Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks

Our guests left us on Saturday morning to catch the 10.30 ferry to Stornoway where they were going to attend a family party. They will return to the cottage on Wednesday evening and, depending on the weather, may stay for a few days. 
However we won’t be able to join them because today we have headed down the road to rejoin the cats and to go to various events over the next few days. We were unlucky in the way down the A9 to get stuck behind a traffic accident, and we were sent on a long diversion via Dunkeld. * 
It was really tedious. 
We barely had an hour in the house before we needed to set off to see Jon Anderson and the Band Geeks at GRCH. We parked at Cowcaddens and hurried along the road to the concert hall. But when we arrived I realised that I had left my phone at home. My phone had the tickets in it and I couldn’t log into the ticket website from James’ phone because the password was randomly generated and is saved in my phone. We went to ask for help at the box office but there seemed to be no way to retrieve the tickets. 
James immediately plunged into the five stages of grief, but got stuck at number two - anger! Then one of the people at the help desk said that he had the list of tickets bought via ticketmaster and he was able to find our names and reissue our tickets. We got to our seats just as the concert was starting - phew! 
I enjoyed the concert more than I thought I would. The psychedelic music of Jon Anderson is more James’ taste than mine however his voice is still good and I enjoyed the concert. The concert was sold out and the partisan audience loved every minute of it. No one of course loved it more than Jon Anderson himself, who was clearly enjoying the adulation of his fans. It’s hard to believe that he is nearly 82 years old.
* Three people were taken to hospital but no fatalities I’m glad to say. 

The “Lost” Cat

Tom climbed in the kitchen window of 10 Cadzow Drive at some point today. The inhabitants must have assumed that he was a stray, closed the window, fed him a can of tuna and put the word out that they had a lost cat in their house. Christine next door phoned me at about 6 p.m. to tell me that no. 10 had told Brian about it when he was out walking Bailey. I phoned Angela who went round and chapped the door of no. 10. The first thing she saw when they opened the door was Tom, rolling about happily on his back on the hall carpet. The people who live there were very nice, and told her that when they searched Facebook to see if there were any reports of a missing cat, they found a post from Cat five years ago about Tom being lost! He did have a collar on but it may have had the old house phone number on it. Angela had a look but she didn’t have her reading glasses with her so she couldn’t read the number. So we will have a look when we get home and make sure that he has an up to date tag on his collar with my mobile number on it. Tom returned home with Angela unrepentant and I have a bad feeling that he may visit number 10 again! Anyway all’s well that ends well but we will be having some stern words with Tom on our return home! Not that he will either understand or care! 

Autumn Visitors

We have had a really lovely autumnal weekend in Ullapool with Christine and Gerry. We arrived on Thursday afternoon, without the cats this time, and the Reids arrived a few hours later. We had a pleasant dinner and evening in the cottage, and then introduced Christine and Gerry to our favourite game of the summer; Sequence. They seemed to enjoy it and Christine and I beat the boys. On Friday James and Gerry went for a walk up the quarry road to Loch Achall. Christine and I strolled into town and had a look round the shops, something I don’t do very often so it was good fun. We had a good chat too. We got a message from James to say that he and Gerry were back in the village so we all met at Cult Café for lunch. After a relaxing afternoon we had some really delicious handmade pizzas at Oak and Grain in the village before heading down to Rhidorroch Distillery for drinks and to listen to some traditional music. Back at the cottage our convivial evening continued with much chat and laughter. 

