2nd concert in 2 days! Real Music this time. LOL

Friday  9^th May.

I think my engagements calendar needs sorting out; two concerts in two days do seem rather like bad planning to me. I have form for doing this sort of thing, though, and it isn’t really my fault if there are things I would like to attend in close proximity. I blame the people who organise these events for not being familiar with my tastes and thus messing up!

OK, the Yes concert was probably something, in the usual scheme of things, I would have ignored if it wasn’t for Dad wanting to see them and offering to buy us tickets too. Now the Moscow Philharmonic is much more on my radar and was, in fact, the penultimate concert of the 2013/14 International Concert season at the City Hall. We have been to all but one of these performances (incidentally, so has my immediate ‘boss’ from work, Mrs Briggs) and will probably do the same again for the next season.

I know that my Dad (maybe Mum too) thought my taking to listening to Classical Music was a mere affectation from my childhood. Once they realised I was serious and was actually saving my pocket money to buy Classical Music CDs they sort of looked upon it as my preferred choice in music. They probably attributed it to my precocity. (I could read when I was three, for example.) It did set me apart from my peers and made me different and apart from them, which (to be honest) I have actively cultivated all my life. I have always refused to be part of the herd.

Tonight’s performance was a programme of Russian greats as you might expect, given whom the performers were, we had Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rimsky-Korsakov. Played with great gusto and obvious feeling. We were treated to Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty; Shostakovich’s  Cello Concerto No.1 and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sheherazade. I knew the Tchaikovsky and the Rimsky-Korsakov but I had not heard the Cello Concerto before. It was very good indeed. I do like the Cello though, my favourite piece being Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei” (I may have spelt that wrong!)

The Tchaikovsky was so beautiful, lyrical and poignant yet exuberant at the end and the Rimsky-Korsakov is just a masterpiece. I know this one very well having played it to death as a child, along with Moussorgsky’s “Night on a Bald Mountain”. I guess I love loud, brash, joyous pieces. That’s probably why I love Beethoven so much. He does loud, brash and exuberantly joyous extremely well.

We did meet up with Mrs Briggs in the bar during the interval and she was impressed by what she had heard. I wasn’t sure whether, owing to the current Ukraine crisis, we ought to have boycotted the event. We talked about this and decided the actions of their president didn’t have any bearing on the concert and to have not gone would have been spiting ourselves rather than making any difference to the situation.

What was surprising was her reaction to my outfit for the evening; I was wearing what I had worn to the Yes concert on Wednesday (slight change obviously for the top and my underwear). I had a pair of dungaree shorts on, a yellow crop top and Dad’s leather biker jacket. I had wedge espadrilles on my feet rather than the sex on legs, stiletto ankle boots from Wednesday. Mrs B thought it was a good job that Christopher hadn’t been there or he’d have been drooling at me. I wasn’t sure whether she was joking or not; or even if it was a compliment or not. Certainly I attracted a lot of glances on Wednesday whilst wearing the dungarees, in fact one drongo came over when we were chatting with Poppy and asked if he could buy me a drink!

I am not averse to displaying my legs and midriff while I still have a midriff that stands scrutiny and I know my legs are probably my most attractive feature. Laura was also in legs on view mode in a bright red mini dress and my denim bolero jacket, so I guess there was a feast of female limbs on display for all to ogle. There are times, like this, when I wish I hadn’t taken out my belly button piercing – as it would have looked so cool. However, I was such a dork at times with it that I kept catching it on my clothes and it just drove me to distraction in the end, so I removed it and have allowed the hole to close.

After the show we headed back home and had to make a detour up through Worral as there had been an accident on Middlewood Road and the blue lights had closed the road. I always worry when I see there have been accidents on roads we use frequently that one day it may be us! Silly, I know, but I can’t help it.

They must have closed the road right up to St Christopher’s Motors in the village as loads of cars were coming round the one way system and heading up the hill towards Bradfield and the Convent as part of the diversion I suppose.

The vehicles were still using that route as I walked Callie, about an hour later, for her last walk of the day.  

Saturday May 10^th.

Strange weather this morning, very cloudy at times, with breaks that allowed bright sunshine to show through and then torrential downpours!

I avoided any rain when I walked Callie first thing and was lucky to have got back home before the heavens opened; yet by the time we were going to the pool (just a few minutes later) the sun was out!

Sarah was once again envious of our concert going during the week. She was surprised we had gone to a rock concert and she had heard of Yes. I explained we had just freeloaded the tickets from Dad. She wanted to know all about Poppy Hughes. In fact so did the family in Australia when I Skyped them after breakfast too! We described what we had seen and what she had said. She was quite tiny (just like Mum was my initial comment to Laura after we had left her) but not slim. Her hair was still long and probably dyed. I can’t imagine at 60 she would really have dark chestnut locks, I bet there is a badger lurking underneath her mane.

After Uni she had gone to America where she met her first husband. When that fell through she brought her photography business back to the UK and married again. The second marriage also went belly up but the photography business did well. She now just snapped for her own satisfaction, rather than being a commercial photographer anymore. She had four children two were in America – they had gone back to be with their Dad’s side of the family and two were in the UK. Three boys and a girl. The girl was a teacher in the Midlands somewhere and the boy worked for the Civil Service, which she found a huge disappointment – he had become part of the establishment she had always railed against as a student and young adult.

It is always fascinating to hear about other people’s exes, isn’t it? When I met her I couldn’t help wondering if Dad does have a thing for small women. Mum is only 5’ and Louisa can’t be much taller. I will bet his dalliances with his former students were all with the petite ones too! Here you see the problem with having an inquiring mind; it takes a few known facts, extrapolates from those facts a theory and then assumes that theory is correct without any recourse to proof of any kind.

After the swim and brekkers, I made the aforementioned call to Australia. Suze and I talked for ages before the kids got a look in. (Poppy again.) Annabelle wasn’t bothered about Grandpa’s old girlfriends she was keen to get her Aunt and girlfriend out to visit this summer. She has already told her Mum that she wants to come with us when we borrow the camper again. Jill isn’t so sure. I hope she does want to come too.

They were full of the Dockers progress this season, they are pleased they are ahead of the West Coast Eagles but rather worried by tomorrow’s game against Port Adelaide who are currently top of the ladder. They were also looking forward to going to Subi next weekend to see Matthew Pavlich’s 300^th game for the Dockers! They will be playing Geelong who are about third in the ladder, so it may be a tight fixture. If Pav has played in every match in a season that means he has played for over fifteen years as a Docker. The club only began in 1994 so that must make him one of the longest standing players they have.

We had a lazy day for the rest of Saturday, although Laura was at Dominic’s again in the evening. I thought it might not be a good idea to go out into the Peak with the weather being so unpredictable.

We did spend a happy afternoon in bed though.

Sunday 11^th May.

