Fiarach

Alasdair and David persuaded me to give them a lift to Crianlarich on Tuesday because they were keen to bag a couple of Munros. I was pleased to do so; I am glad that they like hill-walking and delighted that they enjoy each other's company. How would I spend the day? (My fitness level, although recently improved, cannot match the walking speed of my sons!)
I thought about going for a low level walk, however James suggested that I have a go at Fiarach, a "Graham" at Dalrigh, just south of Tyndrum. A Graham is a hill in Scotland which is between 2000 and 2499 feet high (609.6 and 762 metres). Now, any hill walk makes me a bit nervous because I have a long history of being rubbish at walking up hills. My fitness is never what I want it to be and when walking with my family I am always the slowest walker. On a low level route I can keep up fine; the problem arises when I walk uphill. I overheat, get out of breath, worry about slowing down the group, and panic in anticipation of failure. I usually do manage to ascend the hill, but the accompanying anguish almost outweighs the euphoria of reaching the top. I don't know which is the bigger problem; my lack of fitness or my lack of confidence.
However I quite liked the idea of going up a hill on my own. Fiarach is 662 metres, but the amount of ascent was only about 500 metres so not too challenging. And I was attracted by the idea of going at my own pace and not holding anyone else up. Often James gets cold while waiting for me to catch up, and if I have a rest he looks at his watch and sighs heavily. I know he's not doing this to make me feel anxious, however that's how I end up feeling. So when we go walking with the hill-walking club I always go with the "low level" group and find it much more enjoyable.
So on Tuesday Ally, Davie and I set off at eight and the boys headed off on their walk from Beinn Glas farm at 9.30. They were going to climb Beinn Chabhair and Beinn a Chroin. I had a quick coffee before driving the few miles up the road to park the car at Dalrigh. After much scrutinising of the map to make sure that I took the correct path, I was soon on my way. The weather was glorious; sunny with a light breeze. The countryside looked lovely and two Hercules transporters flew low overhead as I walked along in Gleann Auchreoch. There were beautiful waterfalls, sheep with their lambs, and I saw three deer grazing at the edge of the forest. As the ground became steeper I just took my time, resting when I felt the need, and enjoying the views of Tyndrum and all the surrounding hills and mountains. It took me two and a half hours to get to the top including stops, but I was in no hurry and had a great time. I had lunch at the top and I felt very peaceful. On the way down I was surprised at how steep the hill seemed - I had to zig zag down some parts so that I didn't slip. Inevitably I fell down a hole full of mud at one point but it didn't dampen my spirits - although it did dampen my trousers and boots! I picked up drinks and ice creams from the Green Welly at Tyndrum then I collected the boys from our assigned meeting place at a lay by near Crianlarich. They were tired but very happy. It was an excellent day.

Sitting Oot

Well this is rather lovely. I am sitting in the garden in warm evening sunlight with my husband at my side. I think it's the first time we have sat outside this year. And it's warm enough that I am wearing a t shirt with no jumper. Jack is sitting on a cushion at our feet enjoying the heat of the sun on his furry back.

Jack's health has much improved although he is still on three different types of antibiotics and he still needs to be seen by the vet every few days. He now also has an irregular heartbeat which may or may not be connected to the infection behind his eye - on our last but one visit the vet said that his wee heart was "having a party in his rib cage" So he is now on diuretics to clear fluid from outside his lungs and he seems to be doing well. To see him sitting in the sunshine in his garden you wouldn't think that there has been anything the matter with him. 

Davie and I had lunch in town today (TGIF of course!) and did some clothes shopping for him and got him a much needed haircut. I was struck by how pleasant and intelligent David's company is, we chatted and laughed and talked about everything from music to politics. Now tea is ready (chicken with pesto and pasta) so I must go inside to serve it out.

