Ngorongoro Crater

An early start today! Coffee was delivered to our villa at 5 a.m. and then we set off from the hotel to the Ngorongoro Crater. It was a long drive, about two and a half hours to the inner gates. Then we started our descent of the Eastern side. We saw so many different types of animals! A list is boring but here is one anyway! 
Zebras, wildebeest, grand gazelles, Thomson gazelles, lions in the distance, vultures, guinea fowl, lots of warthogs, buffalo, ostrich, and hippopotami. 
Flamingos in the lake, red billed teals, Cory bustards (the heaviest birds of flight), black crowned cranes (also known as the Uganda bird because it is on the Uganda flag.) Lilac breasted rollers, buzzards, speckled mouse birds, ibis, heron, secretary birds - so named because when secretary birds kill snakes they use their feet like typing. They are also familiar to us Andersons from the film Bedknobs and Broomsticks! A vulture at the top of a tree with two chicks in its nest. 
Rhinoceros, and a female lion right beside the jeep!
We saw lots of trees too, the ubiquitous acacia trees, a strangling fig, baobob trees. 
These lists are by no means comprehensive; there was so much that I couldn’t possibly jot it all down. The Ngorongoro Crater is an amazing place. 
Back to the Mandhari Lodge hotel and we went for a swim in the pool and then sat around the fire pit before a tasty dinner. Then in came a group of the staff, dancing and singing. Last night Cat and Chanel got up to dance with them, and this evening Chanel pulled me and Davie up to dance too. It was great fun! 

Safari!

Today we had our first game drive, to Lake Manyara National Park. We travel in two Landcruisers, four of us in each, we have decided informally to rotate travelling companions. Our drivers, Charles and Naftal, are friendly and informative. The roofs of the landcruisers lift up so that we can stand up to see the wildlife. This also gives us a pleasant breeze. On the way to the park we passed through the town of Mto Wa Mbu which means River of Mosquitos. A terrifying name, but it is a fertile place, with rice fields and banana trees because of its water. Ahead of us we could see the mountains of the Rift Valley, the origin of our species.
Naftal bought red bananas from a roadside vendor; they are delicious, small and very sweet. We entered Lake Manyara National Park, which is fed by springs from the Rift Valley. 
We saw Baobob trees with their very thick trunks and distinctive shape. Also lots of baboons. Monkeys too, but mainly baboons. 
Also impalas, waterbucks, and a bushbuck. We saw a group of elephants; two adults and two babies, which were so sweet. There are so many birds too, many of them very brightly coloured. 
We were given a hearty picnic lunch at table overlooking Lake Manyara; it was cool under the trees. 
We saw elephants, just strolling along through the trees. And we saw a warthog (Pumba!) just before we left the park. 
Our hotel, the Mandhari Lodge, is very attractive; it consists of a main building and restaurant and a scattering of villas. It’s a long drive up a dusty track, but you are rewarded with stunning views over the green valley below and Lake Manyara. We all met up at the pool, and swam and chatted and had drinks. 
Dinner was excellent and then we had to be escorted to and from our rooms after dark because of the danger of leopards and hyenas. As I write this I can hear what I think is a hyena whining and snuffling outside our wee villa. 

