Lady Rhondda

A busy but good day; for some reason I was in a tremendously good mood all day. It can't have been the weather, which was rather dreich. I did get a lot done at work which always gives me a feeling of satisfaction and I have been working with Ally all evening on yet another History essay, which was actually rather pleasant. As usual I was doing research while Ally feverishly wrote the essay, and the historical figure he had chosen to write about was Margaret, Viscountess Rhondda who was a very interesting character. Born to a life of privilege, she spent most of her adult life campaigning for women's rights, first as a militant suffragette who got sent to prison for trying to blow up a post box, and later as a respectable businesswoman who used more law-abiding methods to advance the feminist cause. She survived the sinking of the Lusitania in 1916, and left her husband to set up home with another woman. Although not as well known as the Pankhursts she was a strong and amazing woman. 

Cataracts, pyjamas and boats

This is a blog in three parts. First the cataracts; Grandma finally had her first cataract operation today. I managed to get a cancellation and the operation was arranged at fairly short notice. James took her over to the Royal Jubilee Hospital early this morning; she was very brave and the procedure went well although her blood pressure shot up beforehand. It was so successful for my Mum that I have high hopes that it will improve Grandma's quality of life. James then took her home and tucked her into bed with a hot water bottle. 

Secondly, when I popped down to Morrison's for a few things today I was amazed to see a young woman shopping in what were very obviously pyjamas. She was a big girl and she looked terrible, especially as she was also wearing SLIPPERS! No one else seemed to notice, but I could hardly take my eyes off her. Oh dear, have I become very judgemental and middle aged? But how long would it have taken for her to put on a tracksuit and a pair of trainers? 

Thirdly, in the afternoon we went to watch Jamie racing with the Dundee University Boat Club at Strathclyde Park Loch. It was nice to watch him doing this sport that has come to mean so much to him over the last couple of years. It was cold at the loch with a biting wind, and the water was quite choppy. We watched his first race, in a boat with eight rowers, where unfortunately they came last. Then we all had a coffee and a chat in the watersports centre. Jamie had asked me to bring him some pasta to eat between races. Then James, Ally, Davie and I walked round the loch which took about an hour, and we were just in nice time to watch Jamie's second race, which went much better. This time there were four rowers in the boat and they came second, in fact they very nearly won. After the race Jamie was freezing cold so we left him to get changed and now I am in the middle of cooking dinner; Grandma will be over in a minute and we are having Moroccan chicken.
Update at 9 p.m. - Grandma has just left, after a jolly dinner, escorted home by Jamie. She was looking great and was very cheerful, no doubt relieved that her ordeal was over! 

The Scottish Symphony

Jamie is home for the weekend for a big rowing competition at Strathclyde Park Loch. It is lovely to see him, and I got an extra ticket for him to the concert at the Royal Concert Hall that we had already planned to go to this evening. Kyle came too so there were six of us. The concert was Mendelssohn's Symphony number 3, otherwise known as The Scottish Symphony. It was part of the RSNO "Naked Classics" season. In the first half of the programme a presenter called Paul Rissman told us a bit about Felix Mendelssohn's life and then took us through each of the four movements of the symphony. He projected pictures and written music onto a large screen, and used light to highlight different notes and phrases and explained what the themes were. He got the orchestra to play the bits he was talking about. At one point he showed how a short phrase in the third movement repeats a lot by getting the different parts of the orchestra to stand up when they played it, so they were all bobbing up and down which was very amusing and made his point very clearly. This was ideal for someone like me who likes music but knows very little about it; I found it fascinating. For example some parts are more "Scottish" sounding than others, and when he pointed it out you could totally hear that. Then in the second half, after we had all refreshed ourselves with drinks at the interval, the orchestra played the whole symphony, and you could hear how it all hung together. It was excellent and all of the boys said they enjoyed it too. 

