure) of the Parisian waiters whom I have encountered over the years. Their fearsome reputation seems to me unwarranted. After collecting our cases we travelled by RER train to Charles de Gaulle Airport. And as a wee end of holiday bonus we were given an upgraded room at the Novotel! Our room is on the top floor, smart and spacious, and after all our walking around Paris today it was great to put our feet up and relax. 

Bois de Boulogne

This morning it was raining so we headed for a museum that we haven’t been to before, which is quite near our hotel, the Musée Marmottan Monet. We visited a temporary exhibition of paintings of people sleeping by a variety of artists, which was mildly interesting, and then went downstairs to the permanent collection to pay our respects to Claude Monet. Some of his work is magnificent, some of it not so much. I really liked La Barque, a little boat on water that looked full of pondweed, with a leafy branch over it. And I liked Impression, Sunrise, which Monet painted from his window in Le Havre with its blood red sun rising through a blue haze, a couple of little boats in the foreground. It’s apparently where the term Impressionism got its name. 
We then emerged into gratifyingly dry and sunny weather and walked the short distance to the Bois de Boulogne. 
It was lunchtime so we made our way to the nearest restaurant, the Chalet des Îles. In 1852, the Bois de Boulogne was ceded by Napoleon III to the city of Paris and major work on its redevelopment began the following year under the direction of Baron Haussmann. As part of these plans, a lake was created with two islands connected by a bridge. Meanwhile Empress Eugénie decided that she really liked a chalet that she saw in Bern, in Switzerland. So the Emperor had the whole chalet dismantled and transported by train and rebuilt on the large island on the lake! It is now a restaurant, and to get to it we took a wee ferry across the water. The restaurant was smart with a wood burning stove, and was busy with families. One family was celebrating a birthday and we noticed that some of them were singing Joyeux Anniversaire and others were singing Happy Birthday! We had a delicious lunch, although James’ duck was so rare that he remarked that our niece Jenny, who is a vet, could still have revived it! Or as he put it, “got it back on the wing!” which I thought was very funny. Then we took the tiny ferry back and going for a lengthy walk around the Bois de Boulogne past the Longchamps Racecourse and along woodland paths, which looked absolutely beautiful in the autumn sunshine. Birds were singing in the woods, there were lots of herons at one end of the lake, as well as swans and ducks on its banks. From time to time we could see the Eiffel Tower peeking over the tops of the trees. James expertly navigated us out of the north of the park and back to the 17ième arrondissement for dinner in the Café Armance. 

Carnavalet Museum

We had “formule petit déjeuner” at a café near the hotel before heading to the Louvre by metro. As we drew into each station there was spooky Halloween music played along with the station announcement which I enjoyed! We had bought our Louvre tickets in advance so were able to walk straight in, but I was disappointed that the “Écoles du Nord” section, which includes Northern Renaissance art, was closed off. I asked why and it’s due to staff shortages. However it was not advertised as closed on their website, so I’m going to send a stiff email of complaint. We looked around the French medieval and 16th and 17th century artists, however when I decided that it was time for a nice coffee at Angelina’s, we found that it is closed for refurbishment. Oh dear oh dear! It was time to cut our losses and we walked a couple of kilometres to the Marais, where we went to the Carnavalet Museum on the Rue de Sevigny. When we were on our revolutionary walking tour in June, our guide had pointed out (through a window) the statue of Louis XIV in full Roman regalia which is in the courtyard of the museum, but we couldn’t go in because it was closed that day. So this was a good opportunity to take a closer look at Louis, and to have a look round the rest of the museum which is about the history of Paris. It was really interesting, set in a couple of the many “hôtels” of the district, which were the mansions of the well-off inhabitants of the area. One of these was Madame de Sevigny, who held literary salons there in the 17th century. There were many rooms from other “hôtels” carefully reconstructed in the museum to preserve them. There were also a lot of paintings and maps of Paris as it evolved and expanded through the centuries, which James particularly enjoyed. On the top floor was a section on the French Revolution, which I have been learning about this year, so that was worth a look. And there’s more to see, but we both felt that we had seen enough for one day. 
It was very pleasant to revisit the Place des Vosges, now very autumnal compared to the hot day when we visited it in June. Later we had a lovely dinner near the hotel. 