We decided to go to rock today as it hadn’t rained in the night. Well, it turned out it hadn’t rained in our little village but over by Stanage there must’ve been quite a bit as the rock was quite wet and the weather still looked unpredictable, coming sweeping down from the Dark Peak area.

I tried a few easy pitches to see how slippery they were and I thought they may be do-able but Laura was a bit scared. She hasn’t been climbing all that long and so I decided we’d go and be tourists in the Peak and if it fined up we’d try again.

We went to Bakewell and bought some more puddings (dodging the rain spots). We went to Calton Lees Garden Centre at Chatsworth (more dodging). Had a bite to eat at Caudwell’s Mill south of Bakewell and then hit Calver Craft shop in the early afternoon. Still no luck with the weather, so after Calver (because it was so close) we drove to Mum’s.

We had afternoon tea with Mum and had a good old gossip. Laura mentioned Poppy and Mum laughed like a drain. She wondered if she was still as neurotic as she had been when Dad knew her. She told us that she used to do Dad’s head in having massive attacks of PMT every month. She would get really irascible and unpleasant, taking it out on everyone around her, including Dad. She remembers Dad telling her it was like living in the same cage as a sleeping Tasmanian tiger! Not that they lived together or anything, they were both students at the time, living on campus.

Mum was pleased we’d enjoyed the concerts and was glad she hadn’t been invited to see Yes. She thinks they are a set of pretentious losers who are still churning out unintelligible songs for people who delude themselves into thinking it is profound. (Well thanks Mum!)

I think she must have seen my face, as she tried to retract her remarks, claiming I wasn’t a pretentious loser. She asked if I would have gone if Dad hadn’t been going and when I said, “No!” She replied with, “Well, there you are then!”

Laura recounted how I had been bought a drink by a guy in the bar; which made Mum laugh again and say, “I bet she was showing a lot of leg, wasn’t she?”

Oh Mum, you sting your little girl at times. LOL

We headed for the hills at about 6.30 driving through more showery rain. Boo hoo. Back home, as Laura wasn’t going to Dom’s tonight she asked me if I could show her lots of leg. I told her I would if she would.

So we did. For quite a while.

Rock Concert with the Aged Parent - Oh Yes!

Monday May 5^th.

Back to our normal routine again today after our weekend jaunt to the Metropolis. Dog walking is always a bonus at this early hour in the morning because it is so quiet, as the city is still fast asleep. It got me into a reverie about London and how I couldn’t ever face living there. It is too grubby and squalid feeling. The people are boorish and always in a rush (or else they are tourists), not like the gold old north, eh. 

Swimming at our usual time saw us rack up 100 lengths and feel smug and self-satisfied afterwards. The showers still don’t get rid of the chlorine smell though. I must be killing my hair with all the washing I give it. I will have to talk to my hairdresser in Cockermouth, when we are next at Dad’s and ask if there is something I can do to protect it.

Laura has written herself a revision timetable for the exams, her first is on May 28^th I think. She is sitting the Fluid Mechanics exams too which she is looking forward to! I think she is a glutton for punishment but I can’t talk as my degree had thousands of papers to sit (or so it seemed at the time).

Felice was her usual bubbly and bouncy and slightly incomprehensible self again. I told her about Jane’s operation after she had Sophie and she seemed upset by it. I asked her why she had taken it to heart and she told me that when Jane left Phil she wouldn’t be able to have children with her new partner. Erm… Excuse Me?

I asked her where she had got the idea that Jane was going to leave Phil and she said it was obvious; no woman in her right mind would want to stay with such an obnoxious little prick! I had a good laugh about that. I explained that you have to shut out Phil’s obnoxious ‘pricky’ behaviour because underneath it all he was basically sound. Jane had got quite adept at just blanking out the more extreme examples of Phil’s twattishness and carrying on regardless. Feli said she could not live her life like that and if her man ever carried on in the way Phil does then she would dump him at once! (You really need to say it in a French accent to get the full effect!)

The rest of the day was spent with the bloody palimpsests. They really are getting on my pip. Why did people do this in those days? Had they ‘got it in’ for posterity? I know it is all to do with cost, but bloody hell, it makes your eyes and brain hurt trying to read what is written on them. Even the multi-spectral analysed copies are pretty hard going.

Lunch in the refec was not as noisy as usual and I could see hordes of undergrads with their noses in books obviously using every minute of their day time to revise so they could whoop it up at night. (Am I being cynical?) Laura is pacing herself quite sensibly and not given to last minute panic or revising every waking hour (as some of these seemed to be doing) which is a much more sensible approach. She has even told Dominic she will not stop working at the restaurant during the exam weeks as she thinks emptying her mind will be more beneficial.

Tuesday May 6^th.

Off and out as normal for work this morning, after dog walking, swimming and breakfasts of course expecting a perfectly ordinary day. That is in fact what we had, three hours at Uni and four and a half at XXX & Y is typical for a Tuesday. What is not typical is for an Aged Parent and New Spouse to be sat in your garden waiting for you to come home after work! To say I was surprised is an understatement. 

He was supposed to be coming tomorrow! Parents, eh? You just can’t do a thing with them!

He began by saying I ought to give him a key to my house, like I had to his then he could have let himself in and been more comfortable than squatting among my lavender in the garden. I asked him to give me his key ring. He duly obliged and I held up the offending back door and conservatory key for him as exhibit one! (It is the same key for both doors.) I then told him I was going to phone the doctor as early onset Alzheimer’s was obviously setting in. He did have the good grace to look considerably abashed. What a drongo. I told him I had swapped the old two keys for the one new key when I had the locks changed in 2013. Sometimes he is so much away with the fairies about his work or his writing or just life in general that I don’t think he listens to what I tell him. I told him that. He wasn’t listening!

Louisa, was though, she nudged him in the ribs and said, “See. It’s not just me saying it. Even Vic thinks you don’t listen.”

He changed the subject and asked about our evening meal. I explained we had a sweet and sour chicken concoction cooking in the oven (hopefully, if the timer worked) and if there was enough they could share that. I usually make enough for two meals anyway and we freeze the second lot to have as a quick standby. I cooked four portions of rice instead of two and made two of them vegetable rice which is much more filling. While I was doing this Laura defrosted some raspberries and made some meringue, raspberry and cream delights. (Our defrost method for this is to place the raspberries into cold water and keep replenishing the water. It doesn’t full defrost them but that doesn’t matter with this recipe. In fact unless they are fresh it is nice to have partly frozen berries like little fruity lollipops in your dessert.)

Dad had decided to come down early so they could whizz to Leeds, tomorrow, and see the Grand-daughter again. Is he getting broody? Maybe he really does like babies. He has had three of his own after all and he and Louisa have been trying (without success) for one of their own too. At 43 I think Louisa’s biological clock is against her though.