Farewell to Ally until January

A pleasant and social day. We had brunch with Janis and Gerry at our old favourite All Bar One. It was, as ever, lovely to see them and there was much talk of grandchildren; their wee grandson Rory is nearly two and is a handsome wee fellow. Alasdair was in town getting an inoculation for his travels, so he came to join us afterwards; he has known Janis and Gerry since he was a student. 
My next stop in today’s social whirl was coffee with my once-upon-a-time job sharer, Margaret N. We job-shared for eight-and-a-half years in the 1990s into the early 2000s and she was excellent; always very organised and a great teacher. We had a good catch up in Margaret’s beautiful home, lots of family news and some interesting news of former colleagues. 
And then James, Ally and I went over to Uddingston to visit beautiful Jessica - and Davie and Chanel of course. Jessica had just been fed and was quite sleepy, it was lovely to hold her. Davie and Chanel were in good spirits, parenthood suits them. 
Back home we had a farewell curry with Ally. Tomorrow he will drive back to London, then next week he and Cat will travel to Barbados for a holiday together as Ally starts his travels around the world. We won’t see Ally until we all meet in New Zealand for Jamie and Kerry’s wedding - we will miss him. 

More De Gaulle

Today was a sunny day and I went down to pickleball at the tennis club for an enjoyable few games. Then followed James’ and my carefully planned arrangement to get to our Art History class in time. I left Pickleball ten minutes early and James collected me by car from Central Avenue. I changed my top in the car and had a snack before we arrived comfortably in time to park and walk to the class. The tutor is the very pleasant and intelligent art historian Sybren who taught the Northern Renaissance course last year. He was telling James that he did a degree in Geology during lockdown because he was bored - and got a First! The introductory lesson was all about who decided that the Italian Renaissance was so great - spoiler alert - it was the Florentines who thought that everything had been leading up to their self-described perfect art. They discounted or minimised other art movements as inferior. It was fascinating. 
Then off we went in the next part of today’s adventures to see the second De Gaulle film; Liberté. Having almost missed the cinema showings of the first film we booked the second one quickly afterwards. This time we were in Glasgow at Braehead Odeon and we were in nice time to have a cup of tea before our film. It was just as good as the first film. De Gaulle was such a character. Over the closing titles a twenty-one stanza 1942 poem by the French poet Paul Éluard called “Liberté” was read aloud; he names many places, real or imaginary, on which he would write the word liberté. The last line of each verse is J’écris ton nom. Thousands of copies of it were dropped by parachute that same year by the RAF over occupied France. It was a fitting and moving end to the film. 

Football and Pickleball

Sunday was an absolutely beautiful September day. I had brunch with my lovely god-daughter Jennifer at Homegrown Garden Centre. It was really nice to have a proper catch up. I arrived home at about 2 p.m. and asked James what the final score was for the Old Firm game; it had started at 12 and I got caught up in some of the football traffic before I got on to the motorway. Just at that moment the strains of “Penny Arcade” came floating through the French windows from next door and we could hear Brian singing along and shouting “Here We Go!” No need to confirm a Rangers victory when Brian is our next door neighbour and sure enough Rangers had won 1-0! 
Today I had a pickleball coaching session at The Court in Croftfoot and it was really good; I felt like I learned so much. The hour flew past and I was really impressed with the smart air-conditioned premises. Ally and Cat have just spent a week in the cottage in Ullapool; this evening Cat travelled from Inverness to London by plane and Ally drove to Glasgow after dropping her at the airport. He arrived in time for a late supper and we all chatted about his upcoming travels.

De Gaulle

Ewan recently mentioned a new French film about De Gaulle that has been released in the UK recently; in fact it’s two films, one called De Gaulle: L’Age de Fer (also called Résistance) and the other one called De Gaulle: J'écris ton nom (also called Liberté) we intended to go to see it last week, but with all the excitement about baby Jessica’s birth it went out of my mind. However James reminded me about it yesterday so we looked up where the first film was showing, only to find that we had just about missed it; the only place that we could find that it was showing today (within travelling distance) was the Vue Cinema in Edinburgh near the Playhouse. Nothing daunted, we booked the 9.40 a.m. showing and set off to Edinburgh in good time this morning by train. What an excellent film. The actor who plays De Gaulle, Simon Abkarian, was fantastic. What a character De Gaulle was, he can’t have been an easy person to be around! He and Churchill (played by Simon Russell Beale) had such great chemistry. I learned lots about De Gaulle’s part in the war that I didn’t know before, and about how the French Resistance began, and I can’t wait to see the second film. 

