Amadeus

James and I have just watched Amadeus with Ally and Davie, I think it was made in about 1984 and we haven't seen it since then when we saw it in the cinema. Anyway, I recorded it recently because I thought that the boys would enjoy it since they are both interested in music, and it didn't disappoint. The music was beautiful and the acting by Tom Hulce and the rest of the cast was great. Monday was Ally's 17th birthday, he is getting driving lessons and a pair of Abercrombie & Fitch swim shorts! On Monday he was helping at Disabled Scouts so we went out last night with Grandma for a meal at The Byre in EK. Ally was proudly wearing his birthday present from Jamie and Davie - a pair of union jack converses! The meal was very nice. Ally had been to an Oxbridge Open Day with his school and was saying that he preferred the speakers from Cambridge to the Oxford ones. He is interested in a course called PPS which I think stands for Politics Psychology and Sociology. Who knows what he will end up doing! Or where! He has always been interested in Law but recently has also spoken of doing History and Politics. Whatever Ally chooses to do, we will support him. I love that he has all these interesting ideas. I have finished my Personal Study for the Diploma in Autism and posted it yesterday, I hope it passes. One more assignment to go. Am tired after tonight's parents' night then watching Amadeus.

Saturday at the hairdressers

I am sitting in the Rainbow Room in Buchanan Street waiting to get my hair cut and feeling remarkably relaxed considering how much I hate going to the hairdressers. It is an experience I have never enjoyed since childhood so I tend to put off getting my haircut until I look like Cousin Itt from the Addams Family. Anyway I'm in quite a good mood, the weather is very pleasant and I got an excellent parking space on the corner of George Square and St Vincent Street which I regard as a good omen for the haircut. The stylist is very nice and I have asked her to cut my hair as quickly as possible, she told me that she is methodical but fast so that will suit me. I am waiting for half an hour because I have had my hair "painted" at the sides where some grey is beginning to come through - not bad that I have managed to get to 48 before needing my hair to be coloured! In fact there is still very little grey but it is at my temples which annoys me because it shows when I push my hair behind my ears or tie it back. Anyway, enough about hair, it is a subject that I find simultaneously boring and stressful. James is hill-climbing at Newtonmore for the weekend, he has just texted to say that he has reached the top of his hill and is on the way back down. He loves hill-walking so much, it's his way of relaxing. Jamie and Ally should both be studying right now, in Dundee and Cambuslang respectively. Davie is on his way by train to meet Stuart and they are both going to their friend Ryan's 16th birthday party, which David tells me is at a "fancy Italian Restaurant". He has bought Ryan an Itunes voucher as a birthday present. He has his phone with him so he can let me know where to pick him up later. So that's what the family are all up to. I am going to try to finish my Personal Study this weekend - about as boring and stressful as having my hair cut! I want to post it on Monday so that I will have only one more essay to submit in order to complete my Diploma in Autism. My plan is to complete that during the summer term so that it is all done before we go to Australia. I had planned to finish my diploma a year ago but everything fell apart in the last few months of Mum's life and it has taken a while to get back to it. Last night I had a dream that Mum and Dad were both still alive and I was trying to sort out dental treatment for them! I was having trouble arranging it (like I really did with Mum's dental treatment) and I felt really angry and frustrated. On a brighter note I was at Cambuslang Book Club last night at Susan's, we were discussing "One Day" which I read last summer and enjoyed. Nice evening, good company and relaxing. Today the bricklayers arrived to start building the stonework of the extension, Jack went out to keep an eye on them! It's good that the weather is nicer now so that they can get on with it. Well I think it's nearly time for my haircut so I will sign off now. 

