Savour the moment

While having a coffee with James in John Lewis the other day, I noticed something written on the inside of the lid of a miniature jar of Wilkin and Sons raspberry jam. The message recommended that we should “Savour the moment” Although this undoubtedly referred to jam, I found it to be rather apt for my current state of mind. I have been feeling quite thoughtful this week about life. I’m sad that Grandma is still unwell in hospital and I hope that she will be allowed out soon because she is very keen to get home. We visit her every afternoon and combine the trip with useful errands - my “to do” list has never been so short! I like it that David will be based at home for the next year while he completes his Masters degree, he is most pleasant company. I’m enjoying the autumn as the colours of the trees slowly start to change, and I’m enjoying going for walks in the cooler sunshine. I was at Pollok Park on Tuesday with Kathryn and it looked beautiful. 

We have been doing some batch cooking and James is doing a great job in the garden, which looks very smart. I have been reading quite a lot, and tonight I’m going to book club in Burnside where we will discuss our summer reading. 

However, now that the season has turned, we have decided to add a little more structure to our week, so James and I have recently signed up to a couple of courses at Glasgow University. I am going to attempt to brush up my rusty French skills and James is going to study Geology. We find it amusing that we will be studying there at the same time as David and we have threatened him that we will go drinking with him in the student union. David however remained good-naturedly unperturbed and said that he would happily meet up with us! Chanel has just arrived for the weekend and James has just poured us pre dinner drinks so I will finish here in order to have some chat. 

In my Liverpool home

On Sunday Chanel and her Dad James gave us a lovely tour of the centre of Liverpool. We visited Mathew Street and saw the famous Cavern night club, and lots of Beatles souvenir shops. There were more statues of the Fab Four, one of Cilla Black, and on another street we saw a statue of Eleanor Rigby sitting on a bench. The centre is very attractive with lots of Victorian (and older) buildings and little parks. We had lunch at a gorgeous café which had a series of small cosy rooms in it, called Rococo. We saw painted models which are called Superlambananas.
James quoted to us the chorus of the 1960s song by the Spinners, “In my Liverpool home” which has become an anthem for the people of Liverpool:
“In my Liverpool Home, In my Liverpool Home 
We speak with an accent exceedingly rare, 
Meet under a statue exceedingly bare, 
And if you want a Cathedral, we've got one to spare 
In my Liverpool Home”
Well, we heard the accent, saw the statue (it’s on the corner of the Lewis’s building and it IS exceedingly bare!) and visited both cathedrals. However there is lots more to see and I would love to come back to Liverpool soon. 

From Southport to Liverpool

Saturday dawned bright and sunny in Southport but I wasn’t feeling very bright because a nightmare had disturbed my sleep. An unpleasant nightmare about something that I thought was long behind me, and what’s more I know exactly what triggered it. It annoys me how easily I can still be thrown off balance. A refreshing shower perked me up and soon James and I strolled into the centre of Southport to meet Ally, Cat, Davie and Chanel for breakfast. They had all decided to join us for the air show which I found very heartwarming, and their lively and happy company cheered me and reminded me of what is important in life.
After breakfast we walked back through the park and hopped onto the delightful miniature railway. We then set up camp with our deckchairs on the promenade, ready for the flying display. The air show was good fun and much warmer than Friday evening, although the sea breeze necessitated the occasional brisk walk to limber up after sitting for a while. James enjoyed using his new, massive camera lens. There were plenty of food vans for lunch, and as well as watching the planes, I amused myself by observing various naughty children misbehaving down on the beach. Sand was thrown in siblings’ eyes, carefully constructed sand structures were sabotaged, small children ran away and had to be retrieved by their frazzled parents. To be fair, the parents did a valiant job of keeping them under control and all in all the children had fun and it was a good family day out.
Later we made our way to the centre of Liverpool where we had a tasty dinner at a restaurant called Panam. It was at the Royal Albert Docks, which are really smart with lots of pubs, restaurants, statues, views over the water towards the Wirral and several museums. Chanel gave us a brief night time tour after dinner and I was very impressed. I have only been in Liverpool once before, in the 1980s when our dear friend Margaret was living there. I was only there for one evening because I was in Manchester for a business meeting so took the opportunity to drive across for a brief visit. So I have never been to the centre of the city, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of it tomorrow, with the expert guidance of Chanel. 

