Walking beside the River Broom

We had a great five days in Ullapool. I did some Children’s Panel prep, some painting and some reading. We also had a good video call with Jamie and Kerry to chat about wedding plans. We also enjoyed doing a bit of walking along the River Broom from the small bridge at Auchindrean to the bridge at Lochbroom Lodge. We walked along the river path which was pretty and involved climbing up and down lots of steps. When we got to the main bridge we turned up the hill and then walked back along the unsurfaced road to the car, about 10 km in all. Then the next day we parked the car at the main bridge and walked along to Clachan Church. It was from here  in 1773 that 189 local people were rowed out to the sailing ship Hector which was moored in the loch nearby. Eighteen of them died of dysentery or smallpox on their eleven week journey to Pictou in Nova Scotia, where they were not given their promised year’s worth of free provisions, so had to scramble to survive. As the song goes, “I wonder how you got on when you reached the promised land?” After looking around the churchyard we walked on past the start of Loch Broom for about 3 km before retracing our steps. It was interesting to explore a new part of the area. We headed home on Tuesday afternoon; on the way we listened to a couple more episodes about Nelson on The Rest is History. 

Book Club, Social and Art

It has been a pleasant week. I had a lovely time at Book Club at Jenny W’s, we discussed The Names and there was plenty to talk about. Rachel told us the lovely news that she is expecting a baby in August, I’m just so delighted for her and John; they have been through so much and deserve this happiness. On Thursday morning I went to observe three Children’s Panel hearings. Obviously I can’t discuss what happened but it was very interesting and I was impressed by the panel members’ knowledge and skills. Later we had coffee with Marjory and Forrest, we had a nice chat and Marjory seems to be getting on ok but it’s still so recent that her Mum died, my heart goes out to her. 

Gerry and Janis were on good form when we had brunch with them on Thursday; they are loving being grandparents to wee Rory who is already nine months old.

I have started back at art classes on Fridays at the PPWH. We still have the same lovely art teacher, Jenni, and most of the same students. I am hoping to learn how to use watercolours. Or at least to start to learn how to use watercolours! And straight after the class James and I headed to Ullapool where we are spending a few days. 

Jean-Luc Godard and Pickleball

Jamie phoned us on Sunday just before our plane took off to tell us that he was on his way to his first day of his new job as a consultant paediatrician. I so feel excited for him and proud of him. On Monday Heather and I met for dinner in Sarti’s and then continued our French film club (pour deux personnes!) by going to see A Bout de Souffle at the GFT. It’s part of a Jean-Luc Godard season. It was filmed in 1960 and its chaotic, amoral lead characters were probably quite shocking at the time. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg were both very young and beautiful, and despite the brief and unsatisfying plot, the film is still very compelling. I enjoyed it very much. 

The next day I went to my first ever game of Pickleball at the church hall, which was great fun. Alison T invited me, and I was delighted to meet up with Janie and Lesley, as well as a couple of girls I didn’t know. Everyone was very welcoming and we were quite a mixed ability group so I didn’t feel out of place due to my lack of skills. I will certainly return. 

Birdwatching

After a breakfast of coffee and pastries at their flat, Ally suggested that we all visit Rainham Marshes nature reserve, which is only a twenty-five minute drive from Limehouse. It’s hard to believe that these peaceful marshy wetlands are so close to London. It has a visitor centre with friendly, enthusiastic staff who told us what birds to look out for at this time of year. The weather was grey but it stayed dry for us as we walked the 5 km circuit, stopping at several bird hides on the way. Inside these hides, numerous bird enthusiasts were spending their Sunday afternoon watching birds with binoculars and long lens cameras, often with a flask of soup or sandwiches to sustain them. Information on sightings was exchanged, such as “Look over there, a female marsh harrier sitting on the ground - you don’t often see that!” We saw many ducks including tufted ducks, marsh harriers, lapwings with their long crests sticking up from the back of their heads, jays, and lots of geese. Ally had been keen to see a bearded tit but this proved elusive so he will have to go back another day. So will Cat, whose ambition to spot a water vole was unfulfilled! I found this foray into the world of bird watchers to be fascinating; I admired their dedication and friendliness. Every time that we visit them in London, Ally and Cat take us to new and interesting places.  