They were interested to hear about the Veronese exhibition and bemoaned the fact that Cumbria (or even Lancaster) is too far away from London to make swift day trips possible. I don’t think he was being disingenuous but he never went on day trips to London when he worked in Norwich, or Sheffield either, so why it should be a problem now is beyond me? I kept these thought to myself.

He was more miffed to learn that Feli had got the tickets on a special deal and we paid a fraction of the normal day return price for our travel. I told him he could always go to Glasgow but he seemed unimpressed by the idea.

Loll went off to work as usual and I was left with the task of entertaining the rellies. Not as onerous as it sounds as they were both keyed up for tomorrow’s concert at the City Hall. Dad has seen Yes more times than I care to think about but Louisa hasn’t seen them before. Dad recalls sneaking into London as a schoolboy to see them in 1970, when they had just released their third album. That was one of the three they’d be playing tomorrow. They are going to play three albums in their entirety, in the album track order which has to be quite a novel idea, maybe unique. The Albums are The Yes Album, Close to the Edge and Going for the One. Dad tried to bet that the encore will be Roundabout. I have refused to take his bet as it is an odds-on certainty that Roundabout will be the encore!

I went to the car and brought in my CD case with those three albums in and we played the three of them through just to remind ourselves what we’d be hearing. Laura came back half-way through their latest album Fly From Here, which Dad had brought down for me to copy. The contrast is quite marked between them. Close to the Edge still sounds like it was written by someone who understands classical music but can’t write sensible lyrics. Awaken has some unbelievably brilliant church organ playing but yet again has pretty dodgy lyrics. I commented on this to Dad and he was forced to concede that I was correct. He offered to lend me a Jon Anderson solo LP called “Olias of…” somewhere or other (I can’t remember what he said, now) and I could hear just what terrible a lyricist he was.

Dad came with me on the last walk with Callie and he talked about Louisa and how seeing the baby Sophie had made her even more determined to want a baby of their own. They are going to try a course of IVF treatment next month! I am seriously not sure what I think about this. Part of me thinks it is lovely that they want a child together and part of me thinks, NO. I mean if they succeed, when the child is 20 Dad will be 82! And Louisa 63! There is also a selfish part of me thinking, I could become its second mother and when Louisa and Dad pop their clogs it would look on me as its Mum instead. It would certainly solve my dilemma about whether to be a mother or not myself. I said I really truly hoped they would be successful, it would be lovely. I think the old-boy was genuinely surprised by that. He gave me a big hug and kissed me on the forehead like he always does. He put my hand through his arm and we walked back home arm in arm, I think we were two contented souls who brought the dog in last night.

Wednesday 7^th May

Yes Night.

They appeared on stage looking like a set of pensioners after the strains of Stravinsky faded away. (They always play part of the Firebird before they step out on the stage.) The new singer is the only one who doesn’t look like he needs a bus pass. He is called Jon Davidson and according to Dad he used to sing with Glass Hammer. I have one of their CDs (again copied by Dad) there is at least one excellent song on it.

It is not surprising that I like Yes as I am a fan of classical music and a lot of their work seems structured in a similar way. At times, though, their lyrics are absolute drivel! I know I have said this once already but it really does need emphasising. Another feature is their obvious musicianship which you don’t see in many bands.

The began with Close to the Edge which was pretty well done, followed by And You And I and Siberian Khatru. I think they may have messed up the words in And You And I but Dad assured me they hadn’t. He played the version I have at home afterwards and explained that Jon Anderson cocked them up on the live version he had recorded for me. What I had heard was what Anderson should have sung! 

They moved on to the Going for the One album next. The church organ was a bit ropey on Awaken, to be honest. You’d have thought they’d have used the real one in the City Hall but they used a synthesizer instead and it just didn’t cut it. Ball dropped there, fellas!

They had an interval after this album and we trooped out for a break from the reflected glare from all the bald heads below us in the stalls! Dad met an old flame in the crowd at the bar. She had been a fellow student in Oxford and was now a photographer. She was there snapping the band and even had a laminate giving her access everywhere. Dad was jealous as hell of that laminate; he spent ages trying to negotiate its sale. She refused.

I was amazed they recognised each other after all those years. I was introduced as his gorgeous daughter (I am sure I blushed) with her genius friend, Laura. He also, obviously, introduced Louisa as his wife. She was surprised that it wasn’t still Helena (she didn’t have much tact it seemed). She was also stunned to hear he had gone on to become a Lecturer, apparently he was planning on a becoming a writer of fiction. He defended himself by mentioning the papers he’s had published and the co-authored work on Comparative Literature.

I told her the writing gene had probably skipped a generation as I was putting the finishing touches to my third novel to try and get it ready for possible publication. This lead to a third degree from both her and Dad, about what I had written. I should have kept my gob shut. (As usual!)

The second half was all of The Yes Album. It had my favourite song of theirs, I’ve Seen All Good People. Very clever lyrics and some really neat vocal harmonies. Chris Squire’s bass playing during Starship Trooper was amazing, too.

I think the major downer of the whole evening was the mixing. There were times when you couldn’t hear the keyboards much at all. This is a problem for a band like Yes where they make up a large part of the melodies. Dad didn’t seem to notice though, and I guess he is the real aficionado here, not me!

They reappeared for the encore which did turn out to be Roundabout. Quite a good version I thought, with the opening guitar harmonics not messed up as much as I have heard on some of Dad’s live recordings!

I toyed with buying a tour T-shirt as I think the Yes logo is so cool but in the end I decided I would probably never wear it, so I didn’t. Dad bought two, one of the logo and Dragon Flight Tour Dates and one of the logo only.

We got back to chez moi at about 11.30 and Dad found the offending version of And You And I, he is right Jon Anderson did mess up the lyrics, big time! He has promised to give me a copy of Close to the Edge so I can hear what it should actually sound like. We strolled the dog together again and I asked him about Poppy Hughes; he told me she was the girlfriend immediately prior to Mum. That was all I managed to get out of him about her. I did keep pestering but he clammed up and refused to say anymore. I am going to google her when I get the chance, see what comes up.

Laura was wide awake and waiting for me when I got back and she wanted to get amorous. Who was I to deny my little genius?

Thursday 8^th May.

My ears still felt woolly this morning. Dad and Louisa mumbled that they didn’t want to join us at the pool this morning, not that I was surprised. I wasn’t surprised that they weren’t up when we got back in either. They finally surfaced at about 8.30 just as we were about to zoom off to Uni. They said they would be leaving around mid-morning if that was OK with us. Of course it was.

After the busy day yesterday today at work was a welcome relief to be back to normal again. In fact I would go on to say it was just a typical Radio Stars’ Song again. Laura went off to Dominic’s again after our meal. I walked the dog down to meet her at the end of the night and we struggled up the hill on foot together.

