La Traviata

Last night James, Ally and I went to see Verdi's La Traviata at the Theatre Royal. We had really good seats at the front of the balcony, which is very high up but gave a great view down into the orchestra as well as the stage. Oh it was fantastic! All of the singers were excellent; however Anush Hovhannisyan, who played Violetta, was the absolute star - she was central to every scene and her voice is beautiful. My favourite song was Brindisi (the drinking song), what a lovely melody. I also loved the stunning declaration of love "Amami Alfredo" in the second Act. At the second interval (the opera is nearly three hours long!) we went outside onto the terrace and were rewarded with fine views over the centre of Glasgow, its lights shining in the darkness.

Floof

Another very important thing that has happened recently at Casa Anderson is the arrival of our new kitten Flora, also known as Floof. She is very small but already has a huge personality. She is white at the front with tabby patches on her head and back; she has very attractive markings around her eyes and a wee freckle on her nose. She is good-natured, very lively, and curious about everything around her. We had been intending to get a new female kitten for a while and decided to wait until after our weekend in Nice so that we would be mainly at home in her early months to take care of her. I saw an advertisement for kittens on Gumtree and drove down to a farm in Ayrshire (on 10th October) and picked up our kitty. I liked the name Floof but I wanted her to have a "proper" name too and Flora seemed to suit her. So her name is Flora Anderson and her nickname is Floof.

I took her to the vet to get checked over and she said that she was in good health but only about 7 weeks old - so she must have been born about the 24th August. 

The main reason for getting Flora was for her to be a companion to Tom. He really was puzzled and lonely after Ruby died in January; they had spent so much time together and were very close. Needless to say, it hasn't worked out quite as straightforwardly as I hoped. Tom was pretty horrified at the introduction of another cat to the house. He hasn't attacked Flora I'm glad to say (apart from batting at her with his paw once or twice), but he stares at her disapprovingly and hisses at her from time to time. And he tends to leave the room that she is in as soon as possible. This is a shame because she adores him!

Two weeks on there has been some progress. We haven't forced them together and Tom is able to go outside at will, which Flora is too young for yet - this gives Tom space and time away from her. Also, for the time being, we put Floof into the living room at bed time so that Tom has the rest of the house to himself at night. As a result he is becoming a bit more tolerant of her overtures of friendship (she is absolutely fascinated by him!) and has even licked her head once or twice. She is so sweet, capering about and playing with her wee cat toys; I'm hopeful that he will not only get used to her but even grow to enjoy her company. We got a plug-in diffuser from a pet shop which apparently emits pheromones that make cats more friendly with each other so perhaps that has helped. And we keep making a fuss of Tom so that he knows that he is our number one cat! 

Au revoir Provence

On Sunday morning (the 24th September) we arranged flights home to see Grandma - and it was just as well that we did because she was very unwell both before and after her operation which took place on the Wednesday.

However the first flight that we could get wouldn't leave until the evening - so we still had a whole day to spend on the Côte d"Azur. The four of us went for a walk along the Promenade des Anglais, which is very wide and elegant in a sweeping curve around the bay. When I saw armed police officers patrolling I remembered that only 14 months ago on Bastille Day 2016 it was here that eighty-six people were killed by a terrorist driving a truck into the crowd. So senseless and cruel. There was no trace of what had happened on this peaceful Sunday morning as we strolled along in the sunshine. We continued to the harbour where we stopped for drinks. Heather and Ewan fancied walking to Villefranche sur Mer which is in the next bay round a headland - but it was already nearly lunch time so we were getting short of time. What to do? Suddenly (and somewhat extravagantly) I had an inspired idea! The café owner directed us to a nearby taxi rank and we jumped into a waiting cab and sped off to our destination. And I was very glad that we went there. Villefranche sur Mer is a gorgeous little fishing village turned tourist destination which is well worth a visit. The taxi driver was a lovely friendly man who took us to a viewpoint above the village and also took us past Elton John's house - not that we could see much due to the high hedges. The taxi driver said that, being high on the headland, the property has views over both Nice and Villefranche sur Mer! When we arrived at the sea front we had lunch in La Mère Germaine, a very classy and traditional French seafood restaurant with crisp white tablecloths, gleaming cutlery and glassware. We were given a great table just inside at the window, overlooking the harbour. It was rather pricey but I loved how traditional it was and the food was excellent. I was chatting to the owner who is the grandson of founder Mme Germaine, and he introduced me to his son who works behind the bar and is the fourth generation of the family to work there! Replete after our lunch we went for a walk along the front and then up into the old town, which is quaint and beautiful. We had a lovely afternoon, and bought some locally made soaps which were deliciously scented; verveine, mimosa and lavender. All too soon we had to bid farewell to Heather and Ewan and head to Nice Airport for the journey home. It was a wonderful weekend in great company and there is still so much more to see in the area - I do hope that we will visit the Côte d"Azur again some day. 