Evening fireworks in Southport

On Friday James and I visited Grandma in hospital in the morning rather than the afternoon, because we were going to be travelling south in the afternoon. Finding her reassuringly alert and chatty, we spoke to the nurse about the next stage of her treatment which will involve physiotherapy. After a quick lunch at home we bade our farewells to the cats, both of whom sleepily ignored us, and set off to Southport. “Why Southport?” I hear you cry. Well, a few years ago James and Ally went to Southport Air Show, which is held over the sea, a bit like the one at Ayr. They had enjoyed it mightily, and James expressed a desire to return. 

We had managed to get booked into a hotel right at the front at Southport, which is right beside the gate to the promenade, and unusually there was an evening display on Friday before the main show today. This was rather chilly but actually pretty amazing, because you could see the afterburners of the Typhoon really clearly in the twilight, and there was a helicopter which shot out fireworks as it flew around. And the display ended with a splendid and gratifyingly lengthy firework display over the darkening sea. 

Good mood

I’m in a tremendously good mood today, for a variety of reasons. First of all, some friends of ours got some excellent news yesterday, about which it is not my place to blog. When the message arrived James and I were both delighted for them. The weather today is fine and blowy; I am in the back room with the doors to the garden propped open, because it is very warm. We have enjoyed our morning walk along to Burnside where we ran into (another) old friend, and had a coffee at Café Gelato where we are becoming quite the regulars! Jamie has messaged so say that he will be phoning for a chat soon, so I’m looking forward to that. James has fixed my phone so that the battery doesn’t run down so fast. I have polished and waterproofed two pairs of shoes and they look very smart. My furry boy Tom is relaxing beside me on the couch and James is reading his paper. Despite the chaos at Westminster all is well in my wee world just now. 

Dancing and errands

For some reason I was not at my most coordinated today at my FitSteps class, but I do enjoy the music and the dancing. Another lady in the class tripped and fell over during a complicated step, which caused a flurry of concern and the class was temporarily halted as everyone rushed to check that she was ok. She was a trouper and carried on with the routine.
In the early afternoon we went to visit Grandma, who was no worse but not really any better either. We’re not quite sure when she will be getting home and what sort of support she will need, which is a worry. The rest of the day was taken up with a series of useful but rather tedious errands, such as choosing a frame for Alasdair’s graduation photograph to match those of his brothers, grocery shopping, picking up contact lenses and delivering cards to people. I felt as if we drove around for ages and I was very glad to get home for a nice tea with James and Ally and a cosy and relaxing evening with the kitties. 

No deal and gooseberries

James is at the Hill-walking club social evening and I’m at home with Ally. Wee Flora is curled up on my lap. The MPs who are against the possibility of a No Deal Brexit have just voted to take control of House of Commons business. In response PM Boris Johnson (who asserts that he can still get a new deal, but does not want to rule out a No Deal because he feels it will adversely affect negotiations) has threatened that he will call a general election. I have said before in this blog that I’m not a political animal but surely ruling out No Deal will disadvantage the UK in negotiations with the EU? All sides seem to be intent only on blocking each other without any thought to the good of the country or indeed to the result of the referendum. It all seems such a mess.
Closer to home, we are back in the hospital routine again, visiting Grandma in the afternoons. She seems to be improving slowly. Ally went to visit her earlier this evening and thought that she was doing ok. We have also been exercising at the gym and working on various projects in the house and garden. On Saturday we had a really lovely evening at Michael and Lil’s. Steven and Hilary were also there and we had a great laugh. The meal was delicious but special mention must be made of the gooseberry cheesecake, made with red gooseberries, which was absolutely gorgeous. I have persuaded James to purchase a couple of new gooseberry bushes.