A Long Journey to Arusha

It has been a long day, or more accurately a long night. Davie and Chanel came round for a snack lunch yesterday before we all took a taxi to the airport and flew to Heathrow. It was just as well that we had allocated four hours before our next flight because it took two hours to retrieve our luggage and travel from Terminal 5 to Terminal 2 by train. When we boarded our flight to Addis Ababa it was very busy with people milling about the aisles. The lady who was sitting to my left was  what my Dad used to call “well built” and encroached on my space but she was so pleasant that I didn’t mind. She even told the man in front of me not to recline his seat while I was eating! I was surprised to see her eating the dry creamer straight from the packet though! I don’t know how much sleep I got but it didn’t feel like a lot and we were all pretty tired when we arrived in Addis Ababa. 
Ally and Cat arrived and met us in the Departures Lounge; in their two days in Ethiopia they have had some adventures already, including sightseeing, retrieving lost luggage, and having to  hand over their binoculars to security. This last was because of the current military situation in Ethiopia; it is deemed a threat to bring binoculars into the country! 
We caught a mid morning flight to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania, which was pleasant and uneventful, it was less than two hours. However we were delayed on arrival at Kilimanjaro Airport. James’ visa never came through so he had to stand in a long and slow moving queue to get one before following the rest of us through security. And David’s case was missing; he has a luggage tag in the case which showed us that the case is still un Addis Ababa airport. So he had to fill out a form and hopefully the airline will send the case after us. 
Our driver was waiting for us and we set off on the couple of hours drive to Arusha, where we would be spending our first night of the holiday. Well, our first proper night, in a bed rather than an aeroplane seat! Our driver, Alex, took us for an impromptu tour around the centre of Arusha, a bustling city with a market, lots of shops, and street stalls. It is allegedly the centre of Africa, half way between Cairo and the Cape of Good Hope, and has a little clock tower to prove it. 
There were people with sewing machines repairing clothes in the pavement, there were people riding incredibly overladen bicycles, a woman carrying cassava in a basket on her head, children on their way home from school. On the outskirts of town we arrived at Katambunga House, and went for a swim in the pool before dinner. As well as being very pretty, the pool area has an incredible view of Mount Meru, Tanzania’s second tallest mountain, in the distance. 
Jamie and Kerry arrived from the airport at about 9.30 pm and of course got a huge welcome from the rest of us. The team of eight adventurers are now assembled and ready to go on Safari! 
The young folk gave us a big surprise after dinner. Cat had organised and ordered eight t shirts, printed with a photo of James and me on the front to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary. On the back is the itinerary of our holiday in the style of a band’s tour t shirt. It is absolutely perfect and so thoughtful. We had drinks in the bar before bedtime and now I’m lying in bed exhausted but happy with strange African bird and insect noises outside. 

Pakora Masterclass

 James and I drove home from the Cotswolds on Thursday without any hold ups, sharing the driving as usual, and listening to The Rest is History podcast. It was great to see Tom and Flora who seemed enthusiastic about our return. Much laundry was done and we started packing for our Safari; we will depart on Monday afternoon which is very exciting. It has been nice to be at home, socialising a bit and doing useful errands. James met up with Gerry, I had lunch with Chanel; James had his last vaccination and I had my hair cut. We went out for a lovely Italian meal to the very popular Nonna’s Kitchen in Kirkintilloch on Saturday with Heather and Ewan, the food was very tasty and the service was friendly and cheerful despite how busy it was. An excellent evening. 
This afternoon we went to a Pakora masterclass at Mr Singh’s near Charing Cross with Marjory and Forrest. They gave us a voucher for this for our wedding anniversary and we decided all to go together. It was great fun, and although it was a cookery demonstration rather than a class, the chef (Josh) was very entertaining and assured us that pakora is eaten a great deal more in Scotland than it is in India! Josh didn’t measure out his ingredients at all, just scooped garam flour and various spices into a bowl, mixed it up and added the chicken, haggis or vegetables. He made it look so easy and so speedy, however as he pointed out, he has been doing this every day for twenty-five years! The pakora was delicious and then we had the rest of our Indian meal, which was not only delicious but very filling. I suppose we had each already had three large pieces of pakora before we started our two course meal. I asked (because Ewan asked us to!) if you can make pakora in an air fryer; the answer is not really - you need a good old deep fat fryer to get the proper effect. Back at home we finished packing for our holiday. 