The Paper Chase

The last couple of days the weather has been good - still not warm but blue skies and big white clouds. I have been in particularly good spirits, perhaps due to the exercise I took at the weekend. Work very busy but going well. David is in the process of applying for work experience for a week in May, he is definitely interested in studying science and may be interested in pharmacy so it would be good if he could find out more about it by working in one, he has sent off a couple of applications. Ally had two hours of maths tutoring by Ruth tonight - I think they were both exhausted! Then Ally and I watched Silk which is about lawyers and quite good. I have ordered from Amazon a series about law that I enjoyed about 30 years ago called The Paper Chase, I think it's set in Harvard. I was telling Ally about it so I thought I would get it for him, I hope it's not too horribly dated! Watching the news with the boys, headlines are about Libya. I'm not sure what the bombing is going to achieve - won't it prolong the fighting? But then I am no expert on international affairs. Japan is now slowly picking up the pieces after the horrific earthquake and tsunami on 11th March, the images of devastation we have seen on the news are terrible. Jamie has just phoned and was chatting about the people who will be on his BMSc course and what he studying just now for his exams in April - the main areas are neurology, psychiatry and reproduction and there are also smaller modules on ophthalmology, aging, and child & adolescent mental health. It's great that he enjoys it so much because it's very hard work. He has also been re-elected to the post of safety officer in the University rowing club. And so to bed. 

Good Weekend for the whole family

A good weekend for all of us. On Friday night I went out with colleagues to The Granary in Shawlands, it was a really pleasant evening, very relaxed and a good laugh. At the end of the evening I gave Scott, Gavin and Chris a lift home, but they had trouble fitting into my wee Peugeot 207 convertible - it was hilarious and I had to put the roof down! Chris found a toy guitar on the back seat and started playing it! Meanwhile James and the boys were watching Comic Relief on BBC which they enjoyed. Ally was up early on Saturday morning to go to his mini trial at the Sheriff Court, he had been preparing his case, he was defending a client so he had to cross-examine a witness. In the afternoon I got a triumphant text from him: "Hey I won, we tore the other witnesses apart - it was a bloodbath :D" - seems he enjoyed it! James persuaded me to have a healthy walk round Strathclyde Park, the weather was nice and sunny but still chilly - not quite spring yet. We had a good talk on the way round about all sorts of things, then we went straight over the Byres Road where we had lunch in Antipasti and got some shopping in Waitrose. We also popped into a couple of kitchen showrooms to get some ideas. James and I both hate going to showrooms and it often creates friction between us but this time was ok and we arrived home in harmony. By late afternoon three of David's friends arrived for an overnight, they were very self entertaining and they watched movies and played computer games all evening. Alasdair went out to a party and came back by train later, he wore one of his suits! Alison and Hugh came round for dinner and we had a great evening, they showed us their New Zealand photos, it looks so beautiful, I would definitely love to go there some day. James and Alison were planning hill walking for the summer; they are going to walk through Laraig Ghru in the Cairngorms, with Hugh and I dropping them off at the start and meeting them at the end. On Sunday morning James brought me breakfast in bed and I had a chat with Jennifer on the phone about her impending house sale. Jamie was texting about his bank details and told me he is spending most of this weekend in the library, it would be great for him if he gets through his 3rd year exams first time. David's friends were collected by Olivia and then the four of us went over to Heather and Ewan's for lunch. This was of course delicious, a Belgian stew which had been slow cooked with beef and little bits of bacon, with fluffy mashed potatoes and sprouting broccoli - I do love good food! Dessert was also lovely - yummy cheesecake made by Heather and pavlovas with summer fruits made by Andrew, who is doing Hospitality as one of his 6th year subjects. Andrew had been to a welcome day at Edinburgh University yesterday with Heather and Ewan, he was showing us where he will be studying Law and where his halls of residence will be. How exciting for him to be at the very start of the career he wants to do, I think he's looking forward to it very much. Then Heather made the suggestion of going for a walk, which was a very good idea and we went to see the new houses that are being built where Woodilee Hospital used to be, it is a surprisingly large site and they are building lots of houses, I think Ewan said 900. Then we walked much further on to a motorway bridge over the new M80, in the end I think we walked for about an hour and a half, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I liked that it was spontaneous, whereas sometimes when James is planning a walk for us I get a feeling of dread because I fell that I am going to fail, as in go too slowly and annoy him. But this afternoon was great; a good walk and a good chat. I would so love to be fitter and I'm going to try to take lots of exercise on Barra, weather permitting! When we got back to Heather and Ewan's it was 5.30 and Andrew, Alasdair and David were watching the very end of the Old Firm game, which Rangers won in extra time 2-1. Much rejoicing by the boys! Home and had a bite to eat, David was absolutely exhausted and went straight to bed after tea. The rest of us are watching Wonders of the Universe and are then heading for a reasonably early night after a very pleasant and relaxing weekend.

