Helicopter Sunday

Yesterday James and David went to the Rush concert with Neil and Stuart; they played all the old favourites very loudly and they all enjoyed it. David is now officially a Rush fan. Bit of a drama when they realised at the station that they had forgotten their tickets and had to run back to the house - Jamie, Ally and I were in the car and had to turn back to give them a lift back to the station, luckily they still caught their train - just! The reason that the rest of us were in the car was that we were on the way over to see Heather and Ewan. We had a nice chat, were invited to stay for a curry, and ended up staying to watch some of the Eurovision Song Contest with them! I love Eurovision and watch it every year, I don't know why I like it so much - nostalgia perhaps because I have watched it since the 1970's, and I like discussing all the quirky European entries and deciding which should win, and I like how biased all the countries are in their voting, although this isn't so marked as it used to be, it's all part of the fun. We left after the truly amazing Moldovan entry and got home in plenty of time to see the end. This year's winner was Azerbaijan, they were ok but my favourites were the weird jazzy entry by Italy and a lovely tune by Iceland. Today I had a nice lie in, and James brought me breakfast in bed, then we went for a walk round Cambuslang. We went through the public park; it must be years since I have been there although I used to go a lot when the children were younger. Large swathes of it have been cleared and it looks as if some landscaping is going on. It could be a lovely park if it was properly landscaped and maintained. Jamie is doing an SSC on the pathology of violence; he spent the afternoon working on an essay about a knife crime, he had to determine whether the weapon found near the scene was the one which was used for the crime. He wouldn't let me look at it because it's very graphic and confidential. It sounds really interesting. James, Ally and Davie watched the Rangers v Kilmarnock game, which was very important because if Rangers won it they would have won the league. I came into the living room shortly after the match started to find scenes of jubilation; all three of them were shouting and dancing and stamping their feet! Rangers had already scored three goals in the first five and a half minutes! The final score was five-one and the league cup was flown to Kilmarnock where it was presented to Rangers amidst much celebration, which was mirrored in our living room! 

Busy week, pleasant day

It has been a very busy week - just one of those weeks when there is lots on; on top of my usual week's work I had a parents' night, transition visits, a transition parents' meeting, two days out of school on a Duke of Edinburgh expedition, SQA exams to prompt and transcribe for, Alasdair's Higher English exam and David's Int 2 Admin exam and Int 2 English exam. I am tired but pleased that everything went really well; of course we won't know about Ally and Davie's results until August but I know that they both did their best, they certainly worked hard. Ally was a bit disappointed with the questions in the critical essay which were not quite what he wanted, but he pressed on and says that he is happy with what he wrote. Davie was very pleased with his Macbeth question which tied in exactly with what he had prepared, however by the time he got to his poetry question he says he was so tired that he could hardly stay awake! It must have been a very tiring day for both of them. Davie felt that his Admin exam went quite well, and he is pleased that his exams are now over whereas Ally has to soldier on until the 6th of June. So on Friday evening I was in a great mood of relief and achievement, enhanced by Jamie coming home from Dundee for the weekend. We watched a very good wee film called "The Suspicions of Mr Whicher" which was based on true events, and had a nice dinner. Fairly early night and I woke up feeling brand new. This morning we went to buy suits for James, which went off remarkably harmoniously and he got two really nice suits, one checked with a wee bit of purple thread through grey, and the other a sort of gun metal grey. I tried to persuade James to buy a panama hat but he doesn't think he would wear it much. Jamie then arrived into town by train and the three of us had a lovely lunch at Jamie Oliver's on George Square. We had a really nice chat too, and Jamie was telling us all his news. We had a laugh as he and James had to decapitate and fillet their fish (plaice for James and sea bass for Jamie). And on the way home we stopped at a showroom and looked at tiles and I think we have chosen our tiles for the extension. We were discussing what to call the new room. Conservatory? (it isn't one really). Garden room? Morning room? I like Back Room. We will have to discuss this some more. So, a useful and pleasant day. 