Very Nice to be in Nice

At the end of September we went to Nice with Heather and Ewan. It was fantastic. My main memories of the weekend are of the fun we had and the colours and beauty of the area. Our hotel (booked by Heather and Ewan) was ideally situated; a short walk from the picturesque old town of Nice and also handy for the train station. This was very important because Nice has an amazing train line that connects it to many other beautiful destinations nearby. It rained torrentially on the evening that we arrived; as we sat in a bar for a celebratory beverage we were entertained by watching the scantily clad locals running for shelter. However we were gratified that the next morning - and indeed the rest of the weekend - it was increasingly warm and sunny. 

On the Saturday morning we found ourselves on the twenty minute train journey to Monte Carlo! Ah Monaco! It's just as glamorous and romantic as I imagined! I could just picture a young Princess Grace walking through the streets. We had an unfeasibly expensive drink in the Café de Paris but the setting was glorious - just opposite the Casino where luxurious cars were rolling up. We were certainly mingling with the "beautiful people" and noticed a preponderance of Hermes scarves and floppy hair. We wandered around the tiny city happily and visited the Royal Palace with its impeccably turned out guards dressed all in white. Heather and I went for a swim in the Stade Nautique Rainier III - it's the municipal pool so it's cheap to get in but what a setting! The bright blue heated seawater pool is right in the centre above the front so apparently it has a good view of the Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix each May. It was so fun to swim with Heather in this beautiful swimming pool with the hills and city of Monte Carlo around and above us while the boys had a beer in the adjoining café. What a brilliant experience. 

We decided to walk back into France to the little town of Cap d'Ail, which took about an hour out of the city and then along a very attractive coastal path. And because it's only one stop back along the railway line we were able to jump on a train back to Nice. 

We had dinner that evening in Le Panier, a very friendly wee restaurant in the old town of Nice. We sat outside at one of the pavement tables in the warm evening; it was hard to believe that it was so warm at the end of September. The food was fresh and local and absolutely delicious. Unfortunately by the end of the meal the news about Grandma's fall reached us by phone from Alasdair, and James and I realised that we would have to go home early. We couldn't make any arrangements until the morning so we went to a bar in the lively Cours Saleya for drinks and chat, already plotting to return to the Côte d'Azur in the not too distant future. 

Grandma's big fall

I haven’t blogged for a while and I don’t even know why. In the past I have had a few breaks from blogging due to stress (usually at work), but that is certainly not the case just now. In fact I am very happy with my two days a week of supply teaching. When I decided not to go back to school in August, Jackie recruited me to improve the Literacy curriculum in her school. It’s fun and interesting and the other teachers are very pleasant. Life has been busy, but then it always is, so that’s not the reason. I think that I have simply fallen out of the habit of blogging, and it remains to be seen whether I can get back into it!

So many things happen that I think, “Oh I must blog about this!” So to catch up I shall write a blog or three about what’s been happening recently. 

The main thing that has been going on in the world of Anderson is that unfortunately Grandma fell down her back stairs into the garden on 23rd September; she was on the way to the cellar to fetch a rake and slipped down the last few steps. Her next door neighbours heard her shouting – it was just as well that they were outside in their garden at the time. We were in Nice for the weekend at the time (see next blog!) but thank goodness Alasdair was at home, with Cat visiting him from London, so the neighbours were able to contact him and Ally and Cat went round straight away. Despite Grandma being 88 years old and in a great deal of pain she was allocated "low priority" by the doctor from NHS 24 and it took more than eight hours for an ambulance to arrive. It must have been awful for Grandma, and Ally and Cat were fanstastic, taking care of her and keeping us up to date as we waited anxiously in France. They saved her life.

So much for their romantic weekend together! Anyway as the hours passed Alasdair phoned the NHS 24 111 service again and asked if he should give Grandma her usual evening medication. This includes Warfaron, which thins the blood. They said yes, which we found out later was completely the wrong advice when they had no idea whether her injury would require an operation.

By the time she was taken to hospital, x-rayed and taken to a ward it was about 10.30 in the morning – more than seventeen hours after Ally called NHS 24. And indeed it turned out that she had a broken hip. However she was not able to have an operation for another three days because she had to wait for the blood thinning medication to pass out of her system. So annoying - and dangerous for her. 