Meeting Jessica

James and I met Jessica for the first time this afternoon. It was truly amazing to hold my granddaughter in my arms. James held her too and was terrified of dropping her! My son’s daughter. She is so small and pretty; her nose and lips and chin and forehead and little ears are all perfectly proportioned. She slept throughout our visit so I still haven’t looked into her eyes, which I am told are hazel coloured. Her baby hair is dark brown on her beautifully shaped head. After we took some photos I just stood beside the pram looking at her while we chatted with Chanel and Davie. James and I were careful not to stay too long; her mummy and daddy need their rest because she is of course keeping them up at night. It was so great to meet her. 
In the morning James and I had been over to the south side; James had his second physiotherapy session for his sore knee at Hampden and I had a chest x-ray and a hand x-ray at the New Victoria. What a pair of old crocks we are! Afterwards we had brunch in the Brooklyn Cafe which was very pleasant. 

Kilt!

It has been a busy week; quite social and also quite useful, which is always satisfying. Socially I have met up with quite a few of my chums and also played Pickleball which was most enjoyable. We had an interminable meeting with a bathroom designer on Monday. It had to be done because the en-suite really needs redone, but James and I both hate planning this kind of thing. The endless choices and decisions are exhausting, and by the time we went home we both had headaches! Much more satisfying was my visit to the dentist. I have been nervous about my fragile feeling front teeth for years, they have been increasingly thin at the tips and I have been expecting one of them to simply snap off at any moment. In the other hand I didn’t want John McG to stick big veneers on to them which might fall off themselves. However he reassured me that the new material that he uses is fantastic and will work well. I am particularly pleased that my teeth feel very normal and not too thick in my mouth. 
Another useful event was a very overdue appointment at the hairdresser for me, the lovely Britney smartened me up quickly and pleasantly, and I was home in plenty of time to accompany James to the Kiltmaker in Giffnock. Yes it has finally happened! Former kilt hater James has decided that with three weddings next year (and perhaps more on the horizon) it will be sensible to buy a kilt to match those of our sons. It will also be cost effective compared to hiring a kilt. So James will be sporting a kilt soon for the first time in more than fifty years. I can’t wait! 

Baby Dreams

After all the excitement we had a pleasantly quiet weekend. Saturday was another beautiful sunny day and we had breakfast in the garden with Ally and Cat, all of us so happy about the safe arrival of Jessica. Ally and Cat packed up and set off after lunch to Ullapool where they will be spending the week. I hope that they will have a lovely relaxing week; Cat will be working but hopefully will also have some time to enjoy being in the north-west. 
Today James and I had a video call with baby Jessica (and her Mummy and Daddy of course!) Chanel and Davie are having a week with Jessica to settle in at home after their long haul in hospital last week, so we won’t meet her in person until Friday. They are very happy although somewhat sleep-deprived! Oh she is so very sweet! She was fast asleep but we could see her eyes moving under her eyelids as she was dreaming. I wonder what a two day old baby dreams about? Her features are so neat; she is a very attractive baby. 

Jessica’s Birth Day

At about 4 a.m. in the morning we got the message that Davie and Chanel’s baby has been born at 00.46 a.m. Her name is Jessica Anne Anderson and she is 5 lb 7 oz / 2.475 kg. It is the most wonderful news. I won’t give details of the birth here because that is Chanel’s and Davie’s own story for them to tell, however I can report that Mummy and baby Jessica are both doing well and that Daddy is very happy. And James and I are grandparents! Jessica is absolutely beautiful. 
Jessica has been born on a lovely sunny early autumn day. The leaves are not yet falling from the trees but the berries on the rowan trees are very red. Chinook helicopters were flying over Uddingston as part of a training exercise. 
James, Ally and I headed over to Uddingston in the morning to finish off a few tasks in Davie & Chanel’s house. I did the second half of the stencilling while Ally and James put up shelves in the nursery. We had a break for lunch and nipped to the café in Sterling in the Birkenshaw Industrial Estate. We then pressed on and got finished by tea time. 
Cat arrived by train and the four of us had dinner together and raised a toast to baby Jessica. Welcome to the family Jessica! 