Two bongs from Big Ben

We got the front seats on the DLR on the way to meet Ally and Cat and it was great fun pretending to drive it! We met Ally and Cat for brunch in a delightful French café called Chez Antoinette near St James’ Park, then made our way to Westminster for our Big Ben tour. We have toured the Houses of Parliament before, but none of us had ever climbed the 334 steps up to the bell tower. The tour was great, the tour guide told us so many interesting facts about the clock tower, its history and mechanism. We had fantastic views from the top and then came the main event; we were provided with ear defenders just in time for the bells to chime the hour, and since it was 2 p.m. we were treated to two resounding “bongs” from Big Ben (which is the name of the bell rather than the tower.) The whole experience was even better than I had hoped. After a quick coffee, Ally and Cat took us to Portobello Road to see the shops and the market. On the way we noticed that the actress Celia Imrie was sitting near us on the tube; when we disembarked Ally offered to carry her case up the stairs for her. She accepted and called him a gentleman - I was so proud of him! We have never been to Portobello Road before and it was vibrant and busy, we were reminded of the song and dance scene from the film “Bedknobs and Broomsticks” and we saw the bookshop that featured in the film “Notting Hill.” We went to a nearby pub for a tasty dinner and then took the tube across London to the National Theatre to see Ballet Shoes. Ballet Shoes is one of both Cat’s and my favourite childhood books, in fact Cat gave me a copy of the book and a DVD of the recent film for my birthday a few years ago. So going to the play felt like a bit of a risk in case it didn’t live up to our expectations. I need not have worried; it was an excellent production and we all enjoyed it. What a great day we have had! 

Dot to dot

Today we set off to London to see Ally and Cat, our journey enlivened by delays on the motorway and booking tickets for Kelvingrove Bandstand while in the queue for security! And then we booked a boat trip on Loch Katrine while we were on the plane, before we took off! (a lovely birthday present to James from Heather and Ewan.) 

Arriving in London we went straight to the National Gallery and had a delicious sandwich lunch in Supporters’ House, before going to see the Neo-impressionist exhibition “Radical Harmonies: From Seurat to Van Gogh.” I was pleased to see it because Heather and Ewan enjoyed it and I thought that I would be too late, however it’s on for one more week. The paintings, whose genre I was taught at school was called “pointillism” * were pleasant, especially from a distance, and I can see that it’s a sort of progression from Impressionism. However it did seem that they were restricting themselves by this method of painting. James said that the paintings were “the occasional triumph over technique” - in other words he thinks that they went to a lot of effort without matching results. I concur with this, although I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition. 

In the evening we phoned Kerry in New Zealand to wish her a Happy 30th Birthday. It’s still 30th January here in the UK but they are 12 hours ahead in New Zealand so it’s already her birthday (31st) there. We were pleased that our card and present had arrived in time to their new Auckland address. Kerry already works in Auckland, and Jamie will start his new consultant job there on Monday. Excitingly it’s now a year until Jamie and Kerry’s wedding in New Zealand. I got them a wee countdown chalkboard for Christmas, where they can mark how many days until the wedding. 

 * Apparently the neo-impressionists hated being called pointillists, probably because they felt that there was much more to their work than dots! 

Home again

It felt like a long journey home from Italy on Saturday, although it all went smoothly and the plane was only a bit late taking off. We had gorgeous snowy views in the bus ride to Innsbruck Airport, and an interesting commentary from the Inghams rep; for example she pointed out the building works for a bypass for the lorries that make the motorway too busy. They will be shuttled underground by train, although the project will not be finished until 2034. Innsbruck airport was very busy and we had to stand in a long queue for passport control, but I have stood in worse queues in the past so I’m not complaining. Once we landed at Edinburgh Airport and said our farewells to Heather and Ewan, it was only a 45 minutes drive to home and a fond reunion with the cats. I had a nice hot bath which made me so sleepy that I dropped off to sleep the minute my head hit the pillow. 
Since the weekend we have had rather dreich weather and have got back into our normal routine including a Children’s Panel training day for me today which required quite a lot of preparation. The training was intense but very practical; such a lot to take in! Our lovely course leader assures us that it will all become like second nature eventually. Tonight we went to another fun quiz night at the Rowantree Inn with Davie and Chanel; we came a respectable fourth.