Cool at the pool

January is finishing tonight with more high winds and rain. The wind has made the temperature feel rather chilly; I went for a swim in the outdoor pool at David Lloyd today and the water felt very cool when I got in, definitely colder than usual. It was quite amusing seeing other swimmers flinch when they entered the water, and I saw one woman beating a hasty retreat back indoors after dipping one foot in the water. There was a flock of birds (pigeons?) circling the pool, maybe about 20 of them whirling around in formation, they looked very beautiful. Every now and then they would all line up in a neat row on the edge of the sports centre roof and survey the swimming pool before taking off again. 

We did some useful errands in the afternoon; we put James’ Roger Dean painting (which I gave him for his birthday) in to a gallery to get framed and we’re very happy with the frame that we chose. We also did a bit of shopping at the Fort and had a pleasant coffee in Marks and Spencer’s Café before heading home for a cosy evening.  

The Leaning Tower of Lynedoch Street

James tested negative for Covid yesterday and then again today. This means that we can stop self-isolating thank goodness. I have been feeling a bit sad because it’s 25 years today since my Dad died. It’s silly really because it’s just a date, I think about him and my Mum every day anyway and I know that Jennifer does too. So since James needed to pick up a jacket from Nevisport that he had put in for repair, we used our new found freedom to go into town to collect it and then treat ourselves to lunch at Singl-end in Renfrew Street. It was full when we arrived so we were advised to go for a walk for half an hour until a table became available. 

We walked over the pedestrian bridge at Charing Cross and up past my old school to Park Circus. It was half sunny and half cloudy, with a sharp chilly wind, a remnant from last night’s Storm Malik, which we had heard howling around the house, and which caused many trees to fall around the country.  As we approached Trinity College Tower we noticed a group of firemen deep in discussion and one of them came over to stop us from getting closer. Apparently the tower has been damaged by the high winds last night and is in danger of collapsing. He explained that the building was already in a poor state and had been fitted with sensors to alert the emergency services if it tilts, and that the sensor alarms have gone off. Residents in the vicinity have been evacuated until the building is stabilised, and I saw on the news later that surrounding roads have been blocked off. Lunch at Singl-end with James was very nice and helped to restore my good spirits. There is another storm on its way to Scotland tomorrow called Storm Corrie. 

Making a Virtue out of Necessity

James and I are still self-isolating; James did another Lateral Flow test this morning and he is still positive for Covid. This makes me wonder if he actually caught it much more recently that the beginning of our holiday. I suppose that we will never know. I haven’t done a Covid test myself because there’s no point until James eventually tests negative. Once James tests negative twice, twenty-four hours apart, I will test again and if I’m still negative we will be free to re-enter society. 

So for now our social life has been cancelled, including a visit to the theatre this evening with Heather, to which I had very much been looking forward. And of course I can’t go to the David Lloyd centre or to the supermarket. 

But there’s no point being down-hearted; instead I have ordered ingredients online with which to do some batch cooking, and I have been replying to some emails and tidying and clearing out in the house. James too has been making good use of his time; he has been clearing out the loft, tidying the garden, assembling his new office chair and even darning his hill-walking socks. 

Covid Holiday Souvenir

On our return home from Austria we were required to self-test for Covid within 48 hours of arrival * It’s a bit strange that we were not advised to self-isolate before the test isn’t it? We obediently took our tests on Monday morning. My test was negative - but James’ test was positive! Yes, he had brought the souvenir of Covid back from his holiday. With hindsight, I think that James may have developed Covid last Monday; the day that he felt unwell and was unable to ski. At the time he was convinced that his cough and headache were due to the high altitude of the resort (compared to home) and indeed he has had similar symptoms on previous ski holidays. After that one day he felt well enough to resume skiing and his symptoms disappeared, so it seemed that he was right, until Monday’s lateral flow test. 

He was well masked-up throughout the holiday apart from when we were seated and eating, so hopefully other holiday-makers will have been protected, and also you were not allowed to fly to Austria or to ski or to go into shops and restaurants unless you were triple-vaccinated. This was checked at every stage of the journey and in every establishment, 

After his positive test James had to let the Scottish Government know, and I soon received an email telling me also to self-isolate until 2nd February. However our confinement may be shorter than since James hasn’t had symptoms since last Monday; we will each take another lateral flow test tomorrow morning and if they’re both negative we will check the government rules to see what’s what. We’re not looking to take any shortcuts or bend the rules mind you, we will behave ourselves. 

* this requirement will cease on 11th February. 

Happy Travelling Birthday James!

Another plane, another blog. Today is James’ 60th birthday and he has had a pleasant day; breakfasting at our lovely Bellevue Hotel, going for a stroll around the village, and lunching at the Arlberg Hotel just down the road. We have spent the afternoon and will spend the evening on our journey homewards to Scotland, however James enjoys a plane journey so that’s good too! Heather and Ewan have given him the extremely generous gift of a trip on a seaplane around the Scottish Islands and I get to go too, so we were both delighted! He got quite a few Happy Birthday messages over the course of the day. 