Stencilling

We are still waiting for baby but keeping ourselves busy. I don’t like to contact Davie too often to check on progress; he is being very good at keeping us informed. I was at a very eventful Children’s Hearing on Wednesday, and today I was stencilling all morning. This has been organised by Ally; he is being such a fantastic uncle to his niece even before she is born! Davie mentioned to him that it would be great to have a stencil of safari animals on one of the nursery walls. So Ally searched online and found an attractive large stencil and then he and James shopped for paints and stencilling brushes. They used the laser level to affix it to the wall and the rest was up to me. I was quite nervous because I haven’t done stencilling for a long time, decades in fact. I did a sheep jumping over fences frieze for Davie’s own nursery (with one little black lamb among the white ones!) and I did quite a time consuming frieze consisting of several colours of flowers in our old bedroom. Both are long gone due to room changes; although some golden stars that I stencilled on Davie’s bedroom ceiling still shine faintly through the paint that was painted over them! 
There was nothing for it but to get started; I worked all morning bring while listening to Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast. Meanwhile downstairs James and Ally were building a flat pack dresser for the kitchen; it was more complicated than they thought and it took them more than five hours in total! 
The three of us later had a convivial lunch with Christine and Gerry at Caulders Garden Centre, it was great to see them. Still no baby news. 

Waiting for baby

Chanel is now in hospital, having been induced yesterday, so we are excitedly awaiting baby news. On Saturday evening we went over to Gordon’s for dinner with him and Morag, and also Pamela and Alasdair who live near us and kindly gave us a lift there and back. Alasdair goes to Australian Pink Floyd with James and Gordon every year. We had a very pleasant evening. 
Ally and I have now moved all of the food that we made into Davie and Chanel’s freezer, and Ally had been doing doing model aeroplane construction and painting. 
On Sunday the weather was beautiful so James, Alasdair and I decided to go for brunch in Troon and then for a walk along the beach. We saw kite surfers scudding along in the sea, and there were lots of people out enjoying the sunshine: 
Later we watched a film recommended by Ally called Masters of the Universe which is a recent reboot of the old franchise. It was good fun and sent itself up nicely as well as relating a good yarn. 
Yesterday I went to the Burrell Collection with Sue H to see their current exhibition, Drawing Inspiration. It consists of thirteen drawings, by artists such as Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Édouard Manet and Jean-François Millet. You can see close up the pencil or charcoal strokes on each drawing, so it demonstrates the techniques and process of drawing. We both enjoyed it very much, and we also enjoyed our brunch in the Burrell Café! 
The impending Anderson baby is in our minds at all times. At Pickleball today I had my phone handy just in case there was news and during one of the games it rang! I rushed over to answer it and the whole room fell silent - it turned out that it was Ally phoning about some stencilling he is planning! 

Batch Cooking

Heather and Ewan set off home on Tuesday; we did a bit of tidying and cleaning around the cottage before heading home with the cats on Wednesday. And now we are on the countdown to Davie and Chanel’s baby! 
Ally is in Cambuslang, where he has been working with Davie to paint and decorate the baby’s nursery. He has been a bundle of energy and has worked really hard. He has done work in our house two; replacing the hinges on the utility cupboards to make the “soft close” again, he cleaned and fixed the gutter at the back of the house, and fixed the security light on the garage. Now that we are back home, Ally has also been encouraging James and I to join in the preparations! So for the last two days Ally and I have been batch cooking meals to put in Davie and Chanel’s freezer for after their baby is born. We have made chilli con carne, basque chicken, boeuf bourgignon, and lasagnes. They are all in freezer to oven containers ready to be transported to Uddingston. If it hadn’t been for Ally’s insistence I would probably have put this task off, but he was so keen to get going that I was swept along by his enthusiasm and I actually really enjoyed it! Hopefully this will be a good help to Davie and Chanel. It has also been great to spend time with Ally. James too was engaged in culinary activities; he has made some delicious damson jam from our own tree.