Visiting Charles and Jeremy

Today was our last day in the Cotswolds, the week that we have spent here has gone by all too quickly. We drove to Tetbury in the morning and went on a garden tour of Highgrove House, Prince Charles’ gaff, where he lived with Diana and their boys in the 1980s. And he still lives there now, as well as his many other homes. According to a recent complaint by one of his team of gardeners, he walks around inspecting the gardens and giving them notes about changes / improvements written in red ink! It all looked very familiar from photoshoots that they did then with tiny William and Harry. However I couldn’t take photos around the gardens because at the beginning of the tour we were told firmly that we were not allowed to! This was a pity because there were many gorgeous flowers in bloom, and the fruit was being grown on trellises on the wall of the vegetable garden, there were tree shaded paths, sculptures and fountains, so it was very photogenic. Charles has tried to use all natural methods of gardening rather than chemicals, and I was interested in the wildflower meadow where they have increased the amount of flower varieties every year. Some parts of the garden I thought were a bit overdone; just a bit too planned. I did like that all of their ponds and fountains have wee bridges leading out of them so that animals who may fall in can use them to climb out. One of the fountains was very top heavy with moss and plants, with the water dripping through, and our ancient (and very posh) guide explained that this was so that insects and butterflies would not be disturbed. However I couldn’t help thinking that it looks ready to topple over and could have done with a vigorous trim and still have left plenty of vegetation for the insects! After our tour we went into the restaurant for a late lunch which I have to say was absolutely delicious in delightful surroundings. 
In the afternoon, we went to the village of Moreton in Marsh, where the nice nurse from Cirencester Hospital had recommended the Bell Inn, allegedly Tolkien’s inspiration for the Prancing Pony pub in Lord of the Rings. It is indeed a pleasant and old-fashioned pub and we had a drink there. Onwards to Stow-on-the-Wold to see Saint Edward’s, a beautiful Norman church, parts of which date from the 11th or 12th to the 14th century, and which stands on the site of an earlier wooden Saxon church. Its north door is flanked by two yew trees which have grown into the structure of the church. It looks like something out of a fairytale and is rumoured to be another inspiration for Tolkien, this time for the Doors of Durin, which are the entrance to the Mines of Moria. This is however unsubstantiated. 
Then we headed to The Farmer’s Dog near Burford for dinner. I booked this a few weeks ago while watching Jeremy Clarkson getting it renovated and opening it for business during the latest series of Clarkson’s Farm. We enjoy the series so thought it would be fun to visit. I was impressed; the bucolic setting overlooking fields is lovely. The food was very good too, and the service was friendly and efficient. We chose to sit outdoors under the awnings for which Jeremy was outraged to have to pay £40,000. It is a huge amount of money, however the umbrellas are huge and substantial, with gutters to divert rainwater. They also have heaters which was useful as the evening cooled down. It was really fascinating to visit the place that we have recently watched being done up; it must have been filmed last summer when it was all rather chaotic; it’s good to see that the place is running well now. 

Outdoors Swim and a Reunion

James went for a walk and I went for a swim in Cirencester’s Open Air Pool, which was great, I love swimming there. I then spoke to Holly on the phone; our pre-holiday phone call to finalise details about our Safari in Tanzania. I can hardly believe that in a week we’ll be there. While we were chatting I popped into Keith’s café in Black Jack Street for a coffee and a pastel de nata, which was just delightful. 

James and I had lunch with my former school friend Morag, whom I haven’t seen for 36 years, although we have kept in touch via notes in Christmas cards. We met at Aston Pottery which has excellent home baking. We started with quiches; the portions were absolutely huge. The afternoon flew by, we had so much to catch up on. James went for an hour’s walk to the Thames walkway in the middle while Morag and I shared a cake and chatted some more. 

In other news, Ozzy Osbourne has died today. He always looked as if he was about to die but somehow I never thought that he would! End of an era. 

Farewell to the aeroplanes

Today was the last day of the airshow; there is no flying display but the aircraft depart one by one, often waving to the hardcore fans who are still watching. It has a nice atmosphere, however this year James went on his own after dropping me off at Cirencester Hospital minor injuries unit. My foot has continued to really bother me since I rolled it in Inverness a couple of weeks ago; it aches all day and gets worse towards the end of each day. It also concerned me that my ankle was x rayed by mistake, instead of my foot. Cirencester Hospital is small and really friendly; it wasn’t busy when I arrived at 9 a.m. although it quickly became a lot busier so I was pleased that I was ahead of the crowd. The nurse who looked after me was such a pleasant person; she took me through to x ray in a wheelchair at great speed, saying “Scream if you want to go faster!” which made me laugh a lot! I was found to have an avulsion fracture of the 5th metatarsal. This explains the continuing pain. The good news is that it should improve over the next few weeks, and if it doesn’t I should go back to a hospital. Meanwhile I’m to wear trail shoes to support my foot, rest it and elevate it when I can and use ice packs on it. 
I then walked (gently!) over the footbridge to Cirencester town centre which took only ten minutes, and had an absolutely delicious brunch of coffee and French toast sitting outside the pretty Luxe café which is in one of Cirencester’s many little lanes. The aeroplanes departing Fairford were flying overhead every few minutes and all of us at the café were looking up into the sky to watch them. James joined me there at lunchtime and I had another coffee, the surroundings were delightful. We strolled down to the market and listened to an excellent busker singing Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” and then we continued into and around the Abbey grounds. We had a business video call later and then had dinner at Henry’s which was tip top. 

