Shopping for trousers

Grandma has been talking about buying herself some new trousers, so I gave it some thought and decided that a visit to Marks and Spencer’s “Classic” section should do the trick. We arranged to go shopping this afternoon and when Andy the wheelchair taxi diver arrived, he suggested that the Fort Shopping Centre in Easterhouse would be ideal, because he could drop us off right at the door, and the journey would take only twenty minutes. Off we set, but there was a slight hitch; Grandma had broken one of her hearing aids and the other one wasn’t working properly. The hearing aids do break from time to time, I think it may be because of how often the batteries need to be changed, eventually they kind of come apart. Today Grandma couldn’t hear a thing. I arranged to take them for an emergency repair tomorrow, but in the meantime I had to communicate with her by miming. I was like Marcel Marceau in Marks and Spencer’s as we perused the racks of trousers, but luckily Grandma didn’t have to mime back to me because I could hear her responses. Grandma chose two smart pairs of trousers and a cream coloured top, and then we went to the food section and picked up a few groceries. At one point Grandma said “Corned beef!” and I thought that she was referring to her hearing problems in Glaswegian rhyming slang! But in fact she was gesturing towards some corned beef in the cooked meats section that she wanted to purchase. She was very pleased with her shopping and hopefully tomorrow normal hearing will be restored. 

Gardening plans

A wee late night blog post from my comfy bed. I am loving my new duvet cover which is mainly white with the lower half decorated with colourful spring flowers. It cheers me up just to look at it. It has been a really good weekend despite the dubious weather, and we have got lots done. James has continued his project to teak oil the garden benches, and James and Ally cleaned and re-proofed and sorted out all their climbing gear after their walk yesterday. We had home made soup (made by me) and freshly made bread (made by James) for lunch. I walked down to Morrisons and did a grocery shopping including Grandma’s and we all visited her this afternoon and had a jolly time, she was on good form. James has also planted out his new primroses to replace the ones that have been eaten by squirrels. The cats absolutely love us being out in the garden so they were flitting in and out of the house keeping an eye on us. I’m planning to start gardening soon and I have asked James to teach me how, because I have no idea where to start. However I’m keen to try it because Heather assures me that it is a very pleasurable activity. I have so far purchased my own trowel, fork, knee pads and cute gardening gloves, and a gorgeous green gardening bag to keep them in. When I showed them to James today he was speechless.
This evening I was talking to Ally and he paid me the most lovely compliment, kind of back-handedly and by accident, but I was thrilled. He said that he only criticises me because he has high expectations of me. When he saw how moved I was, he quickly said “Don’t take that as a compliment!” but it was too late. I had already taken it! A good weekend indeed. 

Weekend Films

We watched two films with Alasdair on Friday and Saturday evenings. It’s not always easy to choose a film which suits all three of us. James and Alasdair are not keen on “chick flicks” although I don’t mind them from time to time as they provide light relief. I’m not keen on war films and documentaries (although there have been exceptions to this over the years.) James will watch a French film with me from time to time but not usually on a Saturday night, when he finds them too much like hard work. And literary or historical dramas don’t elicit much enthusiasm from either James or Ally. James has a strange dislike of murder mysteries which has ruled out a lot of television programmes over the years such as Inspector Morse. Although he has made exceptions and has often been pleasantly surprised. And also, we like to watch a film that none of us has already seen, which rules out films that Ally has already watched online.
On the other hand, we all like a comedy (although these can be very hit or miss), and we all like action adventure films and thrillers, and we are always willing to try something that has been recommended to us.
So on Friday evening I flicked through some films that I have recorded recently and came across World War Z. This film, starring Brad Pitt, was released in 2013 and for some reason we have never got round to watching it. Its opening scenes were filmed in Glasgow in the summer of 2011, blocking off George Square and causing great excitement among the populace. It was actually quite good; a fairly typical zombie film but we loved the all too brief Glasgow scenes (it was meant to be Philadelphia) and it was suitably entertaining.
On Saturday evening Ally and I set off to pick up our curry from East Kilbride, and when we came back James smugly told us that he had already chosen a film for us to watch; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, released in 2018. This had been recommended to him by Ewan. I had never heard of it but when I realised that it was a Coen Brothers film I felt apprehensive. I tend to either love or hate Coen brothers films and they can be a bit too off the wall for me. For example I loved Fargo, but I hated No Country for Old Men. Well, I’m glad to say that we all enjoyed The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. It consisted of six vignettes about life in the Wild West, and they varied from slightly strange to very strange. But they were all fascinating, almost too intensely so, and their humour was very dark. The first one, about musical Buster Scruggs himself, was really bizarre, but my favourite was All Gold Canyon, which was the most upbeat of the stories. I do like at least some note of hope at the end of a tale.