Alasdair Gray at Aye Write

Heather and Ewan had asked me a couple of months ago if I could book our annual outing to Aye Write because the tickets would come out during their holiday in America. It was with a great sense of responsibility that I scoured the brochure to book some interesting authors. Actually my choice was limited by available dates (we were away last weekend) and suitable times, so I didn't have too much difficulty plumping for veteran writer and artist Alasdair Gray at 4.30 p.m. on Saturday, which would give us time to have something to eat before going to see Frankie Boyle talking about his favourite books at 7.30 p.m.
The venue was as usual the Mitchell Library and we had a quick coffee there before the first event. Alasdair Gray is rather a hero of mine because I found his book "Lanark" to be initially very challenging and ultimately absolutely brilliant. It really is a masterpiece. My other interest in him is that he was at Glasgow School of Art at the same time as my Mum, and she told me that he once danced with her. He is nearly eighty and has a very endearing and self-deprecating speaking style, I enjoyed his talk about people who have influenced his life.
At the end we joined the queue to buy his book "Of Me and Others" and get it signed; I was keen to speak to him so the others kindly offered to go ahead and order our curry at Mr Singh's. The queue moved rather slowly but when I eventually reached Alasdair Gray I summoned up my courage and asked him if he remembered a compliment that he had paid my Mum which I thought was about alabaster and honey (I presume referring to her pale skin and blonde hair).
"Oh yes", he said, "but I said "marble and honey", and I went on to use the description in my book Lanark." He said that he did remember Mum who was tall and blonde, and her smaller dark-haired friend. I then asked him if he had said the same thing to other girls. "No," said Alasdair Gray firmly, "only to the one girl." He then explained that he had danced with Mum at his first Art School ball in 1952; he felt that she and her friend were toying with him by paying him attention but that he had rather enjoyed it. He told her while dancing "You are like marble and honey." and she said "Am I?" He then asked me if she had died and when I said yes he said "Damn it, it keeps happening."
He was so sweet and pleasant to me, and I was amazed that he remembered my Mum so well. He signed his book, which I will give to Jennifer for her birthday, with a lovely dedication which I will not write on my blog yet because I want it to be a surprise for her.
I rushed round to join the others for our curry and apologised for my lateness but they were all very excited for my about what had happened. The curry was absolutely delicious; it's a top restaurant and the staff were very friendly.
Back round to the Mitchell Library we went to see Frankie Boyle. He was interviewed by a BBC Scotland reporter about his five favourite books and I enjoyed what he had to say. I felt that he found the format a little unusual and sometimes veered into his more usual "stand-up" style he was entertaining and I will check out a couple of the books that he recommended, in particular the biography of Philip K Dick. We repaired to the Black Sparrow for a couple of drinks and a chat before heading home.
It was a perfect evening.

Orkney in April Part Two

We spent our third day in Orkney going for another walk, this time to the north-east of the mainland to Mull Head. We were lucky to have another dry day, and it was less windy than the day before although it was a bit hazy and therefore the colours were less bright. We visited the Gloup which is a "geo" (a narrow and deep cleft in the face of a cliff). In this case it is also a collapsed sea cave which makes it extra long and spectacular. We then followed the coastline round to the Brough of Deerness which is nearly a separate island, reached by descending a set of steep steps down the cliff face to a rocky shore and then back up equally steep steps to a grass topped rock. On the top are the remains of a tiny Norse chapel where we left a coin as an offering before tackling the slippery steps again. We walked on to the Covenanters' memorial and then turned inland to walk along country lanes back to the car park, a total walk of about 9 km.
We went back to Kirkwall where we had lunch in the Real Food Cafe at the back of Judith Glue's before heading back to the airport for our 3.20 p.m. flight.
When we got home David had kindly made the dinner and Jack was looking good (Davie had conscientiously given him his pills while we were away). We watched the first episode of Game of Thrones Season 4 - I wore a Targaryen t-shirt that I had specially purchased for the occasion!

Orkney in April

James and I went to Orkney for a few days earlier this week. The timing could not have been better. It had taken most of the weekend for me to wind down from work, and on Monday morning I boarded the flight to Kirkwall in good spirits.
And the three days were an absolute dream. We took the bus from Kirkwall airport into the town, a journey that we expected to take about ten minutes. However we didn't realise that the bus would wend its way for half an hour all around what seemed like every street in town, picking up and depositing passengers who were all on intimate terms with the friendly bus driver, before she eventually shouted to us that we had arrived at our hotel.
After checking in we went for stroll round the centre of Kirkwall, including a visit to St Magnus Cathedral, where I showed James the memorial to my favourite Arctic explorer, John Rae. It's a great memorial; Rae looks as if he is just having a nap, stretched out comfortably with his hands clasped behind his head and his rifle at his side. The we set off on a pleasant circular walk to Inganess beach which was a nice way to stretch our legs and get some fresh air after the journey. We had dinner in the Shore Restaurant which was excellent (scallops, mmm!) Then we had a post dinner drink in the cosy bar upstairs in our hotel.
The next morning we picked up our hire car and headed to Marwick Head, from where we walked to the Brough of Birsay and back, a return trip of 16 km. It was quite windy, and as we climbed up towards the Kitchener War Memorial we saw a rain cloud approaching across the sea with sheets of rain trailing from it. We thought it would miss us but we got caught by the edge of it and suddenly had to scramble to put on our waterproof trousers. I ran ahead to take shelter from the squall behind the memorial, and was surprised and then concerned as the minutes passed with no sign of James, who had been right behind me. I began to worry; the wind had increased when the rain shower arrived and we had been right at the edge of the cliffs...
I set off back down the path to look for him, and soon saw his familiar figure approaching; it turned out that his GPS had fallen out of his pocket and he had to go back to look for it. So all was well!
The rain soon stopped and the sun came out; the colours of the sea and sky were very vivid after the rain. It was a beautiful walk and we chatted as we strode along the cliffs and beach. When we got to the Brough we couldn't cross the causeway because of maintenance work but we were delighted to find a snack van in the little car park, where I purchased an excellent cup of coffee to drink in the sunshine. I cannot express the pleasure that this gave me - I wish a magic snack bar could appear at the furthest point of every walk! The return journey was also very pleasant; the were lots of seagulls nesting in crevices in the cliffs, and lots of oystercatchers. James also spotted a pair of gorgeous shelducks with their distinctive black, white and brown plumage. Later we went for another coffee (and a cheese scone) at the Skara Brae visitor centre, and a stroll around Stromness.
Dinner was taken at Helgi's, a lovely pub with great food and a friendly atmosphere. And then it was time to head back to our hotel bar for a nightcap, where we were talking to the owners who had just arrived back that day from a wedding in Belfast, they were chatting about their plans for the hotel and told us that they have a busy season ahead.