Fun in the FRIAT enclosure

What a difference fifteen minutes makes! Today we set off at 7.30 a.m. on the dot, and got to the FRIAT enclosure a whole hour earlier than yesterday, by 9 a.m. It had been raining during the night and into the morning, but it was dry enough when we arrived to have our breakfast of coffee and pastries sitting outside on the picnic benches, which was rather lovely. The coffee from the van at FRIAT is absolutely delicious. I remained at the benches while James went to the grandstand, and I joined him again later. There was one big downpour in the middle of the day but then the blue skies returned. Both yesterday and today have had much better weather than forecast so both the organisers and audience were delighted. 
There was a poignant moment right at the end of the day; a retiring aircraft, an F-16, taxied through an archway of water from the airport fire engines as a farewell tribute, apparently this is a tradition. We went back to Cote for a tasty dinner later. 

Sun kissed at Fairford

This morning we left the cottage in Cirencester just after 7.45 a.m. and just as well we did, because today is one of the two busy weekend days at RIAT. We had to queue for a short time as we approached Fairford airfield by car, and for a longer time as we waited in a slow moving line through security. But we were in our seats in the grandstand by the time the flying display started at 10 a.m. There was a heavy shower as we went through security but the day brightened up exponentially and by lunchtime it was very sunny and very hot and muggy. I spent quite a bit of time watching the flying display from the grandstand but when it got very hot I took myself into the shade beside the FRIAT tent and still had a good view of the flying display. I had a baked potato with cheese and onion for lunch and it was delicious. James was so happy watching the aeroplanes; by the end of the day his face and arms and especially his knees, looked rather pink because he spent almost all of his time in the grandstand in full sunshine. It was a great day, and later we had a delicious tapas dinner in La Bobina. 

Back in Cirencester

Our tiny cottage in Cirencester really is tiny. Small bedroom and bathroom upstairs and living room / kitchen downstairs. There isn’t even a back door! However it is clean and extremely well located right in the centre of the town, beside the Roman Museum and lots of cafés and restaurants. 

This morning we set off to the air show nice and early; the Friday of the airshow is traditionally the least busy air display day because most people arrive at the weekend. In the FRIAT enclosure we found ourselves among a keen squad of hardcore aeroplane enthusiasts. You can attend the airshow for up to six days, three of which (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) have flying displays, and then on the Monday morning the aircraft depart, which is also worth seeing. 

We soon got into our routine of watching the planes from the FRIAT grandstand, eating, inspecting the static display, and in my case, reading my book. Today I hardly had time to read my book because the weather was lovely so I ended up watching a lot of the flying display. When I say lovely, I mean neither baking hot nor lashing with rain, both of which drive me inside the FRIAT tent for shade or shelter. It was a great day, and later we went to Cote back in Cirencester for a tasty dinner, followed by drinks at the Golden Cross, which was full of friendly locals who were genuinely unintelligible to us! We were probably unintelligible to them too! 

A Winter’s Tale in July

What a quick turn around we have had. We set off home from Ullapool at about 6.45 on Tuesday; we had intended to leave at 6 p.m. but Flora was outdoors and didn’t come when called. The cats know the signs that we were about to set off because of the packing and housework that goes on before our departure. So we sat outside in the sunshine and eventually she came strolling up the path, miaowing at us enquiringly. Five minutes later we were all in the car (we knew that Tom was hiding behind the sofa in the living room) and made good speed; we arrived home before 11 p.m. 