There will be more excitement tomorrow as we are off to the City Hall again, this time for a feast of Russian Classical Music from the Moscow Philharmonic: Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rimsky-Korsakov. Promises to be very different from Yes but in a weird way rather similar.

  

Culture can be tiring - Veronese at the National gallery.

Friday May 2^nd

Our Veronese Day.

Up at around the usual time but with no dog to walk today, instead after our shower we zoomed down to the Middlewood Park and Ride scheme and caught the tram into Midland Station. We weren’t sure how long this would take but we arrived there at about 7.10 am. Luckily Feli had given us our tickets in advance so we weren’t worried if she didn’t show. We were worried when at 7.20 there was still no sign of our mad French colleague. As we had reserved seats we didn’t bother boarding but stood anxiously on the platform hoping for a glimpse of a rushing Gallic figure. By 7.25 we were becoming a little desperate but then a cloud of chiffon and silk came striding down the stairs to our platform with a diminutive “ma’mselle” at its centre. Phew!

The journey took about 2 hours and we were striking out for a 91 bus along Euston Road at just after 9.30. Laura and Feli slept for most of the journey down, I just looked out of the window to watch the landscape unfolding around me (after I had done the Times crossword and the i crossword and the two word grids and the word wheels and tried a killer su doku).

The bus journey itself took about half an hour which is mad when you come to think about it, because the distance from St Pancras to Trafalgar Square is less than two miles! We saw the way through the traffic was gridlocked on the Strand, so we got out near Charing Cross and walked the short distance to TS itself. We popped in to the gallery to see where the exhibition was housed and then I trooped us across Charing Cross Road and into St Martin’s in the Fields crypt for breakfast.

This is one of my favourite eating places in London. It is right in the centre and hardly visited by tourists at all. It isn’t even signed from the outside so if you don’t know it’s there you’d never find it. Even the new(ish) glass and steel entrance has no mention of a café down below! Rah, rah and indeed rah, say I! Mum and I used to come down from Norwich quite a lot when I was younger. The journey then was about the same time as it took from Sheffield but was around half the distance! We’d then get the Central Line to Holborn or Tottenham Court Road and go and do our retail therapy, or visit the theatre. It was Mum who introduced me to St. Martin’s café.

Laura and Feli loved the idea that all the profits from the café go to helping the homeless and other local London charities. After a hearty full English breakfast and a sit for digestion we sauntered the fifty yards or so back to the National Gallery for the Veronese exhibition. It started in gallery 15 and took in about six or seven rooms altogether. There were fifty paintings on display; some were the gallery’s own and a large number brought in especially for the exhibition.

We decided to have the head set commentary after we’d handed in our tickets and we ghosted our way through the gallery cocooned in our own private tour of the pictures. Laura and I walked hand in hand at first but that became increasing tricky as we wanted to spend different amount of time at different pictures. So we kissed and wandered individually, kissing every time we came back together in front of the same picture.

It was truly inspiring. To imagine Paulo was painting these pictures over 500 years ago but the colours were as vibrant today as if they had just been done! I loved the Martyrdom of St George and the Visit of the Magi the best (Both of the Magi paintings). I was a little disappointed that Feast at the House of Levi wasn’t included but, hey, you can’t have everything! I thought the portraits were exquisite. You could really see the personality of the sitter in each one. The four Allegories of Love were also quite special. Lolloster and I walked round those together and vowed we would never do the negative side of love portrayed in two of the pictures.

You could see a darkening of his handling of colour and light as we got towards the end of the exhibition as though all the vibrancy and colour of his earlier work had been drained out of him as he grew older. They even had his final piece on display right by the exit which gave it even more poignancy, well it did to me anyway!

Our timed ticket allowed us in at 11 am. We walked through the shop (stopping for a couple of Veronese fridge magnets – I know, I know) at about 1.15! The exhibition wasn’t packed but there was a steady and constant flow of people walking through it. I was amazed at how tiring walking through a gallery and looking at pictures made me. I suggested we adjourned to Covent Garden for a cuppa and a bun, this was greeted with delight by Laura and Feli, so that is what we did.

I was dismayed to discover that the Jubilee Market seemed to have gone down-market. No Hazle Ceramics anymore, nor the Robes of London stall; I assume the recession has forced them to move or close. I was even more upset to discover the Australia Shop has gone! Boo Hoo!

We tottered along Charing Cross Road and spent over an hour in Foyle’s. Feli was delighted by the foreign language section and bought a couple of novels which had only just come out in France! I witnessed something I can’t remember seeing before: a queue of men waiting for the toilet! It is usually us women who get fobbed off with inadequate toilet facilities but here there were four guys waiting to us the Foyle’s dunny! I felt like cheering or making a sarcastic comment as I passed them. I was too ladylike to do so!

I bought the first book in the Dorothy L Sayers series about Harriet Vane – “Strong Poison”. Laura got herself a book on Probability Theory! We parted company with Feli at the corner of Oxford Street, amidst the humungous building works that were going on, as she wanted to buy a couple of dresses and we were keen to have afternoon tea at the Midland Hotel at St Pancras Station. We told her which bus to get on to get back and where to catch it and we hopped almost immediately on a 390 back to Euston Road.

At £35 afternoon tea sounds a bit expensive. OK, it is but it is the most wonderful experience you can imagine. You are treated like royalty by the staff in amazing surroundings. The Crayfish Cocktail on toasted brioche was divine. In fact it all was. I could imagine myself as the Duchess of somewhere or other, having flunkies attending to my every whim, it was delightful. Feli phoned us to find out where we were, so we explained and she came in to the dining space – a huge vaulted ex-entrance hall I believe – clutching about half a dozen bags. I showed her the menu and she almost screamed, “Combien?” I asked a waitress for an extra cup for our companion and she free-loaded a cup of our tea and a bun from the stand. (The very last one, actually.)

We went out onto the concourse to see which platform our train was departing from and were amazed to see the information already displayed on the huge board, 25 minutes before departure! So we found our seats and prepared for the journey home. Again this was almost two hours to Sheffield station and another eternity back to Middlewood to collect my car.

I phoned Mum when we got in and told her I would collect Callie in the morning but she told me not to bother as she was driving up to Leeds to see Sophie and would drop off the woof diddly on the way. Good old Mum.

I was really surprised at how tired I felt when we finally sat down at home to a mug of drinking chocolate. We hit the charp and 10pm and were too tired even for hanky panky! Phew.

Saturday May 3^rd.

The tiredness had vanished with a good night’s sleep and we actually arrived at the pool for opening time this morning; normally, because I walk the dog, we get there at about 6.15 ish. Sarah was again unphased by the fact we’d gone down to London just to look at a few paintings! I think she must think we lead very glamorous lives.