Bonus time

Jack has had health problems this week and it has been very scary. He is an old boy now at sixteen and a half years old, and he has been on medication for his kidneys for several years and for the last couple of months his back legs have been very weak due to arthritis. However he still seems happy and I have been hoping that he will have a great spring and summer in his garden. He loves his garden.

Last weekend he had a sore eye. This is nothing unusual because he still has fights with other cats and over the years he has had a few infected lumps on his face which have required antibiotics. Or he could have scraped his eye on a twig while going through the hedge. However his eye quickly grew worse and actually started to protrude, and his wee skull looked misshapen. It was Davie who noticed first how bad it was getting. We were going to take him to the vet on Wednesday but on Tuesday evening he looked so ill that we called the vet's emergency number and took him over to the vet school at 11 p.m. I wasn't that impressed. The consulting room was a bit dirty, and the vets, although pleasant, didn't really find anything wrong - I persuaded them to give him an antibiotic injection because this has worked for him in the past. Poor James was exhausted, having been up since 5 a.m. to fly to London.

By the morning Jack looked terrible. His whole head was swollen, his eye was protruding, his mouth was open with his tongue hanging out and he was groaning if he was touched. I took him straight to the vet's before work and we saw a fantastic vet called Gail. She immediately suggested that Jack either has a brain tumour or an abscess behind and just below his right eye. She gave him painkillers straight away (why didn't the vet school do that?) and kept him in to investigate and take biopsies under general anaesthetic. James collected Jack at the end of the day. He was really groggy because he had been pumped full of painkillers and antibiotics, but was no longer groaning with pain. By the time we took him back to see Gail the next day (James came straight from the airport to meet us at the vet's!) there was a remarkable improvement! His eye was properly back in its socket, most of the swelling on his head was gone, and he has been eating and drinking copiously. Gail is still not sure whether it is an abscess or a tumour, but she was surprised and pleased at his progress. 

Jack is not out of the woods yet, it still might be a tumour, in which case we will have a sad decision to make. But actually it would not be difficult because we will be putting Jack's welfare first and we do not intend him to suffer. On the other hand it might be an abscess from which he could recover. The biopsy results are due next week. 

The important thing is that Jack is definitely not suffering just now. He is back to his relaxed and happy self; eating, drinking, grooming himself, lounging around luxuriantly, jumping up on the couches with no difficulty, purring when we pat him. But whatever the results next week, this has reminded us that Jack is definitely on bonus time. 

Time for reflection

The last week of this long term has been very tiring for a myriad of reasons. It has probably been the hardest term that I have ever had, and yet there were also very positive aspects; I learned a lot and used my management skills to sort out some things that I inherited that badly needed sorted. And it worked too! But although the end of term was pleasant I felt a bit down last night, not the euphoria that I had expected!
This could have been something to do with Jack's illness this week which I will blog about separately.
More likely it feels like an anti-climax because I have worked so hard to make everything go well, and I have reached the finish line and now I just feel so tired. In the evening Cat treated us to an ice climbing session at Xscape (now mysteriously named "Soar Intu") to celebrate the end of term, and we had a great time. I elected to spectate from the coffee bar while reading my book, which suited me just fine. The climbers all had a great but exhausting time and then we all had a convivial dinner in TGIF.
This morning I was still thinking about work a bit, and then I happened to phone Jennifer. Jennifer is always kind and pleasant to me, but during the course of the phone call I realised that I have been incredibly neglectful of her recently. She was in very close contact with me during the difficult time I had in February, and as soon as I felt a bit better what did I do? I stopped phoning so often. I felt so ashamed of myself and hot tears started sliding out of the corners of my eyes, which was strange because I cry very, very rarely. I can only describe it as a feeling of incredible sadness.
As soon as I got off the phone I texted an apology and needless to say received a kind response which I did not deserve. So I am going to spend this much anticipated spring break taking a long hard look at myself and trying to get my priorities right. I am lucky enough to have some great people in my life so I should appreciate them.