Bob Dylan at the Palais de Congrès

How exciting it was to wake up to bright blue skies in Paris this morning! James planned for us to take advantage of the good weather by going for a big walk, and that’s just what we did. After a delicious breakfast at the very popular La Pompadour bakery of coffee and tartines with butter and jam, we headed towards Montmartre which we approached from the north; it only took about half an hour. We arrived at the Place du Tertre which is just as busy as ever at the end of October, and had drinks sitting outside Au Cadet de Gascogne. It was lovely and warm in the sunshine. We were just across from the Clairon des Chasseurs where we had a brilliant lunch with Heather and Ewan in June, but it just didn’t feel right to go there without them! We walked to the Galeries Lafayette where we had lunch and bought some tasty treats as souvenirs. Onwards to the Tuileries Gardens via Avenue de l’Opéra. The gardens were pleasantly busy, and we enjoyed seeing the autumn colours on the trees. 
In the evening we went to the main event of our trip; Bob Dylan at the Palais de Congrès. It’s a spacious and comfortable venue where the seating is tiered so we got an excellent view of the stage from Row Q. Mind you the people away at the back must have felt very far away from the action because there is no balcony so it just stretches back and back. As with the Cat Stevens concert our phones were locked in pouches so that we couldn’t take photos. I had received an email asking us to be in our seats by 7.30 p.m. because the concert would start promptly at 8. As we waited obediently in our seats, we noticed that much of the predominantly French audience were still filing in and slowly finding their seats as the minutes ticked by. With Gallic insouciance they were clearly in no hurry. At 8 p.m. on the dot the lights went off and Bob Dylan and his band started playing. There was quiet chaos and consternation in the aisles as the stragglers struggled to find their seats in the dark, which of course was now much more difficult. Bob Dylan started a bit hesitantly, turned more towards his band than the audience. He seemed to relax as the concert went on, and I enjoyed the songs, a few of which I recognised but many of which I had never heard, which isn’t surprising as I don’t know his music very well. Also it was very hard to make out the words, and the songs didn’t sound the way they were recorded. For example the second song was It Ain’t Me Babe which of course I do know, and although I thought I recognised some of the lyrics, the tune sounded so unfamiliar that it wasn’t until James confirmed it to me later that I was sure that it was supposed to be the same song! There was much playing of the harmonica. Bob didn’t speak to the audience at all, not even a Bonjour Paris, and as soon as he finished a song he pressed on with the next one. At the end when he left the stage (without a word of farewell!) the audience applauded wildly but the house lights came on after a few minutes, there was no encore. What did I think of the concert? Well it was exactly as I expected really, and although I wouldn’t rush to see him again I’m glad that I had the experience. 

Bonjour Paris

We are in Paris. We fancied seeing Bob Dylan but he was sold out in Glasgow so we looked around to see where he’s touring and decided that a wee jaunt back to Paris would be fun. We spent a fair proportion of the day travelling and arrived at the Hôtel Regent’s Garden at about 4 p.m. We are in the 17ième arrondissement for a change, not far from the Arc de Triomphe, and after checking in to our hotel, we went for a walk to check out the neighbourhood. There are plenty of cafés and restaurants, and we are a short walk from the Palais de Congrès, where Bob Dylan will be playing tomorrow evening; the main reason for us choosing this area of Paris. We had pre-dinner drinks in the friendly wee Café Armance, on whose menu is written the eponymous Armance’s motto, “Ici, on pèle, on cuit, on monte au beurre, on rôtit, on arrose, on boit, on respire, on aime, on vit quoi...” How very French. 
By this time it had started raining and it was dark, so we headed back to the hotel and had a good dinner in the restaurant next door, which was called Môm, then back to our cosy room with flowers in its window box. 

Bosch and Bruegel

Yesterday I met up with my dear school friends, the self-styled Ladies who lunch. We had our usual friendly and supportive catch up. Out of the five of us, two have grandchildren and one has two grandchildren in the way. Not twins, an expected baby from each of two different offspring! On the way home I ran into Christine from next door, who has been very ill recently but has recovered; it’s nice to see her looking so well. 
Today I had my fifth session of Northern Renaissance Art; Bosch and Bruegel. They are different yet similar. It was very interesting. I would love to go to Madrid to see lots of Bosch paintings (the Spanish Royal family collected a lot of them so they are now in the Museo del Prado) and to the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna to see lots of Bruegel paintings (collected by the Austrian branch of the Habsburg Royal family in the 16th and 17th centuries.) Maybe one day!  