Yesterday we unpacked our Ullapool stuff, packed for our Cotswolds holiday, did admin, laundry, James did gardening and I had lunch with Ally W and delivered the Ullapool information to Susan T. And this morning we set off at 9 a.m. to drive to Cirencester, via Stratford upon Avon. The journey went well with no hold ups and with listened to the “The Rest is History” podcast, continuing the series on Hannibal, enemy of Rome. It was very good. We also listened to music and chatted. After a couple of brief stops we arrived in Stratford by 3 p.m. and had a pleasant walk around the familiar town centre. The sky was grey but it was very warm and we had a cup of tea sitting outside a café opposite Shakespeare’s house. We had dinner at the lovely Rooftop Restaurant at the Swan Theatre. James’ glass of wine was delayed because they had run out of the one he had chosen; as a result they gave us all of our drinks for free! I was very impressed that the waitress gently reminded us that the play, A Winter’s Tale, was due to start at 7.15 p.m. - we had assumed that it would start at 7.30 so we hurried downstairs to the theatre just in time. 

I enjoyed the first half of the play much more than the second half. The first half was quite enthralling with tension building and lots of drama. There was of course Antigonus’ famous "Exit, pursued by a bear." However the second half lost its way a bit; Autolycus was so annoying, and then the reunions towards the end were summarised by one of the characters instead of being portrayed, perhaps to speed things up, but it made me feel as if I had missed a potentially good scene. And then the dragged out “statue” scene was just silly. I did enjoy myself though, and notably, I have now watched exactly eighteen of Shakespeare’s thirty-six plays, so I’m half way! 

We are now in a new (to us) tiny cottage in Cirencester, ready to go to RIAT tomorrow morning. 

Two wee boys

Carolyn and Euan and their two beautiful wee boys came to stay overnight with us last Sunday before their trip to the Western Isles, and then on their return from Saturday evening to this morning. It was great to see them and Harris and Arran are so very sweet. Harris was particularly interested in Tom, and spent a lot of time looking for him and talking about him! Harris has just turned four and has very cute Spider-Man shoes and is interested in everything! Arran will have his first birthday next week, and is a very observant, smiley boy, who loves to point at things. They are both just gorgeous. But my goodness it’s just as well that you have children when you’re young! James and I were tired out just watching Carolyn and Euan tend to their offspring! 

By the time Carolyn and Euan and their boys arrived back with us by ferry on Saturday evening, the weather had really heated up. After dinner, Carolyn and I went swimming in the estuary, it was a beautiful evening. The tide was very high at 5 metres and again the grass and see pinks were submerged and waving under the water. Back at the cottage we had drinks and chat with James and Euan. 

We all agreed that Sunday should be a beach day to make the most of the hot weather. We were having breakfast in the garden when I got a phone call from Helen to say that she had arrived in Ullapool on her boat and was I available for a quick coffee? I was delighted to hear from her and 10 minutes later she joined us for coffee and a croissant sitting outside the cottage in the warm sunshine. Helen and her family are in the middle of a month sailing around Scotland which sounds wonderful.

Then we packed up our beach paraphernalia and called in at Tesco for bits and pieces for a picnic before we headed north to Achnahaird, our nearest sandy beach. The small car park was quite busy, as was to be expected on a sunny Sunday during the school holidays, however it was still probably one of the quietest beaches in Scotland because it’s quite remote. We set up camp and I headed straight into the sea to cool off. It was absolute bliss. After lunch James made us coffees with his Primus stove and then we all went paddling and Harris had a great time kicking the waves. At one point he kicked a wave so enthusiastically that his wee croc shoe flew off. Harris found this absolutely hilarious and we laughed and laughed. Carolyn and Euan had sensibly brought the push chair down to the beach which meant that Arran could have a nap in the shade. He didn’t nap for very long though because he was enjoying the beach so much and pointing at the water, the sand, and the rocks. It was an idyllic afternoon although very hot, even the slight breeze felt about as hot as a hairdryer! James flew his kite and Harris played golf. He is very good both at golf and football. 