We almost indulged ourselves in a cubicle in the changing rooms after our swim but waited until we got home to sate our passions. It was a good job we had locked the back door as half way through our exploration of each other’s important little places Mum arrived with the dog! I camouflaged myself with the head phones round my neck and Laura appeared as though from up the stairs to let Mum in.

I pretended I hadn’t heard her as I was listening to Shostakovich through the headphones and Laura pretended to moan at me for locking the door, forcing her to get up and let Mum in. I think Mum bought it, though she always looks very doubtful when we try to pull the wool over her eyes, as though she can see through our subterfuge!

Callie was beside herself to see me again and her little tail (it’s docked) beat at twenty to the dozen as she tried to nuzzle as close to me as she could. When she really wants to fuss me she nuzzles her head up the side of my face and licks my ears! She was a very excited puppy for a while and then she calmed down when I went to her treat tin. She knows she only gets a treat if she sits and behaves.

Mum asked if we fancied coming with her to Leeds but I cried off saying we were still whacked out after yesterday’s jaunt to London and back. Over four hours on a train is enervating enough for the soundest constitutions! I asked them to pass on our love and showed her the baby sampler I was sewing for Sophie. To be honest I had started it once I knew she was on the way, I just had to sew in the name. (I am doing one for Kayber’s baby too.) All the nieces and nephews have one, framed and hung up somewhere in their parent’s houses. In Australia, Suze has a wall in the family room devoted to embroideries I have done over the years, Jill, Jeff and Annabelle’s are all there.

Mum wandered off to Leeds and after locking the door we headed upstairs and started all over again!

In mid-arvo we walked the woofie round Agden Reservoir and then cooked our meal together. Laura was a Dom’s tonight so I completed Sophie’s sampler and Ingrid’s too.

We had a very laid back day, all in all.

Sunday May 4^th.

We went to rock this morning.

More gritstone edges, south of Fox House.

Everyone and their Dad were out on the rock and thousands of people were walking the edges paths. It turned out later there was a charity walk event taking place. We had people popping their heads over the rim to watch us clambering up the rock. Several chaps chose to make the typical sexist comments, “I wasn’t expecting to see a girl climbing…” Pillocks!

Lunch at the Fox House and afterwards we descended on Mum who showed us the photo’s she’d taken on her phone from yesterday. She let slip that Jane’d had complications after the birth and had a hysterectomy. That was why she and Sophie were in the hospital longer than usual. Why couldn’t they have told me this? I was sort of hurt about it. Typical bloody Philip, though, as he has grown older he has become much more of a prat! I said as much to Mum. As usual she came to his defence – I think she thinks the sun shines out of his bum! I wonder if she defends me and my lifestyle in the same way when I am not there? I bet she doesn’t.

Mum had heard from Kaybers about her bundle of joy and was looking forward to seeing her soon. I think I ought to as well. We have drifted apart a bit since Laura came on the scene. I wonder if she is upset by me turning bi-sexual? Even Mum had noticed there was a bit of a cooling off between us and I came out with, “I think it’s because all of the breeders don’t want to associate with a non-breeder!” Ooops.

Mum bent my ear about the blatantly offensive term but said if I chose not to have children, then she was fine with it. I knew this already. She is right. I do know what my Mum’s opinion is and I should keep my silly mouth shut at times. She gave me a really long hug and said, “It is different with Mum’s and daughters. I don’t feel the same about Philip as I do about you. We have a bond, a link, which Philip and I have never had. I suppose it is because he is a bloke and you, and Suze, are women so we relate better. Now you have stopped being a snotty teenager, that is!”

I was all set to take offence but I caught her eye and could see she was teasing.

Laura came in with, “I know what you mean, Mrs S. I am the same with my Mum. So are my sisters but Stephen always seems excluded from the sisterhood just because of his gender. Mum is always at Kirsten and Avril’s helping with their littlies. I expect she’ll be the same with me if I have children.”

We went back home mid arvo and had another enjoyable time exploring each other’s little recesses!

Dad phoned in the evening to moan at me. “You’ve bloody arranged the van the same way you did my kitchen!!!”

“Well of course, Dad. You are a man and therefore have no idea the best way to ergonomically arrange a kitchen. You had just put stuff in the cupboards and drawers willy nilly. It needed a woman’s touch!”

He then admitted he was teasing. He said he had done it deliberately and had won a bet with Louisa that I would re-arrange things in the way I liked them. Cheeky bugger! They were on Arran, obviously, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. He liked the idea of the excursion book I had started and was going to add to it with things they had done. They will be back in time for the Yes gig on Wednesday, so I mustn’t panic if they didn’t show up until Wednesday morning. I had almost forgotten about that.

We both walked Callie for her last walk of the day and then showered and hit the charp. I must still have been a bit tired from Friday as I was asleep before I knew it.

The cons of motherhood. (No pros to be found?)

Monday April 28^th.

Back to work and the usual routines today.

Dog walking, swimming, chatting with Sarah about our vacation and Arran. Doing the Times crossword in 15 minutes!

When we got back yesterday I hadn’t spotted a statement from bank telling me the yearly interest and tax paid on my savings accounts. In all my accounts have made £16000+ over the year after tax has been paid. Rah rah rah. That has put my share of the price of the caravan on Arran back into my account (almost).

Richard’s parents also sent me a card on the anniversary of his death. I try to keep my remembrance low key as I find it very distressing. The trust fund has made over £50k this year. They enquired after my health and mental condition and the state of my relationships. I have told them about dumping Alan but not really about what I meant by Laura had moved in. I suppose they look on her as a lodger I have taken. I really ought to put them straight on the matter.

At work Feli and I met our supervisor and she is very pleased with progress we have been making, especially with the material which turned out to be palimpsests. We have been able to recover a lot of information from the underlying script with the help of the Science bods. {And, of course Feli has been underlying one of the Science bods too!}

Feli and I have collated all our casket notes and photographs. We have rather a lot. This makes me wonder if we ought to inform our supervisor of our side project. Felice is dead against it, though. We have contacted a woman from the Royal School of Needlework and are meeting with her on the day we go down to see the Sampler Exhibition later this month. I am looking forward to that no end.

I have e-mailed all my tutees to offer support and encouragement for their end of year assessments and to invite those who want to meet up, to arrange a time at the end of the week or early next week. Ms Scothern replied almost instantly, so I have invited her to join us for lunch at the Cottage on Thursday. (Well, she has become special over the year.)

Laura was at Dominic’s tonight so we had a swift bite and I dropped her off and then went to do a mega food shop at Morrisons – we were getting rather like Mother Hubbard at home! I can’t believe I spent over £120 on groceries and the like!

I was busy all evening with my new sewing project, a bonboniere. It is fab. I almost lost track of time and could have left the Lollster to walk up the hill. I decided to take Callie down to meet her and we walked back together. Dom gave Callie a pile of pasta. Not good really but I didn’t like to refuse. This meant we could shower together before bedtime and enjoy each other’s special little places!