Good news for Jamie

I was out for my tea tonight with friends and when I came in there was a message from Jamie to phone him. Turns out he has been accepted for his intercalated degree which is an BMSc in Applied Orthopaedic Technology. He is delighted by this, apparently it is very competitive to get in, and it will strengthen his applications later for orthopaedic placements - his ambition is to be an Orthopaedic Surgeon. I felt very pleased for him and he assured me that while I will have to wait an extra year for his graduation from medicine, I will get to go to a graduation ceremony next year if all goes well and he gets his BMSc! James is a bit worried that during the intercalated degree Jamie will take his eye off the ball and forget about all his medical studies but Jamie is confident that this will not happen and in fact it will make him a better medical student, and improve his job prospects. I hope it all works out well for him! We asked him what he would like as a reward and he asked for a Tesco online shopping because he seems to have no money for food - despite his weekly allowance which we think is quite generous - so I have ordered one for tomorrow with some tasty treats in it. 

Under the weather

I got up about an hour ago after sleeping since late afternoon. I don't know exactly what was the matter with me but I woke with a headache and it got worse all day. We had a lovely Chinese meal last night round at Forrest and Marjory's, and sometimes I think that Chinese food makes me thirsty. I don't know any scientific reason for this, but maybe I didn't drink enough water afterwards. Also I had a wee eyelash digging into my eye this morning which I then plucked out (the eyelash!). It's quite unusual for me to feel unwell, I don't even get headaches very often, and I have never even had one day off sick from work in at least a decade. Anyway, by the time James and I drove over to Paisley to pick Alasdair up from his Disabled Scouts weekend I felt very nauseous and was dozing in the car, woken with a start by Ally and James shouting when Rangers scored a winning goal just before full time! So as soon as we got home I dived into bed, what a relief to drift off to sleep. Hopefully I have slept off whatever was the matter with me. Now I'm heading back to bed. 

A toast to absent Friends

Fiona died in September 2010. A stunningly beautiful girl, tall blonde and slim. Fit too, she was a runner and a keen hill-walker. She had a lovely sense of humour, and was so good-natured. I remember her laughing as we played Who am I in pouring rain in the Pentlands, using Danny's cigarette papers to write the names on, stuck to our wet foreheads! In the morning we were just as wet but Fiona was still smiling, sticking her head out of her tent to brush her teeth. When she became ill she was very brave, very optimistic, and I can't bear to delete the text she sent me wishing me a happy 2010. The last time we talked last summer she was still hoping to get back to work, and we had a good chat, reminiscing about the ceilidh we all went to at the Riverside Club.
Jim died in February 2011. Another person who loved the outdoors. A family man, proud of his daughters. Kind, helpful, with a great sense of humour, I remember him teasing me because I noticed that a handsome German walker in the Youth Hostel at Crianlarich wasn't wearing a wedding ring! I remember him giving me a help up a hill in the Broughton Hills by pushing the back of my rucksack! That was a day in February 3 years ago and it was a beautiful day, unseasonably warm. Jim said several times as he looked at the beautiful landscape "Blue remembered hills", and that phrase will always remind me of him. He was brave too, he said that he had some dark days when he first became ill, but then looked to the future and he got back on the hills for a while before his illness came back.
Two great people who died far too soon, I am lucky to have known them.