Back at the cottage we all had showers before a pizza tea. I love going to the beach but am always so sticky and sandy afterwards! It felt good to be clean again. It was still very hot in the evening but the midgies were out in force so we stayed indoors and drank cool drinks and chatted. 

Heatwave in Ullapool

The predicted heatwave has arrived at Ullapool. It is 27° but to me it feels much hotter, probably because there is no breeze. I walked in to the village to meet James for lunch on his return from Inverness and I was sweltering. I quaffed lots of water but I didn’t properly cool down until I had a shower back at the cottage. James arrived in Ullapool with a new tire on the car. Thank goodness that the garage were able to source one, it is not always easy to get car parts in the north of Scotland as we know from experience! 
The cats were very naughty last night; I foolishly let them out for what I thought would be a short foray at midnight, and they didn’t come back indoors until two in the morning. Then when they did come in, they were very excited and ran about the cottage, keeping me awake. We really need to get a catflap for them so that they can come and go as they please. 
A wee update about my sore foot. I ended up popping up back through to Inverness on Thursday to get my foot checked out at Raigmore Hospital. The nurse was annoyed with the x ray department because they x-rayed my ankle instead of my foot (as she had requested) but she didn’t get it redone and thinks that I have torn ligaments rather than broken bones, which is reassuring. Over the last few days it has continued to be painful and the bruising is spectacular on the side and the top of my foot. 

No Tern left Unstoned

James and I have been talking about going on a boat trip just the two of us, and yesterday we did so. We went on the two hour trip on the Shearwater, which we have done several times, but every time there is plenty to see.  The weather was warm and overcast, and unusually there weren’t very many people on the boat, which gave us room to spread out. We saw seals and gannets and cormorants and shags and terns. These last prompted the skipper to make a joke about marijuana washing up at a tern colony, hence the punchline “no tern left unstoned” based on the old music hall transpositional pun. Given the documentary we watched in BBC Alba recently where the skipper was mentioned, James and I exchanged a wry glance. However the highlight of the trip was seeing two large pods of dolphins. We are lucky to have seen dolphins many times before, and I am always struck by their seeming joy in life. They jumped right out of the water, singly and in groups, and I noticed that as they jump up in the air they twist round and re-enter the water on their sides. 
This morning James got up early to go hill-walking with Cornel, and I had a pleasant day both inside and outside the cottage. Inside I did some housework and outside I sat in the warm sunshine and read my book. I also watched some of the men’s Wimbledon semi-finals; I would love to go to Wimbledon one day. James messaged to tell me that he would be home by 7 p.m. and five minutes later he phoned me to let me know that he had accidentally driven into a pot hole and the Land Rover’s front left tire had burst. He phoned the AA and after much delay, it became clear that a tire cannot be sourced and replaced until at least tomorrow. Cornel very kindly gave him a lift into Inverness, where he got something to eat and checked into a hotel. Meanwhile, back in Ullapool, I noticed that high tide was going to be just before 8 pm, so I nipped down to the estuary and went in for a swim. On this warm evening, the water didn’t even feel cold; it felt cool and silky. Near the shore, the grass and sea pinks were underwater, and it was so peaceful. As I swam, I saw a couple of fish jumping right out of the water, presumably to catch insects, and when I got out of the water, I realised that the insects were midges so I beat a hasty retreat back to the cottage for supper. I spoke to James on the phone later; understandably he is a bit frustrated about being stuck in Inverness. Let’s hope that a suitable tire can be found and he will arrive back in Ullapool tomorrow morning. So tonight it’s just me and the cats at home! 