Tuesday 29^th April.

Kaybers went into hospital last night but hadn’t produced the baby! We went down straight from work to see her and she looked hot, sweaty, and exhausted. She has told Jan he is never ever going to come near her again! It seems every mother in labour tells their husband/partner that… Mmm…

Two part day went as usual. In fact apart from the production of an Anglo Norwegan baby in the early hours it was a Radio Stars’ Song Day. Hanne Ingrid Orr was delivered to the world at about 3am. Mum, Charlotte, and baby Ingrid are doing fine.

Laura and I sneaked another visit to the hospital this lunchtime and were told by Charlotte she’d be home by tea time! I think the baby looked just like her, she wasn’t so sure. Jan’s plans of having his child born in Norway came to nothing after all but they are going to take her to see the family as soon as they can. Ferry and car from Newcastle is their plan. It’ll be strange to have Kaybers as a mother. It probably means she’ll tone down her mad behaviour. I suppose we have grown apart a little over the years, especially since Richard’s death and my flight to Australia. I think she took that as a snub – which it wasn’t.

She was disappointed the baby won’t be a Gemini like her, I told her it was all hokum as I was nothing like a Pisces. I don’t think that was the right thing to say, looking back!

The other two girls in ARR (not Mrs B) joked about how I’d be next, when I explained where we’d been at lunchtime. I just smiled and didn’t rise to the bait. Kaybers is the last of my close friends to have a baby. That is a very scary thought.

Wednesday 30^th April.

Sarah at the pool also told me I’d be next, when we explained about the new baby. Once more I bit my tongue on the subject. All these babies in the last couple of months have thrown me into a bit of a tailspin. Yes, they are gorgeous and they obviously have made each set of parents very happy but, why do I feel nothing but fear and dread at the prospect of me doing the same? Maybe I am a freak?

I tried to explain this to Laura as we drove into the city. She said that she knew. She thought they were lovely but why couldn’t you get one that was already weaned and potty trained and sleeping through the night? That would be ideal, wouldn’t it? I decided we needed a time machine so we could be 17^th Century Aristocratic mothers. Their babies were whisked off to a wet nurse and all the tedium of the early years was dealt with by someone else. All you had to do, as a mother, was to enjoy the good bits of the infancy without the mess! The snag is, even with a time machine we wouldn’t be aristocrats when we went back in time, just peasant women. Plus, mortality rates were pretty dreadful back then too, not only for the babies but the mothers too!

I told Mrs Briggs all this and she thought it was possible to employ a wet nurse type person these days if you had the money. Now… there’s a thought! Maybe some research is required into the subject. Would the child become too attached to the wet nurse and not recognise you as its mother?

Thinking about babies, far from giving me a warm cuddly glow, has begun to do my head in!

Work was another Radio Stars’ Song as well. It does seem to be a bit of an anti-climax after the two weeks of being in Scotland. That’s the problem with travelling, the more you do the more you want to do. Still, in two months’ time (and a bit) we will be winging our way round the globe to the antipodes and I’ll be playing at tour guide for Laura’s personal benefit. We are going to do in reverse what the girls and I did last summer in Suze & Pete’s camper. We will start at Kalgoorlie and finish at Bunbury which should make it fresh for me too. I am not sure if the girls will be joining us this time, if they aren’t it means we can avoid the Aussie school’s two weeks holidays in July and get cheaper rates for things like site fees etc. I would like to take them again but maybe they would feel embarrassed with Laura being present too. It is one thing knowing your Aunt has a girlfriend, if that GF is half way round the world. Having the said GF present all the time might be a different matter. Both girls are a year older, of course, and hopefully a bit wiser and more grown up and so should be fine with it. Plus, we are obviously going to restrain our sexual desires if they come with us, so there will be no chance of them catching us “at it”!

Thursday May 1^st.

Felice had a surprise for me this morning. We are zooming down to London to go to the National Gallery. She has persuaded someone in the bursar’s department to stump up a sum to buy train tickets as it is part of our research (she has barefaced cheek at times). It is not part of our research at all! We will get reimbursed after the trip. Laura is going to come to. Apparently this Gallic crook had booked the train tickets about six weeks ago and got a mega deal on a return fare to London and back. We leave at around 7.45am and catch the 5.30ish train back. I asked her what we were going to see and she said “Veronese!”

It just goes to show that you talk about wanting more travel and, hey presto, in Victoria Maia Elizabeth’s world the fairy godmother grants your wishes! I have read about Veronese and seen several of his works in books but never at an exhibition. The gallery has about 50 works on show. I hope they have the Feast at the House of Levi on display as this is what first attracted me to the artist. He originally called this piece the Last Supper but the Inquisition heard about it and when they came to see the piece they objected strongly to some of Veronese’s little quirky touches. They ordered him to remove these quirks or face the consequences. Paulo refused and simply renamed the work Feast at the House of Levi instead. Thus avoiding trouble with the Inquisition and avoiding having to alter his work too. It was this bloody mindedness in the face of religion which naturally made me want to find out more about him.

We were full of our jaunt to London at lunchtime and may have made poor Mandy feel pushed out a bit. She is doing fine and thinks she is on course for another 2.1 so that can’t be bad. It is down to her, of course, I can only offer and suggest things to her. If she decided to take the advice or not, that’s up to her. It is hard to reconcile this confident and determined young woman with the homesick waif I met way back in October. For that change I may take a little of the praise I feel.

I called Mum from work and she is going to look after Callie for the day as we will be leaving very early and getting back quite late. To that end, I snuck out early this afternoon and fetched the puppy; then when Laura had finished we drove down to Holmesfield so we could have tea with Mum and leave the dog. She is quite happy to be left with Mum (or Dad or Julie for that matter) she was abandoned by me at about 3 years old when I fled to Australia for a year. She quite happily lived with Dad and his three all that time. I just didn’t want to leave her for over 12 hours by herself; she may end up getting distressed by that.

I have promised to take us all to a brilliant eaterie in London which is quite close to Trafalgar Square but which isn’t used much by tourists!

I drove Laura to Dominic’s straight from Mum’s and had a spookily quiet night at home without the pup. It is amazing how much you miss her when she isn’t there! We had a shared shower when Laura got back and a night straight into bed without a dog walk, which felt very strange!

Flying Visit to my Gran's to be examined by the lesbian spotters of Hawick!

 Friday April 25^th.

Up with the larks today and gave Callie a last walk up to Glenashdale falls. Went via Brook Cottage (where we’d stayed last year) and cut through the plantation to the top of the falls. We came back down via the tourist footpath and met nary a soul! Back at the van Loll had a pair of huge bacon and eggy baps ready for breakfast. Yummy in my tummy. We were scheduled to catch the eleven am ferry back to Ardrossan, so by 9am we’d tidied and cleaned and left everything spick and span for either Dad’s or our next visit. We pulled into Brodick at about 9.30 having had a leisurely drive through Kildonan first, to say bye bye to the seals. We were second in the vehicle queue.