Out Of Date

The weather has turned a bit dreich over the last couple of days, and sometimes very gusty and rainy too. James and Ally were hill-walking in Glenshee today so I thought that I had better get some fresh air and go out for a wee walk of my own. So on went the waterproof jacket, in went the earphones, and I went for a brisk stroll on my usual route around the neighbourhood while listening to the Fortunately podcast. They were talking to DJ Annie Mac and when they asked her what was the latest music she had “downloaded” she had to explain to them that one doesn’t do that any more, one “streams” the music. To be fair to Fi and Jane, who are only a few years younger than me, I am confused by the ever changing technical terminology too. I wonder if that’s how my parents felt in the 1970s when Jennifer and I used up to date words and phrases? I remember at school that the phrase used when you were embarrassed was “What a brass!” * and my parents were confused when I said it to them. I also clearly remember them laughing at the music we liked on Top of the Pops, which we watched slavishly every week, and my Mum saying, “Well, is that what you call music nowadays?”

* I presume that it was shortened from “What a brass neck” which refers to someone being cheeky, although the usage doesn’t quite match. 

A thank you dinner

This evening I took Ally, Andrew and Sandy out for a thank you dinner. This was to thank them for all their help at our party in November. They cheerfully took people’s coats upstairs when they arrived, poured drinks, laid out food and organised the fireworks. I hasten to add that Jennifer and Chanel also did a huge amount to help, as I mentioned in my blog at the time. But tonight’s dinner was for the boys, and I was very glad that I had finally got round to organising it. I booked a rather good mid week deal at October, on the top floor of Prince’s Square, and we all met up there. I invited James at the last minute; he knows and likes Andrew and Sandy just as much as I do, so it made sense for him to come along. We were given a really nice round table on the balcony and the food was hearty if rather unremarkable. We chatted and laughed about all sorts of subjects and after dinner James and I headed home, leaving the boys to continue their evening without us oldies. On the way home James and I agreed that Alasdair has extremely pleasant friends. 

A trip to Biggar

I had a pleasant drive to Biggar today, where I collected Bill and Katy and we had lunch at the Laurel Bank Tea Room in nearby Broughton. As ever, it was great to see them both. I have good memories of visiting that tea room (albeit with a different name I think), with my Mum and the boys and Bill and Katy, with James, and one time with a group of Duke of Edinburgh leaders after one of our validation days. I remember that the cosy tea room was a welcome contrast to the chilly walk in the Broughton hills that we had just finished. Bill, Katy and I had a really nice leisurely lunch and chat. On the way back to Biggar there was a sudden shower of hail and we saw some children dancing around in their garden as the hailstones bounced around them! 
I listened to an episode of the Fi and Jane Fortunately podcast as I drove home; Jennifer introduced me to this and I enjoy their weekly broadcast. I know that there are hundreds of podcasts to listen to, but I don’t know when I would listen to them except in the car, and I don’t do many long enough journeys these days. When I’m in the house I’m usually pottering about and I don’t think that I could concentrate enough on a podcast. Sometime I do listen to Fi and Jane when I’m out walking.
James and I have seen a couple of excellent television programmes over the last couple of days. Yesterday we watched the last ever episode of Still Game, of which we are both very fond. It was a good episode but the closing scenes were really outstanding; apt, understated, moving, and just right. I was in tears at the end. And today we watched the final of this year’s Great British Sewing Bee. It was a very good final and Juliet was a worthy winner. The programme has such a happy atmosphere, with the contestants all supporting each other, it's very watchable. 

Mothers, a baby and a temporarily missing cat

Sunday was Mother’s Day and we went for lunch to Mitchell’s in Carmunnock with Grandma, Forrest, Marjory and Lucy. Lucy was the only one of her generation of Andersons present, because for various perfectly good reasons the other young ones were otherwise occupied, either abroad, away for the weekend, or in Davie’s case, studying. Davie’s term doesn’t finish until later this week and he is still in the process of finishing assignments. However I didn’t feel neglected because I did get a lovely card and flowers from the boys. The card was excellent; the front had a picture of two cats who looked very like Jack and Jill and the caption “Happy Mother’s Day to someone who made it look so easy ...”and then inside it says “from the ones who made it nearly impossible!” I love it!
The meal at Mitchell’s was very good and the only hitch was that the background noise made it impossible for Grandma to hear anything. I think that we should have our next family celebration in the house. However she said that she enjoyed the outing and she looked lovely with her hair done.
Today I went round to visit Harris, the newest addition to Suzy and Brian’s family. Oh my goodness he is a beautiful baby with a gorgeous wee face and I was lucky enough to get a wee cuddle with him. He put me in a very good mood for the rest of the day.
I was a bit concerned later on when I realised that I hadn’t seen Tom around all day. I looked for him all around the house and whistled for him in the garden to no avail. When James arrived home from work he looked for him too, with no luck. I asked Flora where Tom was and she glanced towards the window, so I think she knew what I was asking her. Then James remembered that he had been carrying the garden benches in and out of the garage last night. I opened the back door of the garage and Tom appeared from one of the shelves where he had been resting, stretching all his limbs as he exited. He must have been trapped in there for about twenty hours! He didn’t seem too upset but he was a bit unsettled during the evening, constantly entering and exiting the house via the cat flap as if to reassure himself that he was still a free agent.