Benches

On Wednesday morning we had breakfast sitting outside the cottage in Ullapool on our new wee love seat with its built in table. It’s so cute! It was very warm and sunny, the loch was sparkling in the sunshine and there was not a cloud in the sky. The cats love it when we’re outdoors so they were strolling around us, chasing bees and running up and down the steps. Tom is much more adventurous and we suspect that he drinks out of the wee stream down the path to the river, a new experience for him. Flora stays closer to home but was clearly enjoying herself, rolling onto her back on the patio. Her fur is so lush compared to Tom’s sleek pelt, when she rolls over she looks as fluffy underneath as an angora rabbit. 

James and Hugh went to a greenwood wood-working day on Thursday near Forres; they each hand-carved a bench using traditional tools. Meanwhile Alison and I went for a fantastic spa day at the Golf View Hotel in Nairn. We went there years ago, and it is even better now, with new spa rooms. I had a facial and Alison thought that my skin looked glowing afterwards. When we got back to the house James and Hugh had already arrived home; their benches look great! They are a really good size and sturdy too; the legs are made of oak and the top is made of Douglas Fir. James’ bench is now in pride of place on the patio in Ullapool. 

Warming Up

Today was beautifully sunny. And more than that, it was very warm. Not just a bit warm, the way it has been recently, when there has been a bit of a chilly breeze even when it has been sunny. Last weekend in Glen Shiel (the Easter hill-walking weekend with the club) the weather was brilliant, but when it rained on Easter Monday it fell as snow high up on the mountains which shows that it was still cold up there. This warmth today feels as if the season has finally moved on to proper Springtime. 

Speaking of last weekend, we had a really good time on the hill-walking club expedition to Glen Shiel. Ally and Cat were there, staying in the Ratagan Hostel, and joined us for dinner each evening in the Cluanie Inn where the rest of us were staying. The Cluanie Inn has had a mixed reputation over the years, however it has recently been taken over by new owners and was very clean and comfortable. The other attendees were Willie, Cornel, Justin, Tom and Jean, and we had a very pleasant time comparing adventures each evening. Many mountains were climbed but not by me. I headed to Arnisdale where I dropped James off to climb some Corbetts, and then enjoyed a beach walk before heading to Glenelg. I took the ferry across the Kylerhea Narrows to Skye and back, just as a foot passenger, and it was a lovely experience on such a beautiful day. There was a gorgeous collie called Spot, belonging to one of the ferrymen, who took his job as a ferry dog very seriously, even helping the ferrymen pull on the rope to tie up the ferry when it docked.

On the Sunday I decided to drive the forty minutes to the village of Plockton, where I went for a stroll and had a cup of coffee sitting outside the Plockton Hotel. It’s a very pretty seaside village. As I walked along the street, who did I meet but Maud and David, who I haven’t seen since they moved from Cambuslang to Kinlochewe. What a coincidence! We had a nice chat over a coffee. The sunny weather broke down on the Monday (in fact it had started raining during the night) and we said our farewells to the others and headed back to Ullapool. But what a lovely weekend in great company, in beautiful Glen Shiel with its herds of red deer, its wild goats, and its stunning mountains and rivers. 

Springtime in Ullapool

The past month has been a time of sadness and reflection for me, and also the advent of spring with its inevitable feeling of renewal. It’s hard not to feel a spark of hope when the sun is shining and trees are budding and the primroses are blooming beside the path. We fled Glasgow the day after Jackie’s funeral on 25th March, and we are spending a whole month in Ullapool. We have had some beautiful weather as well as some wild weather. We have had visitors (David and Chanel, James and Flo) and had a great time with them. The cats seem content in their alternate universe. We have been for walks and visited cafés in the village now that they are open for the summer season. We have watched the building work progressing at the harbour, and said hello to several Sammy Seals at the pier. We have watched films and television in the cottage. We have been to the pub and listened to Ceilidh music. I’m lucky that I have so many good memories of Jackie. The old cliché is “life goes on” and it should and does. But I wish it could go on with Jackie in it. 

Robin

I have not had the heart to blog since Jackie died.

Saturday morning. I’m sitting on a rock on a beautiful sunny day on a pebble beach along from the tiny hamlet of Corran, in Arnisdale. James is climbing a couple of Corbetts and I have walked a couple of kilometres past the end of the public road, past the last of the cottages. I am completely alone. The only sounds are birdsong in the trees behind me, and the rippling of water over the stones at the edge of Loch Hourne. I am surrounded on three sides by the grassy, heathery Barrisdale hills, and across the loch is the distant jaggy outline of the Cuillins of Skye. Today they are grey blue against the pale blue sky, which is has a few wispy white clouds trailing across it. The rock that I’m sitting on has many layers, grey and brown, shot through with pink and white quartz. 