We let Callie have a stroll along the sea front as we walked to get ourselves the morning papers (The i and The Times) we then watched the ferry slowly make its way across the Firth to our jetty. For some reason we were directed to the front of the lower deck this time, not up onto the raised section, so we knew we’d be off pretty pronto when we landed in Ardrossan. Laura did the rushing up to the restaurant bit and was so quick she had the tea and toast waiting at a table already for me when I cast up a few minutes later.

After brunch we went to the pointy end and watched the approach of the mainland. We headed to the rounded bit to see the island recede into the distance then headed below as instructed to get to our vehicle. Like I had surmised, we were second on and second off this time. Soon we were rushing through the dual carriage way system round Kilmarnock heading for Gran’s in Hawick.

The route is a bit twisty and windy and not dualled for much of the way past Kili. We went across the A71 to Larkhall, then down the A721 and A72 to Peebles, eventually hitting the A7 down through Selkirk to Hawick. It is only about 130 miles from Ardrossan but it took us over three hours! We arrived at Gran’s in the late afternoon just in time for “a nice cup of tea and a bun.”

Gran’s house is quite small and excessively tidy. She had arranged for half of her coven (sewing group) to come round tonight and the other half tomorrow. I met them all last year – which was one of the reasons I brought my casket embroidery with me on holiday so I could show them what I had been doing. I think they may have been coming to see “The Lesbians” too.

Gran had plans for Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we are off into Edinburgh to do some retail. She wants to go to Jenners – a huge department store I remember as a child. It is very posh and used to have a waitress service restaurant. She’d also like to visit the new Ocean Terminal shopping centre. This is right next to the Royal Yacht Britannia which could be worth a look too.

On Sunday, if we want, she’d like to go to the Hibs / Hearts footba match at Easter Road. She hasn’t been for a few years but thought a derby game might be nice for us all to potter along to! Mmmm…. Not too sure about that one Gran. Twice up to Edinburgh from Hawick maybe a bit of a trek, but if that’s what she wants, why not? It’s about 50 miles straight up the A7. There is talk of the powers that be opening up the old Waverley Railway Line from Edinburgh to Carlisle, that would be a brilliant journey. The last 15 miles into the city by car is usually pretty busy, from what I can remember.

If it was just Loll and me going in to the city I would have stopped at Arthur’s Seat and taken her up there to see the view of the Auld Grey Toon down below. I don’t think Gran would be up to that though. Pity, but it will always be there to do again some other time.

Five biddies duly turned up at Grans about 7.30 and began to sew and gossip. I wowed them with my raised work for my caskets and showed them pictures, on my tablet, of what a genuine mediaeval casket looks like. I think they were impressed. Laura has started to do some counted thread work too so she was able to sit and be a cackling witch along with the rest of us.

I told them we were off to the Royal School of Needlework (at Hampton Court Palace) sometime in May to see the sampler exhibition. A few of them wanted details. We are going to be staying at a Travelodge in Sunbury for the night before and night of the exhibition so that we don’t have to worry about the drive to and from Sheffield to London. Mum is looking after Callie for the two days.

I have met most of the biddies before but Laura was new to their scrutiny, I bet they were all surprised to find a tall, willowy blonde girl instead of a butch dyke type! Stereotypes die hard in Scotland, Jimmy!

Saturday 26^th April.

Off to the big city at 8am, to miss the traffic. It didn’t work! We still crawled in for the last few miles once inside the ring road! We managed to snag a parking space at Waverley long stay car park and then became shoppers for the day.

We did the usual gawping at the sights and looking up at the Castle and all the monuments along Princes Street. We went into Jenners where Gran bought a couple of items she has been waiting for. We then toured the steets round the back of Princes’ but Gran started to flag a little so we headed back to Jenners for a reviving cuppa and a bun in their restaurant.

We did some retail of our own in Primark, spending hardly anything buy getting masses of things. Gran had never been into a Primark and was astounded at how cheap everything was. She was of the opinion whatever we bought wouldn’t survive half a dozen washes. I told at these prices it didn’t matter.

We decided to go to the Ocean Terminal Centre for lunch and more shopping. There is a huge car park there but we still had to cruise to find a place to park. Gran has never been here either. Still it is a good couple of miles from Waverley and she isn’t a good walker anymore. We found the Ocean Kitchen restaurant and had lunch looking out over the harbour. It may be fairly ordinary grub but the views are stunning. It is right in the middle of the first floor and we spent a good hour there sitting, gossiping and looking at the Royal Yacht and all the other things in the harbour.

I had a stroll to the Whisky shop and bought a new Gaelic one I hadn’t tried before, based on the recommendation of the assistant. We pootled along to Waterstones, where we spent another eternity choosing a book each. I got the latest Tess Gerritsen. From here we sauntered along eventually landing up at the Britannia Gift shop where I got a fridge magnet! They had a beautiful diamond and emerald choker on display (a replica of a royal one) it wasn’t for sale. It looked gorgeous! We decide to forego the trip onto the ship itself. It was a bit expensive and Gran was definitely flagging now. I got Laura to wait outside with Gran whist I fetched the car and drove out to meet them. It saved her little legs from further walking. She was fast asleep in the back seat before we had crossed the ring road.

It is pretty strange visiting Edinburgh as I know I was born here but I've lived all my life in Norwich, so I have no memories of the place as a home town at all. I will have to ask Gran about why Mum moved away from the Borders, there is obviously a story there. I don’t imagine Mum will tell me if I ask her.

The rest of Gran’s coven came lesbian spotting tonight. They too were impressed by my needlework and I saw some of what they had been doing. Some are doing raised white work which is simply exquisite – Casalguidi and Mount Mellick in particular. I am thinking of doing some when my casket work is completed! You need especially good light and very keen eyesight for this raised white work I would imagine.

They also found us perfectly ‘normal’ although one of the dears did ask if I had thought about children. I explained all about Richard and our ruined plans for the future and then brought them up short with “… and there’s always IVF as an option!” My Gran’s face was a picture.

I told them I had actually given up the idea of motherhood and was planning on devoting my life to Weimaraners. In fact we have already discussed getting a playmate for Callie – and as she is now 7 – plus the new dog will be her replacement when that awful time comes! Gran said that was why she no longer had a dog – she used to have Border Terriers but she didn’t replace her last one as she couldn’t stand the idea of losing one again.

I walked Callie down to the park as her last stroll of the day and gave her lots of love and fuss in case she had understood any of our conversation.

Sunday 27^th April.

Had an awful realisation this morning: we have to be back at Uni tomorrow not Tuesday! What an idiot! I told Gran when we got up and she was a bit relieved as she was still quite whacked out from all our exertions in town yesterday. I said we’d stay and watch Hibs on the TV and then zoom back to Sassenach land.