Birthday sticky toffee puddings

We were woken at 2.30 a.m. by foxes screaming in the street. I mean really screaming, it was the most unearthly noise. After this disturbance we got back to sleep but when I woke up I was confused about what time it now was. Luckily the clocks went back last night which meant that we got an extra hour of sleep. 
I made gratin dauphinois while James made gammon joint with cherries, and we served this with buttered carrots for Chanel’s birthday lunch. Our lovely Chanel is 29 today and we have known her for a decade; I remember very well the day that we first met her in Dundee on 15th November 2015. Josh was here too; he’s working in Ayrshire this week so is staying with us overnight. The five of us had our lunch followed by Chanel’s favourite dessert - sticky toffee puddings which I made yesterday. They turned out very well and we didn’t have room for birthday cake, although we lit the candles and sang Happy Birthday. Then we went through to the lounge and played a board game called Seven Wonders which I purchased earlier this year, after seeing it being played very enthusiastically by a French family when we were in Madonna di Campiglio. They played it every night in the bar after skiing. Chanel deciphered the rather complicated instructions and thank goodness she did because I couldn’t make head nor tail of it at first. But by playing the game I gradually got the hang of it and we all enjoyed it. After Davie and Chanel went home (with the birthday cake!) Josh, James and I had pizzas and watched a very good film called A House of Dynamite on Netflix. Josh and I chose it in about thirty seconds as the first promising film that we saw, and this method worked well! It was an all too believable tale about the start of a nuclear war, and was told from three concurrent points of view. It was compelling and well acted. 

Anything for Love

Last night we went to see Steve Steinman’s Anything for Love at the Armadillo. We met up with Gordon and Morag there, which was especially impressive because Gordon has recently had his second knee replacement. Last week James and I took a picnic lunch over to him and Morag. We picked up some meats, cheeses, nice salads and bread at Marks and Spencer and when we arrived we set it all out. Gordon was moving about really well considering that it was only a few days after his operation. After lunch Morag made us all coffee and we drank it in the living room so that Gordon could elevate his leg. It was great to see them both and have a good chat. Gordon wasn’t sure whether he would be able to attend Anything for Love but he decided to come along and it was such a joyful evening. Steve Steinman originated his tribute to Meat Loaf when he went on Stars In Their Eyes in 1993, and he has been touring with it ever since. He looks nothing like Meat Loaf, being a skinny, bald 59 year old man from Oldham near Manchester, but his voice is very similar. At least I think so; James doesn’t think it’s as good as that of Meat Loaf. He was supported by a great band and they were all enthusiastic and sometimes humorous; it was an excellent tribute act. None were more enthusiastic than the male backing singer, who looked absolutely transported with happiness the whole time. I pointed this out to James and he said “He’s living his best life!”

Pub Quiz

Davie and Chanel recently invited us to come along to a pub quiz in Uddingston which they frequent regularly, and we went to it tonight. It was at the Rowan Tree Inn, which is tucked in behind the Main Street right beside the Tunnocks factory. As we arrived we saw an elderly man getting into a big car and I said jokingly “That’ll be Mr Tunnock!” Then we noticed that the registration plate was “AT 12” and realised that it probably was indeed Mr Tunnock, one of the succession of Mr Tunnocks that is; it’s a family business which has been going since 1890. We met Davie in the pub, unfortunately Chanel was not able to be there because she isn’t feeling well. The food menu in the Rowan Tree is so short that it is literally printed on a beer mat! But the pies and chips that we ordered were very tasty and the staff were friendly and efficient. The quiz was great fun, David knew the quizmaster and several of the other customers too. This is typical of Davie, who makes friends wherever he goes. My finest hour? Identifying Rembrandt from his self-portrait. Davie’s finest hour? The music round; he has a really good knowledge of albums of the past and present. And James’ finest hour? The tie break! We tied for first place with another team and the deciding question was “What is the height of Ben Nevis in feet?” James knew the answer in metres but had quickly to convert it into feet. He was correct (well, much closer than the other team) and we swept to victory.  