Despite much rumour and innuendo at the airport - all nonsense - we are currently seated on time in our plane to Edinburgh, waiting for our plane to be de-iced. Our journey to Innsbruck Airport was, however, not without incident. As our bus driver carefully drove through one of the semi-tunnels between Lech and St Anton, a car driver ran right into the back of our bus. At first I thought that we had simply scraped against the wall of the tunnel, but when we moved off in order to stop again at a sort of lay-by down the road (because we had been blocking half of the road) we saw the guy who had run into us. Boy, his car was a mess, all crumpled at the front. We had to wait for the police to arrive before we were allowed to continue our journey, by which time we were running about two hours late. This was of justified concern to the passengers who were travelling to earlier flights than ours, but we were still in good time because our flight was due to leave a bit later at 18.55 (Austrian time.) Maybe it’s because James and I have been lucky enough to travel a lot over the years by “planes, trains and automobiles” to quote the old Steve Martin and John Candy film, but I was unmoved by the rumour that due to the snow we would all be bussed to Munich once we got through departures. It’s true that quite a few flights were delayed, one until the next day, and that some passengers on other flights were indeed being bussed to Munich, but there is no point in getting ahead of yourself in my experience. Que sera sera. And sure enough, after standing in several very long (but moving) queues we were sent onto a bus which took us, not to Munich, but the short distance across the tarmac to our plane bound for Edinburgh. Our pilot has just thanked us for going on our holidays in these Covid times, which of course is important for the livelihood of the staff in the airline industry, which was nice to hear. I must go as we will be taking off shortly. 

Last Ski Day

We had no idea whether we were going to be able to ski today, because the weather forecast was very uncertain. One snow report predicted a cloudy day without snow, another predicted some sunshine, and the hotel owner, Herr Wolf, told us that we should ski in the morning because it was going to snow in the afternoon. 

In fact none of these predictions were quite correct. We woke to cloudy skies and just as we went down to breakfast it started to snow. I was disappointed because after not skiing yesterday I was keen to get back on the slopes for the last day. But by 10 o’clock the snow stopped, the sun came out and the four of us set off to ski. 

Heather, Ewan and James were all very encouraging to me; James and Heather led the way and Ewan skied behind me to make sure that I was getting on ok. This helped my confidence a lot and after a shaky start I really enjoyed the morning. The snow was a bit bumpy in places due to yesterday’s snowfall but it was lovely to be out. Needless to say my knee started hurting quite quickly, but I’m hopeful that physiotherapy might help me to strengthen it. I’m pleased that I have managed to ski for a good part of the week. My knee and I bowed out for an early lunch at the Rud-Alpe, while the others skied some more. 

In the afternoon we returned our skis to the hire shops and went for après-ski in the village at the Pfeffercorn. I have become very fond of Lech this week and we have been very lucky with the snow and the weather. 

I had been chatting to Herr Wolf earlier in the day, telling him about the UK children's game and book, "What's the Time Mr Wolf?" He hadn't heard of it. So with his collusion, after dinner when he was socialising around the bar area, he arrived at our table and I looked up and said loudly, "What's the Time Mr Wolf?" and he told me the time! James, Heather and Ewan were horrified, thinking that I was being very cheeky to our host, until Herr Wolf and I started laughing and told them that we had arranged it - I enjoyed my little joke very much. 

Strolzing on a snowy day

Today the forecast snow arrived, on schedule and in quantity. This is very good news for the ski industry in Lech because they haven’t had any new snow for a couple of weeks and this top up will make sure that they continue to have plenty of snow into their peak season of February. Visibility was low and I decided to err on the side of caution and refrain from skiing today; hopefully the conditions will be more to my liking tomorrow. Instead James and I strolled down to the village and did a little shopping in the famous and very upmarket Strolz skiwear and gift shop. On choosing our item (which I can’t mention because it’s a gift) we were given a chitty with its details, and when we arrived back at the front desk we exchanged it for a beautifully gift-wrapped parcel. How delightfully old-fashioned, I loved it. We then decided that we deserved a restoring coffee in the Arlberg Hotel, indoors in their lovely lounge this time. Just as we were finishing our coffees we received a text from Heather and Ewan suggesting an excursion onto the pistes and James was keen to give it a go, so he hurried back up the road while I did a bit more shopping. I arrived back just as the others were leaving, suited and booted, and I had a relaxing couple of hours reading and watching the last episode of “The Duchess of Argyll” which was very good but all rather sad. When James arrived back he said that he had enjoyed himself but had found the conditions “hard going” so I felt that I had made the right decision. And now I had better get out of the bath in time for pre-dinner drinks in the cosy hotel bar.