Intimidated

I have been quiet on this blog recently. Things are going sort of ok at work. My new management colleague is very pleasant and always has my back, he understands the issues of Autism and is very supportive; we work well as a team. The other side of this coin is that he has other responsibilities in the wider school, and is disinclined to doing the huge amount of departmental planning, timetabling and other admin, so my workload is still ridiculously large. 

Meanwhile Davie has started Freshers week at UWS and is loving it so far. Cat is in Oslo visiting Ally, and Jamie is working 70 hour weeks as a very junior doctor.
Yesterday would have been Jack's 17th birthday (and Jill's too of course) which made me a bit sad. But as James pointed out, he probably didn't enjoy being deaf and getting weaker even though he won't have understood why. He had a good life.
Last night Heather and Ewan came for dinner and we had a pleasant evening chatting about all sorts. Inevitably the referendum came up, things are really hotting up as the vote is next Thursday and it is on everyone's minds. As good and long-standing friends I felt comfortable chatting about it in their company.
But I was in town at lunchtime yesterday to meet friends and I found the atmosphere rather intimidating - the Yes voters were out in force and (in my opinion) very aggressive; there was shouting and swearing. I don't mean to sound prissy but I do find that quite scary. No wonder they seem in the majority, I think a lot of people who will vote No are frightened of saying anything in case they get shouted at and made to feel unpatriotic. But I think you can be a patriot without being a nationalist. And I think that the quiet, intimidated majority may vote No. We will soon find out!

An evening at the Museum and a night at the hospital

After the Ayrshire Air Show James and I had a quick turnaround because we were going out in the evening to a concert at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. We quickly got changed, collected Grandma, and arrived in good time for a pre-concert drinks reception in the French Gallery - very nice! The concert was great with a lively and varied programme; Rossini's William Tell overture, several arias by Puccini, and music from Bizet's Carmen. There was also Verdi's overture to The Force of Destiny, Tchaikovsky's fantasy overture to Romeo and Juliet and my personal favourite which was the intermezzo sinfonico from Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana. I enjoyed every minute of it; the hall at the Art Galleries was a beautiful setting.
Grandma seemed to be enjoying herself too, but we didn't realise until we were at the concert that she was wearing a scarf wrapped round one of her hands to disguise an injured finger which had blood leaking through the bandage. It turned out that earlier in the day she had shut her finger in the door of a taxi, it must have been very sore. When we got home Jamie took a look at it and advised an immediate visit to A & E because the was very discoloured and swollen with a gaping cut in the side. He didn't want to wait because of the possibility of infection. Jamie and I took her there and waited for ages but it was worth it because she got an x ray (no break luckily) and had it properly cleaned and dressed. Grandma was very brave even though I could tell it hurt her a lot. When we got back down the road it was the middle of the night and we were absolutely exhausted. We made sure that Grandma was tucked into bed before going home.

Ayrshire Air Show 2014

The newly revived Ayrshire Air Show was a triumph yesterday. There were at least 50,000 people there and the organisers must have been relieved and delighted by both the crowds and the beautiful weather. This was the first Prestwick Air Show for 22 years; James and I used to go every year and we were there in 1989 when a Hawker Sea Fury had to ditch into the sea when it's wheels wouldn't go down properly. The pilot parachuted out and was fine.
The air show was small in scale compared to Leuchars Air Show, which ended forever last year much to the lamenting of the Anderson boys! The flying display was only from 2 - 5 instead of all day, and there were no big military planes, it was mostly just wee acrobatic planes, with the finale provided by the Vulcan bomber. However the flying was very good, and the commentators and crowds were enthusiastic and appreciative. The Blades acrobatic formation team were excellent too. The setting of the display over the sea was absolutely beautiful and the planes seemed to come rather alarmingly close to the crowd - I'm sure that they were kept further away at Leuchars.
It was lovely that Jamie was able to be there as well as Davie; only Oslo boy Ally was missing. The whole day was great fun.