Saturday Afternoon. Now I’m outside the café at Glenelg, looking down and across the narrow strait towards Kylerhea on Skye. The tiny turntable ferry, brightly painted red, white and green, is on its way across the dark blue water. There is a pleasant hum of conversation from the other picnic tables around me, but I still feel very peaceful and solitary as I sip my coffee. Suddenly a robin lands on the grass at my feet. It hops around and I give it some cake crumbs, then it flies up to sit on the branch of a tree. We look at each other for a good few minutes before it flies away. Goodbye my friend. 

Jackie

When I woke up on Saturday morning the first thing I saw was Flora sitting beside me on the bed and looking down at me - she is so sweet! We have had a pleasant couple of days at home and much laundry has been processed. I took Davie to the station on Saturday lunchtime to get the train home to Manchester. This was more complicated than it should have been because it turns out that there are rail works going on until April which are causing a lot of disruption to travel. However David caught a train to Carlisle, and was lucky then to get a train directly from there to Manchester. The cats have been paying us a great deal of attention, and Floof has been following me from room to room! It’s nice to be home. 

However news from Kenneth is not good. He has very kindly updated me regularly since he first contacted me when we were in New Zealand. Jackie has still been able to read messages but is too ill to reply; she sent me a little “heart” emoji a couple of days ago. Sadly her treatment has now stopped and on Friday she was transferred to the Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice. By the time we returned from holiday on Friday only her immediate family are allowed to visit her, and Kenneth said that she is very tired and quiet, perhaps exhausted from the transfer or perhaps a further deterioration in her condition. I can hardly believe that this is happening.

* Update at 6 p.m. : Kenneth has phoned to say that Jackie died earlier today, peacefully in her sleep. I am heartbroken. 

Home again!

After a delightful (and most importantly horizontal) sleep, I woke feeling rested but somehow wrong, as if it was the middle of the night. Which of course it was, in California. A shower soon perked me up and then we met Cat for brunch at The Two Magpies near their flat, where we had coffee and French toast. I’m hoping that one more good night’s sleep will bring us into line with UK time. 

We walked back to the hotel to collect our cases. It was cold but not as cold as I had feared, probably because California was unseasonably cool when we were there, so we are at least partly acclimatised. The flight from Heathrow to Glasgow seemed so very short compared to all of our other flights. Soon we arrived home to Davie and the cats, and it was great to see all three of them! The cats looked astonished to see us; who knows what they have thought of our absence? There is still snow lying in the garden. We had a curry with Davie and chatted, it was a lovely evening. 

L.A. to London

I went to post a letter in Coronado yesterday morning and I realised that we would soon be long gone from this beautiful (almost) island. The streets are clean and pretty, lined with little shops and restaurants. It was still early enough that the air felt a little cool even though it was sunny. I felt good and yet I felt the weight of intense sadness because of the news about Jackie from home.

Our journey back to Los Angeles went smoothly, the roads didn’t seem as busy as last week, and we are a bit more experienced at navigating the freeway system. There were no big waits at the airport, and soon we were ensconced in our seats for the ten hour overnight flight to Heathrow. I didn’t sleep all that well I don’t think, maybe a couple of hours at best, and I ended up watching three films! The first was “My Old School” about the man who re-enrolled in Bearsden Academy at the age of 32 under an assumed name in the 1990s. I remember the story well from when it was in the news at the time, and the film was fascinating. Then I watched “Benediction” which was about Siegfried Sassoon and was very interesting but also very sad. And finally I watched a recent Diane Keaton comedy about a 30 year old switching into a 70 year old’s body which was only mildly amusing. 

Anyway I was pretty tired by the time we got off the plane, and what with waiting quite a long time for our luggage and then travelling via the Elizabeth Line (our first time!) and the DLR to our hotel, it was nearly 3 p.m. when we arrived. I leaped into bed, instantly fell unconscious, and had a solid two hours of sleep before getting up to meet Ally and Cat for dinner (they kindly treated us) and then to the Harold Pinter Theatre. The play was called Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (annoying name) and starred two top luvvies; Aiden Turner and Jenna Coleman. Both actors were excellent and the dialogue was sharp and funny, however the whole premise didn’t stand up to too much scrutiny. We all enjoyed it except James, which doesn’t totally surprise me because it was a bit like Harold Pinter’s “Betrayal” and he hated that! We went to the stage door and met the actors; they are both very good-looking, and I got some photos of Cat with Aiden Turner. We went back to Ally and Cat’s flat for a cup of tea. Their kitchen is stacked up in boxes ready for installation, I can’t wait to see it completed, it’s going to be lovely. It was only a 15 minute walk back to the Premier Inn at Westferry, which is brand new and right beside the DLR.