Jamie is home

Jamie has a week of annual leave and is spending a few days of it with us. It is, as ever, great to see him. His zest for life amazes me. Since he came home he has been going to the gym, baking (a delicious banana loaf), and taking Grandma to hospital for her eye treatment, as well as cooking our dinner this evening. 

After dinner Jamie suggested that we watch Les Miserables, which I had recorded at Christmas time. It was a great idea, I have seen it several times but had forgotten what a brilliant film it is, with fantastic music. Eddie Redmayne, Hugh Jackman, Samantha Barks, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway - all brilliant actors. It's still better on the stage though; the first time I saw it was at the Edinburgh Playhouse when I was five months pregnant with Alasdair - must have been the autumn of 1993 - and I loved it. 

Mothers' Day Brunch

Mothers' Day when you no longer have a Mum is always a bit strange. However my three beautiful boys all turned up for brunch with us today and that made me feel a lot better. The venue was Bill's in West Nile Street - when we visited Bill's in Southwark three weeks ago we didn't realise that there are about 60 of these restaurants around the UK! So, since we liked it, we chose to go to the Glasgow one today.

It was a really lovely occasion and I was so proud and happy to be with my four favourite boys. Back at the house the boys played a lively tournament of table tennis and we had a relaxing afternoon. The cats napped in the back room, occasionally opening their eyes to watch the boys - I'm sure they also enjoy having them all at home. In the evening we had a curry to round off an excellent day. Jamie is staying with us for a few days but Davie needed to head back to Dundee because he has lectures and labs tomorrow. It wasn't until I gave him a lift to the station that I noticed that he had come home without a jacket - I hated to see him setting off into the cold night without one. Hopefully he is back and cosy in his flat now.

Our version of date night

Every year I need to do a navigation day to be validated as a Duke of Edinburgh leader by the council that I work for. I have to demonstrate that I can still use a compass and map to find my way around the hills, and also that I am fit enough to take groups of pupils out on D of E expeditions. 

Work is so busy that I didn't feel I could go on one of the mid week days this year, so I signed up for a Saturday evening night navigation. But it seemed a bit sad to spend a Saturday evening out hill walking while James (who loves walking much more than I do) sat in the house.

So I asked the organisers if he could come and that's why we have just spent the weirdest Saturday night ever, navigating around in the dark using head torches!

We met the rest of the group at Abington Service station; I knew nearly all of them from previous expeditions and events, they are a pleasant crew and we were soon taking turns leading the group, under the diligent and enthusiastic direction of Ray. We walked around the hills just to the east of the M74 there.

We started at about 5.30 p.m. and walked for five full hours - it got dark quickly. It was rough going; we had to be very accurate with timing and taking bearings because we couldn't see very far even with our head torches. Needless to say I took a tumble and went rolling down the hill at one point but luckily I wasn't hurt. It was such a strange way to spend a Saturday evening but we both really enjoyed it. And that's me validated for another year, hooray! 

Herding cats

This morning James and I took Tom and Ruby for their annual vaccination, as well as a health check, claw clipping and worming / flea prevention drops - a full MOT in fact. But first we had to catch them! James cleverly set the cat flap to "in only" and in due course both kitties appeared in the hall. They were quite relaxed until James produced the cat carrier and then mayhem ensued! Every time we put one of the cats in the carrier the other one would escape and make a run for the cat flap - when we retrieved them the other one would escape. By the time we got them both into the carrier we were out of breath and helpless with laughter.

Off we set in the car, accompanied by dreadful mewling from the back seat. At the vet's both were quite quiet, but wide eyed and unhappy. I'm glad to report that both are in splendid health, and that they weigh exactly the same now - who would have thought a year ago that tiny rat-tailed Ruby would completely catch up with Tom in size? Back home, both cats took themselves up to our bed for a quick nap after their emotional trauma, but they are now striding around in the garden, patrolling their territory in good spirits.

Another evening at another book club

I was at my local book club this evening. I'm sure that I have explained before on my blog that I am lucky enough to attend two book clubs - this local one for about 20 years! There are so many book clubs now but this one was quite an early one and I'm quite proud that we have been meeting for so long. My other EK book club has been meeting for a mere 12 years - still good going though!

This evening we were discussing The Pumpkin Eaters by Penelope Mortimer, which I loved, and we had an excellent chat about it. What a nice bunch of girls they all are; I always come away from an evening at book club feeling inspired by all the interesting things that they get up to. 

Late to book club

This evening I set off cheerfully to my EK book club, which was being held at an Italian restaurant. I assumed that I knew where the venue was, and it wasn't until I got there that I realised that I had been thinking of a different Italian restaurant! After a quick consultation with my iPhone maps and another five minutes of driving I arrived at the correct place, and was relieved to be reunited with my book club chums. A pleasant evening was made even better by the lovely news of Rosemary's engagement. I am just so delighted for her; she is a wonderful lady and deserves this happiness. We spent the evening chatting about all sorts of things - even books! 

Tattoos

Whilst flicking through the tv channels, I have discovered a new (to me, I think it's already in its second series) programme called Tattoo Fixers. I am amazed.

The programme consists of three young tattoo artists who fix up terrible tattoos that their customers have inadvisably and impulsively had inflicted upon themselves in the past. Strong drink seems to have often been a factor in these previous tattoos and the customers often relate cheerfully that they don't remember getting the tattoos at all. Sometimes the tattoos are simply badly done, such as the picture of a baby's hand which a young Mum had wanted, which unfortunately had turned out like a scary, wrinkly old hand. Or they may bring back memories of a past relationship, now best forgotten, except for the tattoo which is of course still there. And some tattoos are truly embarrassing, like that of a football fan who had a tattoo done of a stick figure football fan urinating onto a football shirt from the opposing team.

So in come the hapless customers to the Tattoo Fixers studio where they are greeted by a chirpy receptionist who chummily joins in all of the consultations. After the tattoo artists and receptionist gasp in horror at the dreadful tattoo (we always see their open-mouthed reactions before we see the actual tattoo) they have a scarily brief consultation, do a few sketches, and set about covering up the offending tattoo - and here's what makes this programme great - with an even WORSE tattoo. 

Aye there's the rub. In order to cover up the original "artwork" the new tattoo has to be quite big - and the tattoo artists (who are well festooned with tattoos themselves) are not shy about making it very big indeed! Bigger, I think, than it needs to be.

Big and solid, with dark colours. The designs I saw this week included a wolf's head howling at the moon, a coiled up snake, and a bizarre deaths head surrounded by roses. I almost preferred the urinating football player! Well not really, but the huge tattoos on this programme are, in my opinion, very ugly. I don't have a tattoo myself although I have considered it, so I'm not against tattoos per se, and I have seen tattoos that look very attractive. But not these ones!

The customers invariably say that they love their new tattoos, but I'm not so sure; I think I can see some of them flinching when they look in the mirror. Then they quickly adjust their shocked features into a big smile. I watched the programme in absolute fascination and can't wait to tune in again.