Inverness Trip

Having done our homework for the film 28 Years Later (see my previous post) we decided to book it for early this evening in Inverness. We were already going through to Inverness to meet Alison and Hugh for lunch so it tied in nicely. We met up with Alison and Hugh at Simpsons Garden Centre and had a great time catching up with them, and they very kindly gave us a bag of tasty produce from their garden; French beans and beetroot. After lunch James and I decided to go for a walk by the River Ness, which went well until I stepped into a hole in the pavement and fell right down. A pain shot through my foot and I felt really sick and faint, so I lay where I was until I felt a bit better. A lovely Austrian paramedic saw me fall and had a look at my foot, by which time it was feeling a bit better so James helped me up and I limped back to the car. I reckon that it’s just sprained. James very helpfully nipped into Boots at the retail park and got me ibuprofen, an ankle / foot support and a cooling patch. Fortified by these we went into the cinema to watch our much anticipated film. Well it was a very strange zombie film! It had all the usual gory bits but there was a philosophical interlude in the middle where Ralph Fiennes appeared all painted with iodine, I’m not sure what his character was trying to achieve and it was a bit weird. Not as weird however as the Jimmy Savile references at the end! How bizarre! Despite all this it was quite enthralling and I read later that Danny Boyle is planning two more sequels. 
On our way back to Ullapool we found that the road was closed overnight (8 p.m. until 6 a.m.) in both directions for surface maintenance near Garve. When this happens there are planned hourly “amnesty periods” when work is paused and vehicles are escorted through in a convoy. We were lucky to arrive just fifteen minutes before  the 9 p.m. amnesty so we didn’t have to wait long, and we were soon home to see Tom and Flora. 

Jurassic Park Rebirth

The rain has arrived at last in Ullapool, although it’s still warm. We needed to go through to Inverness yesterday for James to get his second rabies jag, so given the dreich weather, we decided to go to the cinema. The jag was to be administered in Superdrug, which happens to be in the same retail park as the Vue cinema and the Tesco superstore. The film that I wanted to see was 28 Years Later. This Danny Boyle directed film is the third in a series which started in 2003, featuring a very young Cillian Murphy. We watched the first two films on television this week in preparation. However, as it turned out, 28 Years Later is only being shown in the evenings in Inverness. Nothing daunted, we had a look at what was available in the afternoon. The best choice was the latest (seventh!) in the Jurassic Park franchise which started in 1993; Jurassic Park Rebirth, so I booked that. 

James duly got his jag, and after a bite to eat we went to the cinema. I absolutely loved it. It was completely predictable but very enjoyable and the action scenes were truly gripping. It also starred Jonathan Bailey of Bridgerton fame, whom James and I recently saw as Richard II at the Bridge Theatre in London! But it was the music that got me. When the theme tune started building up as the intrepid scientists saw a herd of herbivore dinosaurs in all of their majesty, it took me right back to watching the early Jurassic Park films with my boys when they were younger. * It was wonderful to see how fascinated they were by the dinosaurs, just as fascinated as Sam Neill and Laura Dern and the children were in that first and best film. When we went on the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios in Florida at Easter 2000, the theme music played as the ride started and the two great gates swung open. I felt so moved and excited to be there with Jamie, Ally and Davie, and the music still has that effect on me. 

* The boys were fairly young when they watched the early films, first when they appeared on television and later at the cinema. They never seemed all that scared, they were more delighted by the action sequences and knew it wasn’t real. They used to agree that their favourite scene was when a man got grabbed by the head by a T Rex while sitting on a toilet! 

Picnic on Mellon Udrigle Beach

The weather was much better today; sunny as well as warm. We decided to go to Mellon Udrigle which has a beautiful sandy beach. We took a picnic with us, and James brought his camping stove to make coffee. The beach was as idyllic as we remembered, turquoise in the shallows deepening to navy blue further out. Across the water were the blue and grey outlines of the mountains of Assynt. We set up the camping chairs and James soon had the kettle on the boil. After lunch James went for a 10 km walk while I read my book and also wandered up and down the shore, paddling in the water. It was a gorgeous afternoon. 
We impulsively popped into the new pizza restaurant on Argyle Street to try it out, and were very glad that we did. The decor is very simple and the pizzas were made to order and were absolutely delicious. From the back of the restaurant there is a splendid elevated view over the harbour and we watched cars driving into the Loch Seaforth which then gently detached from the harbour and turned towards the estuary and Western Isles. 
The cats were delighted to see us when we got home. We had left them outside for the day, but with the porch door open so that they could go in there for a feed or a snooze. After their dinner (they made it clear that fresh food was in order!) they joined us in the garden where we sat on the benches in the evening sunshine. The birds were singing and there was not a cloud in the sky.