La Vie Bohème

Today I met up with Philippa at the Burrell Collection for lunch. It was great to see her and she had lots of exciting news to tell me. It was a beautiful autumn day and the highland cows in the fields were being admired by many visitors to Pollok Park. 
We watched Rent (the musical) this evening because we went to see La Bohème at the Theatre Royal on Tuesday, because I know that Rent is based on La Bohème. I saw it years ago and enjoyed it, but I don’t think that James has ever seen it. Rent is set in New York in the 1980s and instead of the tuberculosis of the 1830s, some of the characters have AIDS. The characters in both productions are similar in their drinking, drug-taking and living on the fringes of society as impoverished artists and writers. James did not enjoy watching Rent, he didn’t think that the music was any good, although he did admit that the indolent characters were no worse than those in La Bohème! Coincidentally Jamie went to see Rent at Sydney Royal Opera House on Thursday. He has been in Australia for a neonatal conference this week. 

Davie’s 30th Birthday Celebration

This evening we celebrated Davie’s 30th birthday with a dinner at Angels in Uddingston. Eagle eyed readers will realise that Davie’s birthday is in fact the 17th October rather than the 16th, however Chanel is taking Davie away for the weekend to a mystery destination, so we celebrated a day early. We picked up Davie and Chanel on our way and we were gratified at how excellent was the dinner. Great service and great food and great company. After the meal the birthday cake was produced; I had ordered a photo cake which turned out very well and I think that Davie was very pleased. We were lucky to be able to spend Jamie’s 30th birthday with him in New Zealand, and although Ally’s 30th was in the run up to the financial year end when he was very busy, we enjoyed celebrating with him a few weeks later. It was lovely to mark Davie’s special birthday with him and Chanel; I can’t believe that my youngest is now 30! 

Visiting the PPWH

This morning Ruth took me to the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice for brunch. It has been in its new site in Bellahouston Park for seven years now, and this is the first time that I have visited it. It is beautifully designed; light and airy with a large bright café, therapy rooms, treatment rooms and rooms for patients and their families, all overlooking landscaped gardens and the park beyond. The autumn leaves on the trees outside were shades of yellow, orange and gold, and there was a team of yellow-jacketed volunteers working in the garden. Ruth took me to see the art room after our coffee. The whole place was peaceful but somehow full of life, not what I had expected of a hospice. This is where Jackie died in March 23, so I was thinking of her. 
Ruth very kindly dropped me off at Ibrox Underground Station and I was in plenty of time for my Northern Renaissance Art Class. Today was all about the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck, and I was again overwhelmed by all of the symbolism. I wonder how much of it was seen as symbolism by the people of the 15th century or whether it was kind of subliminal to them. For example, if people of my generation see a photo of someone with a designer handbag we might assume “wealth” without actually realising that we were thinking it. 

Gutter clearing

My dreadful cold continued over the weekend, but James lit the fire and the cottage was nice and cosy. When I felt a bit better we walked down to the village and had coffee and cake sitting outside Tea by the Sea; it’s still mild enough to sit outdoors. All too soon it was time to to pack up to head home, or so we thought. Yet again the cats somehow detected that we were getting ready to leave, and they both disappeared into the garden. When I was holding the ladder for James to clear the autumn leaves out of the gutters, Tom appeared on the wall to watch us. I approached him casually but he sloped off with insulting slowness, safe in the knowledge that I would not be fast enough to catch him. Flora was seen lurking in the garden and then trotting off down the lane. However hunger was the cats’ downfall because they came sneaking in through the back door to see if there was any food in their bowls and I quickly trapped them in the porch. The journey went smoothly and we got home in time for tea.   

First cold of the season

We are having a pleasantly quiet few days in Ullapool where there is a mixture of warm sunshine and light showers. Unfortunately I have been afflicted with a horrid wee cold. My throat is on fire and I am sneezing and coughing as discreetly as I can. However my dear husband tells me that I sound disgusting. I spent the afternoon reading about Northern Renaissance Art as much as my poor thumping head would allow. In other news there seems to be a peace deal between Palestine and Israel; it’s very early stages so let’s hope that it lasts. And James and I, strongly influenced by Jenn and Russ, have started watching Celebrity Traitors. I’m loving it so far, and am surprised and gratified by the high calibre of the celebrities. Often in these celebrity versions of reality tv shows the so-called famous people are, to quote Billy Connolly, “Celebrities you’ve never heard of!” In this case though, I would say that at least fifteen of the nineteen are genuinely well known, for example top intellectual luvvie Sir Stephen Fry. Alan Carr is hilarious and it’s all very good-natured. James is markedly less enthusiastic but he is sportingly watching it with me which I appreciate. I’m now tucked up in bed waiting for my Night Nurse capsules to kick in. 