This was a disaster! 

It is a good job we didn’t actually go to Easter Road and watch the game there. They lost 2-1! They were losing 2-0 but pulled a consolation goal back. It would have been such an upsetting end to our visit. We left after having lunch with Gran. She was still bemoaning the Hibs' wasted chances as we pulled away.

The A1 south of Edinburgh is awful! It is a single carriageway route for miles and miles. Why haven’t the Highways Agency upgraded this bit? They are spending millions on three laning the damn thing further south but are happy for Scotland to get a really raw deal. It only became a dual carriageway properly just north of Newcastle!

We got home at about 6pm to a huge pile of mail and several million answer machine messages. One of the messages was from Feli reminding me we had a meeting in the morning, and where the hell was I? That is a bit rich as she is even more of a gad-about that I am.

I phoned everyone important enough to need to know we were home and then we settled down for a hug and cuddle on the sofa, after Laura had done the same.

I awoke at about 11am with the blonde goddess pulling my hand and saying, “Come on sleepy head. It’s bed diddly bye boos time for you.” I protested about needing to take Callie for her walk but she had already done that. You can see why I love her so much. She even uses my own made up baby language.

The Islanders' Reports. Part Three.

Arran File Three:

Monday April 21^st. Easter Monday.

Activity: Beinn Bharrain from Pirnmill. Another circle which takes as much time and climbs higher than our Goat Fell walk (AGAIN!).

Weather: The best so far. Even nicer than Easter Sunday. Clear, sunny and the warmest we’ve had so far. Windy on the summits but that’s only to be expected!

Refreshments: Packed lunch with hot and cold drinks. Cake, chocolate bars and fruit.

Incidents: Starts disappointingly through pine trees but these are soon left behind plus there are some sylvan cascades among the trees. The only major snag was a ladder stile over the deer fence which Callie refused to cross. YT had to pick her up and stagger over carrying 30 kilos of dog! Not good. The contours levelled for a while as we skirted and then head straight for Meall Donn. This was almost pathless! The route through the boulders was much easier than it looked and we seemed to be on Beinn Bhreac before we realised it, looking due south over the Firth of Clyde to Ailsa and the Rhinns of Galloway as clear as anything in the distance. We had a small snack here looking at the view then pressed on to the summit of Beinn Bharrain itself. Roughy and quite rugged this was an interesting place for our lunch and the rocks made a good shelter from the wind at across the summit. The descent followed one of the ridges down we crossed the burn and met up with the same bloody deer fence! This time Callie was filthy as hell so I put my waterproof on before lifting her across it. Why can’t they put dog gates in things as huge as this? Back in Pirnmill we sat in the car and finished off our flask of tea only to discover, about an hour later, that we had both nodded off to sleep in the car!

Evening Meal: We had great plans of cooking something for ourselves when we got back in but our little snooze in the car made us realise that we perhaps ought to get something bought in. As we drove through Brodick Laura called the Shanghai Take Away (which delivers) and ordered a meal for us – stewed chicken and pineapple for me and sweet and sour king prawns for her, with two lots of rice, one ordinary one special egg fried plus prawn crackers and spring rolls. I was still in the shower at the van when the meal arrived! Luckily they serve the food in microwaveable containers so Loll was able to put the food on Hold Warm until I was dry.

Extra Incident: We went down to Kildonan again to see the seals. There were lots again. Rah rah rah!

Tuesday April 22^nd

Activity: Auchrannie Spa day.

Weather: Variable, disappointing after the last few days but we did feel a bit whacked out.

Refreshments: Included in the price of the day at the Spa.

Incidents: We had a facial treatment and the Spa’s famous massage. The latter was unbelievable. We had the facials after we had swum in their indoor pool for most of the morning and alternated between the pool, sauna and steam room. We had lunch and then more pool time followed by the massage, facial and a manicure and pedicure. Bliss.

Evening meal: Pasta dish with bacon and mushrooms. Home cooked. Yummsville!

Extra Incidents: Our bodies smelled so nice, we spent an evening examining them and our new odours!

Wednesday 23^rd April.

Activity: Boat trip around Holy Island, Pladda and the Southern Coast of Arran.

Weather: Relatively calm. Cloudy with sunny intervals. Not as warm as previous days.

Refreshments: Bought in Lamlash again at the same establishment (Old Pier Café).

Incidents: Took the pup to her Dog Creche again for the boat trip (using the same place in Whiting Bay we’d used for the Spa Day). She seemed fine with the ideal and the owner told us she didn’t howl last time! Parked up in Lamlash and caught the boat from the jetty there. Out northwards and skirted the east side of Holy Island, along past Whiting Bay and then round the corner to Pladda. We went south of the island – I supposed the bar would be difficult, if not impossible, to cross in boat. The farthest point was Bennan Head where we turned round and went back along the Kildonan Shore. We drifted here for a while to seal spot and them made a leisurely way back to Lamlash this time passing to the west of 

Holy Island. 

Evening Meal: A chicken casserole and vegetables. Home made and scrumptious!

Thursday 24^th April.

Activity: Pottering round Whiting Bay and Kingscross Point. Cleaning the van. Looking at the seals again.

Weather: Patchy. Clear mainly with occasional showers. Temperature about 14 degrees.

Refreshments: Drink and a cake in the Café at Whiting Bay. Evening drink at Kildonan Hotel.

Incidents: Spent the morning dawdling on the beach and ambling to Kingscross Point. Spent an age examining the historic remains at the point and having a good old snog down at the water’s edge. Stopped at the café on the way back and had a cuppa and a cake. Talked with the lady in the newsagent who remembered me from last year helping her unload the newspapers from the delivery van in the mornings. She was pleased we’d bought a caravan and even more pleased when I explained why we hadn’t bought a cottage. Back at the van spent some time giving it a thorough clean (not that it really needed it). After our evening meal we went seal watching again – it’s addictive. We had a swift snorterino in the Hotel and were chatted up by two guys who obviously fancied their chances. We let them buy us a drink and talked with them a while. I think they sort of sensed we were a couple after a while even though we had only mentioned things we did  together – nothing about our sexuality at all. I suppose talking about our house together and how Laura had moved from her University to mine to study sort of gave the game away.

Evening Meal: We pushed the boat out tonight and had some steak for our meal. I had mine as rare as possible and even the darling one tried hers medium rare. She was surprised that it was tender and not as chewy as it is when she has it cooked really well done.

Extra Incidents: When we got back from Kildonan we made love in the lounge with the French windows open, so we had the sound of the waves breaking on the beach outside as the waves of our passion welled up inside us. It was a truly memorable experience. We did try venturing out onto the deck but that proved a little too cold, plus we were a bit scared someone may wander over to discover what the strange noises were!