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. 

Fantastic Holiday

We are relaxing in the hotel lounge this morning, in that strange limbo of waiting for our lunchtime coach to Innsbruck Airport. It is snowing heavily outside and looks very pretty. Thursday was James’ 64th birthday and what a great day he had. He received cards and presents at breakfast as well as some birthday messages, and then set off happily for a long and sunny morning of skiing with Heather and Ewan. We all had a late lunch at the Luigi Gorza Refuge at Porto Vascara way above the village at 2478 metres high. Our table by the window overlooked the stunning Dolomites with the Alps of Austria in the distance. The food was very special as was the company, it was a joyful occasion. After lunch we took photos of the mountains from the terrace, and one of the waiters kindly took some good photos of the four of us. We had a lovely rustic dinner of “local” Val Gardena food, which was great but perhaps a few too many grains and pulses for me, especially after the huge bowl of polenta that I had at lunchtime! My stomach felt very full! The food in the hotel is excellent and I will miss it. 

My knee finally gave out after four (short!) days of skiing, so I amused myself by strolling around the village and having coffees and reading my book (House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende) and enjoying the scenery. Although a bit disappointing, four days isn’t bad and hopefully I have not quite yet reached the end of my skiing years! On the other hand James, Heather and Ewan all skied for an impressive six full days. The weather has been so fantastic, it has been such a good holiday. 

Pink Dolomites

My second and third ski lessons went well in terms of technique, however my knee continued to be very sore. I was not downhearted however, and still had fun and enjoyed the sunshine and snow. The scenery in the Dolomites is just amazing and the mountains above Arabba glowed pink in the sun. James, Heather and Ewan continued touring the area and covering huge distances. Heather showed me their route on the Strava App which is very impressive, there is an option to animate the route so you can see the cursor moving along all of the lifts and pistes that they skied, you can even see the line wiggle down the steeper slopes where more turns were required! Today I took the gondola up to the mid station at Porta Vescova after my ski lesson and had a coffee and croissant surrounded by mountains. It was really warm sitting outside in the sunshine but then the sun moved behind a cliff and it suddenly became very cold! The others arrived back about an hour after me and following some après-ski drinks, Heather and I went to the hotel spa and chatted while relaxing our legs in the jacuzzi before another delicious dinner. 

Sunshine and snow

A much better ski day for me today! I met up with my pleasant ski instructor, Federico, in the morning and we spent two hours on the blue run practising my turns. I felt more confident although my knee still isn’t great. Most of all I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I’m so delighted still to be skiing. Federico is 24 and has a cat called Osvaldo known as Ossie. The weather is fantastic, with sun and blue skies. Meanwhile James, Heather and Ewan skied the Sella Ronda including a stop at the famous woodcarving shop where Heather purchased another hand-carved deer for her collection. To my surprise they got presents for me too. James gave me a cute round-bellied marmot and Heather and Ewan got me a gorgeous little kitten. Both of these were hand-carved in Val Gardena from pine wood, so you can see the grain of the wood. I felt very moved that they all thought of me. Another great evening ensued.