Summer arrives in Ullapool

We have had such a lovely week in Ullapool with Mitchell and Gosia. They have visited Scotland several times before, but never so far north, so it was a pleasure introducing them to the area. We took them to lots of our old favourite places such as Corrieshalloch Gorge, Inverewe Gardens and Lochinver, and they were enthusiastic and interested in everything. One highlight was going to a concert at the Village Hall by Session A9. Iain and Iris had recommended this Scottish traditional music supergroup to us and they were even better than I had hoped and expected. Mitchell and Gosia loved them too. Every set was excellent and the music was varied and powerful. One of the musicians was sitting very near to the edge of the stage, and was playing his fiddle with such energy that his chair moved closer and closer to the edge until Gosia spotted that he was about to go right over and gestured to warn him just in time. He was very grateful and even blew her a kiss. 
Another highlight was a trip on the Shearwater, where we saw porpoises, lots of seabirds, and two sea eagles flying around near their nest at the top of the cliffs. This was particularly interesting to Gosia and Mitchell because they are keen ornithologists, and they also identified lots of birds at the feeder when we were eating breakfast. 
The weather started a bit grey at the beginning of the week, however the heat wave that was being enjoyed in the south of England gradually pushed its way north and soon we were able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. We enjoyed going down to the harbour to watch the luggers sailing around the loch with their four sided sails. They had gathered in Ullapool for the annual Luggerfest which included music, talks and stalls at the harbour. We bought kippers and watched the ships being piped into the harbour by a kilted bagpiper. We ate in the Ceilidh Place a couple of times and had lunch at the Seafood Shack. On Mitchell’s birthday, Gosia had arranged a surprise; whisky tasting at Glen Ord Distillery for Mitchell and James. They had a great time and Mitchell even got to bottle his own whisky. 
Mitchell and Gosia introduced us to Sequence, a part board, part card game, which was great fun and we played it nearly every night. I have ordered one for ourselves, I think that Davie and Chanel are going to love playing it. On their last day with us we headed through to a very sunny Inverness, where we visited Culloden Battlefield and a brewery in the town centre. We walked along the banks of the River Ness and it was stunningly beautiful. 

The Marriage of Figaro

On Sunday, we went to see The Marriage of Figaro at the Theatre Royal. It started at the early time of 3 p.m. which was just as well because it was about three and a half hours long including the interval. We both thought that it was wonderful. The plot was convoluted and indeed downright silly, but that’s to be expected from Opera. The music and singing however were absolutely sublime. We had seats in the front row which were fantastic because we could see the orchestra as well as the singers. What a great afternoon.
We arrived home in nice time to have a pizza dinner with Davie and Chanel. We had a great chat with them as usual; I find their opinions and knowledge to be very interesting. And we talked about anything and everything, including politics, religion, the Eurovision Song Contest and David Attenborough.
I had lunch with my school pals today at Il Pavone and as usual it was a pleasure to see them. Libby pointed out that in September this year she and I will have been friends for fifty-nine years! I think that we will have to have a special celebration for our diamond friendship anniversary next year. 
Today something happened which affected me much more than I would have expected at my time of life. I had been very pleased and flattered by an invitation which was then rescinded. Well such is life and to quote the film Casablanca, my little hurt feelings “don't amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." 

Simon Evans

It has been a social and pleasant weekend. We met up with Ally and Colin Walker at the Art Gallery on Friday and had lunch in the café. Then on Saturday, we took the train through to Edinburgh and had brunch with Janet and Peter. It’s a while since we’ve seen them and it was really nice to catch up; they’re looking well and were full of the joys. It was a beautiful spring day and we strolled along Princes Street and down to the National Portrait Gallery. We wanted to see the portrait of Alan Cumming because we had recently watched a television programme about how it was painted. It’s by Gibraltar artist Christian Hook, and was painted in 2014, as the winning commission for the  Sky Arts portrait artist of the year. It’s very striking and I thought it looked even better in real life. There were lots of other really interesting portraits of Scottish people, some more my taste than others. 

We then went to the nearby Stand Comedy club, where we met Gordon and Morag for drinks and then watched comedian Simon Evans. I have never seen him before, and I was very impressed and indeed amused. He’s a couple of years younger than us and I thought he was very funny; very intelligent and confident. He seemed just to be telling us stories about his life, but it was really insightful and he made connections between all sorts of things. I would certainly go to see him again. The train was very busy on the way home but we managed to get seats and soon we were home in Cambuslang watching our old favourite, the Eurovision Song Contest. 