Mum's Fountain Part 2

A chilly morning has turned into a beautiful afternoon. James and I had lunch in the garden centre at Rouken Glen park and then we all played table tennis in the garden. The reason that we were at the garden centre was to get plants for Mum's fountain, which has small planters on either side of the fountain bit. We chose a mixture of verbena and silver-leaved gazania, which should make a nice display during the summer. As anyone who read my blog from two days ago may notice, James has backed down from his position regarding Mum's fountain, and has now agreed for it to remain forever on our patio. He has not apologised for his previous attitude nor has he said anything nice about the fountain; he seems resigned to keeping it though. Ally did a great job of cleaning it out and refilling it with water and now it looks great with its plants on either side, and is working perfectly. Poignantly, Ally found a wee cigarette butt in the stagnant water when he was cleaning it out, Mum must have flicked it in there years ago. Or it could have been her gardner Sam (who pre-deceased Mum) who also loved smoking. When Jamie was wee, he used to go into the garden and ask Sam to give up smoking and Sam would say "It's too late!" Sam was a great character, originally a coal man who worked for James' Dad, he became a gardner and often didn't turn up for work after a heavy night out. He didn't live to an old age but I always got the impression that he was a happy man. 

Goodbye to Mum's House

I was very worried today when the chief invigilator came to tell me that he had a complaint about the reading and scribing I did yesterday. I was terrified that I had done something very wrong because he looked so serious; then he said, "It's all very well to read and scribe for a pupil but it's going too far to claim credit for her work!" and he started laughing. It turns out that on one of the papers I had written my name instead of the pupil's name! This came to light when the invigilators were checking through the papers later. Needless to say word got round the school and people were asking me if I was trying to get myself a standard grade in Biology!
Today the sale of my Mum's house went through; the lawyer phoned me about half a dozen times with questions, everything is done so precisely, and she didn't hand over the keys until the buyers' cheque had cleared. It has all moved so fast over the last couple of days, and I was amazed that by the time I got home from work the buyers were in the process of moving in. We had not got round to removing the last sofa and chairs so Ally and Davie went round to lift them out and James took them down to the dump in several loads with some garden rubbish. When he came back from his first trip he found Davie and Kyle standing beside the couch in the street, "in case it was stolen". James pointed out that he would have been delighted if it was stolen because it would have saved him another trip to the dump! So after two years, Mum's house is occupied again. It feels strange. 

Mum's fountain

It was a long day at school today; the SQA exams have now started and I was reading and scribing all day. I went out for a meal this evening to Mitchell's in Carmunnock with Victoria, we had a great chat and the meal was absolutely delicious. The highlight for me, unusually, was my dessert which was rice pudding with syrup and papaya; it was really gorgeous and although I had plenty to eat I don't feel overly full. I arrived home to find my boys dispersed around the house playing computer games, studying, and watching "Empire". I find "Empire" quite interesting but I don't enjoy it as much as James seems to. Another bit of news today is that the sale of Mum's house is finalised and I have to put the keys through the solicitor's letterbox tonight. I feel a sense of anticlimax although I should feel relieved. I am also going to collect the wee fountain that Jennifer and I gave Mum for her 70th birthday. I remember how she had seen it in a magazine and Jenn and Russ drove all the way to Perth to get the exact one she wanted. We set it up in the garden and she was so happy and pleased. So I was not very happy when James said this evening that it is "tacktastic" and that I should throw it in the bin. My Mum had excellent taste and although the fountain was not expensive, it is lovely. 

David was head-butted by a horse

I am so pleased with how well David's work placement is going; I think it is excellent experience for him and he is learning a whole new set of skills. His duties are mucking out, fetching in the horses from the field, grooming them and tacking them up. Today he was the back marker when the horses were led out with the disabled young people on them, which meant he had to look out for hazards. He loves it. A nice bonus for David is that he looks and feels fitter, it must be the hard work and fresh air. He always has good stories to tell us about his day and today he had us all laughing at dinner when he told us about the head butting incident. He was taking Smudge's halter off and the horse put its head down, then swung his head back up as he reached around it. Luckily no harm was done! One day he was grooming Solo and then one of the other volunteers said "You might want to stand away from him!" David moved away just in time because Solo then did a huge pee. Apparently you can tell when a horse is about to pee because it moves its front feet forwards and its back feet backwards!