Tablet

I enjoyed my Northern Renaissance Art class yesterday; this week was about the symbolism and realism in the Netherlandish art. It actually raised more questions in my mind than answers. Is the mousetrap in Joseph’s workshop in the Mérode Altarpiece by Robert Campin really a symbol of the devil trapping Jesus? Or is it (as I instinctively feel) just a mousetrap? I walked to Partick Station on my way home because the earlier drizzle had stopped and it was a fine afternoon. 

James made tablet for the first time ever yesterday. Gran Jan asked me to deliver some of her tablet to Rachel last week for a charity sale, and I think this gave James the idea to try making some. Also we have discussed offering to make tablet as wedding favours for Jamie’s wedding in 2027. James worked and stirred away using his sugar thermometer and the results were fantastic. It tasted just as good as my Dad’s tablet and that is high praise indeed. 

Today Ally and Colin came for lunch and we made them a lamb and quince tagine. The quinces were picked from our own tree. It turned out very well if I say so myself, and we served it with couscous, a dollop of thick yoghurt and flatbreads. We made double quantities so there was plenty to freeze and I made a butternut squash version for myself. We had a lovely catch up with Ally and Colin, and after lunch we had coffee and baklavas sitting in the back room which was nice and warm. Colin also partook enthusiastically of James’ tablet; it really is excellent. 

Deceiving the Eye in the National Gallery

We went back to the National Gallery this morning for a members’ event called “Deceiving the Eye.” We walked from Bank Station to Trafalgar Square; it was the most beautiful sunny day. We took a small detour to walk through the narrowest lane in London, Brydges Place, which was only one paving slab wide at its narrowest point. First we had cool drinks in the members’ room then met our group in the Sainsbury’s Wing foyer. The art historian was very knowledgeable and presented a case that the Dutch artists of the 17th century used the recently developed optics technology to help make their paintings more accurate. He used Samuel van Hoogstraten, who experimented with various optical effects, as an example. We also looked at works by Carel Fabritius and Johannes Vermeer. All good fun. At James’ suggestion we then strolled through the sunny streets to my favourite outdoors café, Caffe Tropea, in Russell Square. It was absolutely delightful to sit outside in the warm afternoon, drinking coffee and eating mini cannoli. All too soon it was time to head to the airport for our flight home, but what a fantastic five days in London we have had. 

We have also had excellent news from Ally and Jamie, both of whom have new jobs. Ally has just been promoted to Senior Associate in his law firm and Jamie has just been offered a consultant paediatrician post at a hospital in Auckland. Following on from Davie’s excellent new job news earlier in the summer this is great news for all three of my sons. I am so proud of them all. 

Woolwich to Eltham

Ally and Cat took us on another walk on the Capital Ring today, the first section from Woolwich to Eltham, and it was absolutely brilliant. The weather was beautiful with a wee breeze which kept me from overheating. First we took the DLR all the way to Woolwich. We had brunch in a gorgeous wee French bakery and then set off along the Thames where we could see the ferries that cross the water. The route then climbed gently away from the river through Woolwich Common, passing the impressive Georgian Royal Artillery Barracks. The path led through Charlton Park and into Oxleas Wood,  one of London’s ancient woodlands, which has oak, beech, and hornbeam trees. It was beautifully autumnal and there were so many acorns falling from the trees, James told us that it is a mast year for oak trees. This occurs every 5 to 10 years and means a bumper crop which is too large for all of the predators like squirrels to eat, thus ensuring that some will grow. We all gathered some acorns to plant in the spring. Emerging from the trees, we arrived at Severndroog Castle a striking 18th-century folly perched on Shooters Hill. It has a wee café and we sat at the tables outside to drink our coffees. Then we climbed to the top of the tower and were rewarded with views southwards to London City and Canary Wharf. In the foreground parakeets squawked in the trees below us. Windsor was just visible distantly to the west, using the binoculars provided by the friendly guide. This small hill is the highest point of the Capital Ring. The route then continued gently downhill through Eltham Park to Eltham Palace, a magnificent Art Deco mansion surrounded by elegant gardens. It is currently closed because scenes for a film are being shot there over the next few days, but the kindly security guard allowed us to walk across the bridge to have a closer look at the palace and grounds, which are very pretty. We walked onwards past fields of horses, it felt very rural considering its proximity to central London. Finally we walked down into Eltham itself and caught a train to Lewisham and thence to Canary Wharf on the DLR. We had drinks in the Munich Cricket Club, a pub with a great atmosphere of which we have lovely memories with Ally, Cat and Andrew. Then we had dinner in Mala and an excellent chat, before saying very fond farewells to Ally and Cat and heading back to the hotel. My feet were very tired after 20 km of walking but I felt good. 