A Wee Girl

Yesterday I had a welcome meeting for new panel members in Hamilton, because we are now all officially qualified. Before this I met my former colleague Jennifer for a long overdue coffee in a nearby Starbucks. It was lovely to see her and we had a good chat. I had been thinking about Chanel and David all day. This was because it was Chanel‘s 20 week scan, and as well as checking that everything was okay, they were going to find out the gender of their baby.

A message arrived from Chanel on the family chat while we were still in Starbucks; “All healthy at the scan and baby growing well. Any guesses on gender?” We all started guessing and a short while later the answer arrived: “Girl!” Davie and Chanel even posted a photo of the scan photo sitting on top of a pink baby grow! I exclaimed “It’s a girl!” so loudly that people sitting at other tables in the cafe turned round to look at me and Jennifer was laughing! 

Now, just to be absolutely clear, the main and most important message here was that Baby Anderson is healthy. However, finding out the gender felt very exciting. We already thought of our grandbaby as a real wee person, but knowing that she is a wee girl makes it all feel even more real! A wee boy would of course have been equally welcome, and I would be delighted to welcome some (lots?) more Anderson boys and girls to the family in the future. How fun it is going to be to have a granddaughter! 

Oh dearie me!

We went to see The High Life at the King’s Theatre with Gordon and Morag on Tuesday after at tasty dinner at Cafe Antipasti. 
I watched this Scottish comedy programme in the 1990s, and I loved it. Strangely enough James does not remember it at all. Starring Alan Cumming and Forbes Masson, it’s about two air stewards on a fictional Scottish airline, camping it up and having various nonsensical adventures. They are supported by the eccentric and chaotic Captain played by Patrick Ryecart and terrifying chief stewardess Shona Spurtle, played by Siobhan Redmond. There were only six episodes ever made because shortly afterwards Alan Cumming went to work in America. It was really nice that all four main characters were reunited for this revival. They have made it into a musical and of course sang the catchy original theme tune. It was very funny and we all enjoyed it. 
Recently I accidentally ordered three boxes of tinned pears instead of three tins, which means that we have eighteen tins to use up! James decided that the perfect way to use these would be by adding Angel Delight, an ultra-processed powdered dessert which is whisked with milk to form a delightful mousse in various flavours such as chocolate or even better butterscotch. This was an favourite of ours in the 1980s, but we haven’t eaten it for decades. James secretly purchased a few packets and surprised me this evening with a dessert of tinned pears topped with chocolate Angel Delight; I was transported back to the early days of our marriage in the 1980s in a positively Proustian experience. 

Psychic Cats

We decided to adopt a new strategy when heading from Ullapool to Glasgow today. The cats have become very finely tuned to clues that we are packing up, no matter how subtle we try to be. They then disappear outside and don’t return to the cottage for hours. I can’t blame them because they hate the car journey, even though they seem happy in either of their homes and settle in immediately on arrival. So today I decided that instead of trying to be surreptitious about our departure, we should just pack up blatantly, let the cats do their own thing, and be prepared to set off at any time during the afternoon or even the evening. A plan like this requires two rules: -
a) stick to the plan.
b) hold your nerve. 
By late morning James was breaking both of these rules. When the cats arrived into the house just before lunch time he wanted to set off early, despite the fact that we hadn’t had lunch or finished packing the car. When I let them back out again according to our plan he became quite worried. I hoped that they weren’t picking up on his nervous tone but I think they heard him and stayed away for longer than they otherwise would have. I then made the mistake of trying to pick Tom up as he sauntered past when James and I were sitting outside on the garden benches. Needless to say he gave me the slip and I ended up pointlessly chasing him down the lane. They arrived back at about 5:45 and we quickly set off homewards. In theory our plan had worked because we departed within our target timeframe, but I think we would have been able to set off a bit sooner if we had been more relaxed because Tom and Floof definitely picked up on our intentions.

Phil Kay

Many years ago, maybe about 20 years ago, James and I went to see a Scottish comedian at the Fruitmarket in Glasgow called Phil Kay. He was very funny and his comedy was quite off the wall; rambling stories going off at a tangent. At the time he appeared on television a bit, but we hadn’t heard of him for years. Last weekend we saw in the Ullapool News that he was appearing last night at the Ceilidh Place Venue, and we got ourselves tickets. Well he has got older, but then so have we! Now in his mid fifties Phil Kay was still rambling and often forgot what he was talking about; in fact a guy in the second front row helped him out several times by reminding him! However he was mostly genuinely funny in his anarchic way, and at some moments he was extremely funny! From time to time he would pick up his guitar and improvise a terrible song. It’s pointless to try to describe any of his jokes because they were so weird and he certainly wasn’t to everyone’s taste; a couple of people walked out and quite a few just looked bemused. Those of us who got his humour very much enjoyed ourselves.