Four hours sleep

Home from a Duke of Edinburgh expedition and I'm exhausted. The expedition itself was great and went really well, but back at the campsite a pupil's ankle injury resulted in me having to call an ambulance, spend nearly four hours at a hospital and then drive the pupil home at 2 a.m. I spent the night at home, getting to bed at 3 a.m., then after four hours sleep I drove back for the second day of the expedition! However the injury wasn't too serious thank goodness, just a twisted ankle. I met a nice young doctor who is a week away from qualifying, then he is going back to Canada to specialize in Internal Medicine, which he explained is what "House" does in the television series. I was telling him about Jamie. When I got home this evening James was lovely and made the tea while I had a bath, and I'm about to head for bed. Ally and Davie are both studying quite hard. Jennifer phoned, she was a really bad chest infection and is on antibiotics, her cough sounded very sore. She has been reading my blog and says she likes it :-) 

Narrator, Chorus and Orchestra

Yesterday evening James, Ally, Davie and I went to the Royal Concert Hall to hear Beethoven's "Ode to Joy"; Symphony No.9 in D minor. James had booked the tickets ages ago and was really looking forward to it, he even took us to the pre-concert talk by Michael Tumelty of The Herald which was interesting and gave a bit of the history of it, apparently it was really ground-breaking at the time and had a huge influence on later composers like Wagner and Mendelssohn. He pointed out that its first performance was 187 years ago on 7th May so it was an anniversary. Before that however the first half was a piece of music called "On the Transmigration of Souls" by John Adams. It was about the people who died in the attack on the World Trade Centre in 2001. It was a combination of orchestra, choir and speech, mainly the things said by and about the victims. It was a bit too discordant for me, I didn't really like it. Alasdair and David felt the same way, in fact Alasdair said "I didn't realise that such a dark day in history could be made any worse!" I was thinking afterwards about how I would have tried to commemorate the people (that's if I had any musical ability, which I don't). I would have liked to create something more haunting and tuneful - more memorable. But I don't know much about music and it could be that I just didn't really understand it. Beethoven was splendid, we all really enjoyed it. I liked the third movement but of course the finale was great, the combination of orchestra and voices was glorious. This evening we went to visit Ewan in hospital and were pleased to see him looking well, although of course after such a big operation he has pain which he says comes and goes. His leg frame looks very technical, the surgeon must be very skilled to know just where to place it for the required effect. He is looking forward to getting home, hopefully tomorrow. I had forgotten that Heather's 10k was today; she said she got a similar time to last year, I really admire her fitness. We all had a good chat. Home and had a meeting with Gary, we had a useful discussion about the extension but I was more interested to discover that he is extremely knowledgable about Art, which he collects; he is a friend of Peter Howson and also of another artist he mentioned called Alec Thomson. He also loves music and when we were talking about the concert last night he mentioned a piece about the Warsaw Ghetto by a composer called Arnold Schonberg, which sounds similar in some ways to "On the Transmigration of Souls". Maybe I should listen to it. 

An Eventful Week

An eventful week - Osama bin Laden killed after all these years in hiding and the SNP sweep to an outright majority in a landslide election victory. However what we really cared about was much closer to home - Ewan had his operation on Thursday. We were very glad to hear from Heather that the operation went well and that Ewan was "remarkably cheery and pain free" by the evening, and that on Friday he was already moving about well on crutches. Ewan was very well-informed about his operation, what benefits it will bring him and what it would involve, however an operation is still a big deal and I think he was very brave! Of course I didn't say that to him before the op but James and I were thinking about him all day Thursday and we were so pleased that all went well. We are going to visit him in hospital tomorrow. It has also been a busy week. On Wednesday I was at my East Kilbride book club at Susan's house, as usual it was good fun and nice to see everyone. Then on Thursday I had an exciting and top secret mission to Strathaven to take photos of Caroline in her wedding dress - it is gorgeous and she looked great. Then I went for a meal with her and Jamie to the Waterside Inn - very nice meal and they make a lovely couple, so happy together. And last night I was out with Sheila, Kathryn and Barbara to the Merrylee Bar and Diner, a nice relaxing evening with friends. We chatted about all sorts of things and I got some good recommendations of books for my summer reading list! Today I spent all day helping Alasdair with Higher English work, this was not easy because at first we seemed to be at cross purposes and Ally was really grumpy. He was saying things like, "You're making things worse!" and "You're so stupid, you don't understand!" However we got onto the same wavelength eventually and sketched out some critical essay plans and relevant quotes. Ally has a lot of good notes already and has been practising all this, so he just needed some help with structure. He was quite pleased with me in the end and said "That's just what I needed!" Nice to be in his good books! 