Blueberries on The Goet

James decided that today we should climb a Corbett and so we did. He chose The Goet in Glen Clova in Angus. I had my doubts about this because of the four hour round trip involved but on a sunny Sunday we had plenty of time so why not? We set off nice and early and had a great walk. There was a gently sloping walk in before it got a bit steeper, which was good for me to warm up my leg muscles. I did moan a bit when the going got tougher but I made it to the summit without any real problems, and James told me that I was ten minutes ahead of "book time." We enjoyed eating wild blueberries on the way up, and there were lots of big hares dashing about near the top. The views were amazing with Lochnagar and the Cairngorm plateau to the north, and the Firths of Tay and Forth to the south. To the east we could see the North Sea past Arbroath and to the west were the hills of Glenshee. 

We walked back to the car in a big circle around the crags above Loch Wharral, disturbing a few grouse who came flapping out of the heather as we made our way down the hill.

Cycling on the Speyside Way

After a delicious dinner at Anderson's and a great night's sleep we went for a cycle today. We went first to Nethybridge via the beautiful forest paths that Alison and Hugh know so well. Then we joined the Speyside Way which at that point is a disused railway line. The train tracks are long gone but the stones that they lay on are still there, partly covered by grass. It was very picturesque; we passed small lochs and fields of barley, and we saw the steam train passing by on the other side of the fields. We arrived at the old Spey Bridge which was very lovely; there was confetti on the bridge so it must be a favourite location for wedding photos with river and hills behind.

By this time I was flagging somewhat, so Alison suggested that we have a coffee in the attractive restaurant at the nearby Revack Estate. This was a great idea; coffee and a slice of Ecclefechan tart gave me a new lease of life. Also I suspect that the seemingly level path must slope very gently downhill from Spey Bridge to Nethybridge, because it definitely seemed an easier cycle on the way back. By the time we got back to the cottage we had cycled 30 km - about 18.5 miles! 

In the afternoon we bade farewell to our kind and generous hosts and set off home. The roads were busy with motor cycles (the Thunder in the Glens meet up was this weekend) and horse boxes (the International Horse Trials at Blair Atholl were also this weekend). However it was a sunny and pleasant drive and the combine harvesters were out working the fields in Perthshire, which added to the early Autumnal atmosphere.

Chalamain Gap

Davie has had a good week; he got two important letters. One was his official offer of a place to study Biomedical Science at University of the West of Scotland. The other was his Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award badge with a letter congratulating him and informing him that he will be invited to next year's Gold Award Ceremony at Holyrood Palace. I am extremely proud of him.

We are at Boat of Garten visiting Alison and Hugh, and have just got back from a really good 18.3 km walk. We walked from Coylumbridge through lovely woodland and over the Cairngorm Club footbridge towards the Lairig Ghru. We turned sharply to climb upwards and through the Chalamain Gap. We had great views of all the mountains including Cairn Gorm and although we had one or two showers the weather was mostly dry and even sunny at times. Finally we followed the river into the very pretty Queen's Forest and down to the Glenmore Visitor Centre. We will deserve our dinner at Anderson's Restaurant this evening!

A weekend by myself

Jamie is in Edinburgh, Ally is in Oslo, and James and Davie are on a hill-walking weekend to Kinlochewe so I have been all by myself since Friday. 

Here's what I did on my weekend of solitude as well as a few household chores; had a lovely curry, watched two French Art House films, had my hair cut, went shopping in Waitrose, had brunch in Charlie Rocks and read my book. Excellent. I admit that I did work rather late on Friday but I brought no work home with me, and it has been a very relaxing weekend. The only disappointment was that I went to Tollcross Baths on Saturday intending to swim, only to find that it does not reopen post Commonwealth Games until Tuesday. 

My boys will be home mid afternoon and then Grandma is coming for tea so my time alone is fast coming to a close. It will be nice to see them, but my quiet weekend has been really enjoyable.