Ally saves a pigeon

We walked along to Ally and Cat’s flat in the morning for a delicious breakfast of coffee and pastries. It was very sunny but also quite windy - perhaps the edge of the Storm Amy that was bringing down trees in Scotland last night. We decided to go for a boat trip at Canary Wharf, something that Ally and Cat have done before but they were happy to do again. So we booked a self drive boat, which was very comfy with a wee table in the centre where we could put the drinks and snacks that we brought. It was good fun navigating around the waterways and looking up at the buildings towering above us. There were a few swans swimming about, some cormorants, and one very unlucky pigeon who had somehow flown into the water and couldn’t get out. The poor wee thing was desperately swimming, using its wings to try to lift itself up. Our hero Ally directed James (who was driving the boat at the time) to turn and pursue it. Of course the pigeon became even more agitated trying to get away from us. The safety boat appeared and we managed to trap the pigeon in the space between the two boats, whereupon Ally lifted it out of the water using an oar, and deposited it into the safety boat. The man in the safety boat took it to the shore and put it into a quiet corner on the wharf to rest. When we finished our boat trip we went to see it and put some pieces of cookie beside it; it didn’t look in great shape but it was sitting up and watching us, so I hope it survived. I am very proud of Ally for giving that wee pigeon a chance. 
We made our way to Swiss Cottage where we had a pre-theatre meal in a delightful Lebanese Restaurant called Arabesque. Then we went just round the corner to Hampstead Theatre to see Titus Andronicus. This was of course part of my quest to see all of Shakespeare’s plays performed live; this was my 22nd out of a total of 38 plays. Ally and Cat had good-naturedly agreed to join us. I was a bit concerned about it; Titus Andronicus is one of Shakespeare’s least loved plays because of its huge amount of graphic violence, and I didn’t want Ally and Cat to feel that they had wasted their Saturday evening on a load of rubbish, even though I knew that they wouldn’t complain. I needn’t have worried; the play was much better than any of us expected. It was indeed very bloody but the plot was robust, the actors were excellent, and the director had cleverly played up the gory bits so that they seemed so over the top as to be almost surreal. We all enjoyed it and had a good chat about it on the way back to Canary Wharf on the Jubilee Line. 

Troilus and Cressida

We awoke refreshed and ready for another fun day in London. Our first stop was the new members’ room at the National Gallery, which is called “The House.” It has its own private doorway on Trafalgar Square and it is very lovely and smart, with a dining room, café bar, lounge / event space, and an interior door which takes you right into the National Gallery. I love everything about it. We had brunch in the café before heading into the Gallery to revisit our favourite Northern Renaissance paintings. After a pleasant wander around, we walked down to and across the river to the south bank, and strolled along to the Globe Theatre. We had plenty of time for a coffee before seeing Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida. James bought us a programme so that we could check up on the plot, which seemed complicated at first, but made sense once it got started. It was the story of the love affair of Troilus and Cressida during the part of the Trojan War leading up to Hector’s death. It was well acted and I enjoyed it. The best known actor in the play was Samantha Spiro, whom we saw in Troilus and Cressida in Stratford last year, she is very talented. We had seats which meant that we were protected from the rain that came on lightly but steadily just at the start of the performance. Unfortunately this meant that the people in the standing area got rather wet but they were well clad in waterproof jackets. We decided to walk back to Limehouse; continuing along the south bank of the Thames through Rotherhithe and then under the river on the Windrush line to Wapping. We have walked this route before but in the other direction. The rain stopped within about ten minutes so we felt very pleased that we didn’t have to put up the hoods of our jackets. We had a tasty curry at the Holy Cow in Limehouse before the last short stroll back to the hotel.