Books from the Heart

I have just finished reading "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd and I thought it was very good although it left me feeling slightly melancholy. James has always pointed out that the books I read affect my mood, which is why I try to read a happy book if I have just read a sad one. Not that "Any Human Heart" is sad, but the end of it is very reflective about the nature of life and death. I have read several books by William Boyd over the years; "An Ice Cream War" was the first, then "Restless" and last year "Ordinary Thunderstorms" which I thought was excellent, a fine adventure which would make a good film. I will now start the latest Shardlake novel by C.J. Sansom; "Heartstone", about the adventures of a crime-solving hunch-backed lawyer in the reign of Henry VIII, all good fun. I have enjoyed the others. Shardlake is about as lucky in love as Inspector Morse so I am hoping for a bit of romance for him this time! 

A right Royal Wedding Weekend

It's May Day and we are in the middle of the long weekend, made even longer by our extra public holiday for the Royal Wedding on Friday. I thought it was a great and historical occasion, and I was surprised and pleased at how many people went there or watched it on television even in this seemingly cynical age. It makes me think that politicians of whichever party cannot really tell people what they should think or want. My favourite moments include the dress (perfect!), the bride's Dad walking her up the aisle (reminded me of my own Dad and wedding day!), the fairytale coach and white horses waiting outside Westminster Cathedral when the bride and groom came out (every young girl's dream I think!). The whole day was lovely, we invited Grandma to come to watch it with us and she brought a yummy praline cake. However the main event of the weekend for Jack was not the Royal Wedding but that his new cat flap has been installed! Since the end of January he has suffered the indignity of having to ask us every time he wants out, and then wait to get in, sometimes meowing in his gruff little voice outside the front door. This of course because his cat flap disappeared along with our old back door and the back of the house has been sealed up since then. But now the extension is far enough advanced that it has all its doors and John installed a new cat flap on Thursday. It didn't take our clever boy Jack long to get used to it, and he seems very happy to get his old independence back. On Saturday James and I went for a six mile walk near Auchengillan Scout Camp to check out the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze route that my groups will be walking in June. The weather was again beautiful and we had a pleasant time. Jamie arrived home late afternoon - it was brilliant to see him. Later he came over to Lenzie with us because he wanted to find out more about Ewan's operation - Ewan very kindly explained it to him. Jamie hopes one day to be doing these operations if his dream of being an orthopaedic surgeon comes true. Then we tried out Heather and Ewan's new Indian Restaurant, Rasoi - their local takeaway has moved premises and expanded to have a sit in restaurant too. It was very impressive - decorated very smartly and although it was very busy the service was excellent. The most important thing of course was the food and that was delicious, I had a creamy monkfish and coconut curry which was gorgeous. And only five minutes walk from Heather and Ewan's house! I wish Cambuslang had somewhere as great as this. We wished Ewan all the best for Thursday. Today the weather is yet again lovely, we have been in the garden all day with the boys and how wonderful for the five of us to be together. Jamie and Davie were helping James in the garden and Ally was studying - Maths and Biology today. I didn't realise that he has another Maths prelim on Tuesday - seems very close to the SQA exams! I am about to have a bit of a read before tea. I have finished Fingersmith and also the last of the Shetland Quartet by Anne Cleeve, which were both very good, and I have now started "Any Human Heart" by William Boyd, which I am enjoying so far.