After the operation she was really poorly, and the doctors told us that she might not pull through. Davie and Chanel visited her several times from Dundee, and Jamie then flew home from New Zealand to see her. I must admit that, even though he came home for a very serious situation, it was wonderful to see him! Grandma has now started to recover, I’m very glad to say. Jamie, Alasdair and Davie have been absolutely devoted to her and have visited her constantly; I’m extremely proud of them. Jamie also liaised closely with her doctors while he was here (he flew back to New Zealand on Saturday.) We have all been doing our best to amuse her and cheer her up but she is feeling very low, because her recovery is very slow. It is a bit concerning that she is not able to walk with a zimmer yet more than three weeks after her operation; most of the other elderly ladies on her ward are making much quicker progress than her, probably due to her age. However she gets physiotherapy every day and is now learning to stand and to move from her bed to the chair. So Grandma is our principal priority and concern just now, but lots of other things have been happening too .... 

Glorious

It is a glorious Autumn morning. The sky is a soft, cloudless blue and the sun is shining, however there is a slight chill in the air which highlights the change of season. The leaves are beginning to fall and the grass in the back garden has a sprinkling of pears which have fallen from the trees. Autumn was my Mum's favourite season so it's appropriate it is such a beautiful day on her birthday. She would have been 86 today and I miss her.
We had a fantastic weekend at Alison and Hugh's. They are now living full time in Boat of Garten until they decide where to live permanently, and it was great to see them. The weather was mixed but that didn't hold us back from enjoying ourselves! Alison and I went swimming on Saturday morning while Hugh took Hermes to the vet. He recently had an unfortunate and violent encounter with an unidentified member of the local wildlife, and was badly bitten and bruised, however I'm glad to say that he is responding well to antibiotics. He is very sleepy as he recovers. Oscar was in good form though, and he was hilarious as he made it clear that he didn't want me to sit on "his" couch! If a stern look wasn't enough to make me move, he got down disappointedly from the couch and then tried the other couches, none of which were quite right, and then came back to his preferred place of relaxation and looked up at me very reproachfully until I took the hint. He has such expressive amber eyes and of course I obeyed him! 

In the afternoon we went for a jaunt to Elgin where we visited the delightful (and very expensive!) Johnston's of Elgin which is famous for its cashmere. After a good browse around, James treated me to a gorgeous cardigan in a natural stone colour - it's so soft! We had coffee and cake in their pleasant tearoom before heading back. Dinner was at our favourite - Anderson's restaurant - and as usual the food was delicious. I was very glad of the walk back to the cottage to help me to digest the copious amount of food that I had consumed. 
Sunday was a lot brighter and we decided to go for a walk near Kingussie. We were so lucky because we could see rain clouds on the hills nearby but apart from the briefest of showers we remained dry. After labouring up 300 metres to a lovely viewpoint I decided to retrace my steps while the others went on a longer circuit. I thoroughly enjoyed striding downwards through the heather until I stepped into a hole and went flying through the air. I managed to twist my ankle and was very glad of my walking poles (which James had insisted I use) as I hobbled down the hill. I am so clumsy. Not long after I got back to Ruthven Barracks, where the car was parked, the others arrived and we headed back to Boat of Garten for a coffee before James and I set off southwards. When we got home I felt the need for a large donner kebab. I enjoyed scoffing it but as usual I soon regretted it due to my delicate digestive system. 

Health and well-being

I'm back! My last post was written at the end of our fantastic holiday to New Zealand. Since then I have been going through a rather unsettling period of change. I don't mean that something terrible has happened; in fact the opposite! I can't blog about it in detail because it's confidential which of course means that it's work related, but basically I had to say no to going back to school to cover part of a timetable after my retirement, because the conditions did not suit me at all. And it's not easy for me to say no!

But my life has much more in it than work, and at the moment I'm concentrating on improving my health and fitness. A healthy mind in a healthy body and all that!

So I have been swimming - a lot! At least three times a week. It's interesting watching all the different people who use my local swimming pool during week days. There is a usually a group of about ten male pensioners who occupy the shallow end and occasionally use the sauna or sit on the chairs beside the pool. They are in truly terrible shape with gigantic tummies. What is remarkable about them is that they do absolutely no swimming or exercise at all. I presume that their doctors have ordered them to go to the swimming pool but have not made it clear that they need to swim once they get there! The female pensioners are much more conscientious. They dutifully swim up and down the pool, as do I. The faster swimmers are very serious with swim caps and goggles, and they lash up and down the lanes until these are changed into an area for school pupils to get lessons. The pupils are very noisy but it's nice to see them enjoying the water. The young swimming teachers are very grim and shouty though, I was watching one of them and she didn't crack a smile the whole time. 

Imagine my surprise on Wednesday when the class that came in for a lesson was from the school I left a year ago! I swam over to say hello and one of the pupils immediately said "Mrs S Anderson - born on New Year's Eve!" These are my people! I set up those swim sessions years ago and used to go with them every week - it felt a bit strange not being part of it any more. Then when I was getting changed in one of the cubicle I heard a couple of the teachers talking about me - they didn't know that I was still in the changing area. Luckily they sounded quite affectionate about me!