Holiday in Scotland and Ely

Sunny Scotland

We went up to Edinburgh to spent a few days in “sunny” Scotland, which had it’s moments. Liz did not like the trip at all. On the way through the borders it started to bucket with rain and little brown rivers of mud and pebbles were running down the hills and across the roads, I had to slow down to 60mph, joking, about 30mph in places while Liz sat quivering next to me with my jacket over her head so that she couldn’t see, if she had her way we would still be on the road to Scotland! There had been some terrible floods in Jedburgh a couple of weeks earlier, so I guess this was on her mind. We did not go that way, but went through Selkirk, Hawick (hoik!) and Galashiels. The mornings were chilly, but soon warmed up. We went and visited the burial spots of Liz’s mother and father. The weather was great and I took a few pictures, the wheat is being harvested late in Scotland as well it would seem. I thought there were a lot of Polish people around, but then realised the language was Scottish, silly me. We found a butchery in a run down part of Edinburgh, called Shumba Butchery. I bought some excellent biltong and was given a piece of droe wors, both were very good. They had a few SA products there. The butchers were both African and one spoke Shona, so probably came from Zimbabwe, they seemed to be good old fashioned salesmen and the biltong was good. We had lots to eat and even managed to get black pudding and chips for Liz and a spicy special haggis for the older person, that would be me! The haggis was very nice and very spicy just right for a pensioner or similar. Liz was a little disappointed as the pickings were a little slim in the charity shops even though there were quite a few in Gorgy, a part of Edinburgh.

We visited a butterfly farm at Dobbies garden centre off the Edinburgh bypass. It was very humid and warm inside and my camera kept getting fogged up for the first fifteen minutes or so. There were some little quail running around under our feet all over the show, you could almost touch them, and the butterflies were flying tantalisingly close, people were running after the blue morpho variety with their phones trying to take pictures, or maybe just taking calls for them, I don’t know. Once the camera had warmed up we got a few pictures. There were even a few pythons and insects in glass enclosures in another room. There were huge moths as well, as large as my hand. Liz was thoroughly enchanted by the whole place. There was a little bonus, in that I got the pensioners discount, hooray! I remembered there was a Shell garage nearby that had fuel at a better price than quite a few other garages, so we went there and filled up. On the way home the next day we went past and I saw that the price had been reduced by a penny $%£%*#!

Week two was quieter, spent in Forty Foot. We went to the auction on Saturday and bought a mattress for the new bed, Louise and Tristan joined us as well as Catriona and Bobby, quite a family gathering. We jammed the mattress into the back of the car,there was no way I wanted to risk it being bounced down the parkway again. We decided to take a little trip to Ely on Tuesday and invited Louise and Tristan to join us, we had a wonderful time and the weather was really kind to us, summer had arrived. We eventually found some parking and wandered down to the riverside with Tristan. We had a little walk along the bank and then went to a restaurant called the Maltings next to the river and had a magnificent meal. There were quite a few Muscovy duck and geese roaming around, looking for handouts. I warned Liz not to feed them, no matter what they said to her, she took my advice in and ignored it, we spent the rest of the time fending off feathered starving creatures! Tristan got to enjoy some mince and sweet potatoes, prepared by his father, mmmm. We sauntered off back to the car only to meet Matt’s father Phil and wife Judith who had decided to come out to Ely from Peterborough, what a pleasant surprise, Tristan was delighted too, he had a wonderful day.

Of cats and visitors

Little does she know!

Sooty, our black cat, keeps telling us that she has not been fed and as a result is always hanging around our feet when we are in the kitchen, this can be fraught with danger! She was hanging around my feet the other evening, letting me know how hungry she was, whilst I was trying to get biscuits for cheese off the top of the dresser, well the box of biscuits slipped out of my hand and hit the bread board, withe the cheese and butter on it, the whole lot went hurtling to the floor and narrowly missed the cat by millimeters, I think. She rocketed out of the kitchen, whilst I collapsed in a heap with hysterical laughter, I nearly wet myself, but the cat was not impressed,she was keeping a wary eye on me from next to the fireplace in the lounge. I went to see how she was, but she bolted through the kitchen and out the cat flap, in on smooth movement, before I could get near her,she was not a happy cat and her hunger was forgotten!

Kung po chicken

Ria, Liz’ friend from near Southampton, came for a visit and got to eat a Chinese takeaway prepared in our own kitchen, by our Chinese chef Miles Ying To! We had Kung Po chicken, ( I’ll have to make guests try something else next!) Ria had a great time and survived the meal with no adverse effects. Louise and Tristan came around for a visit and Sue popped in too, a good time was had by all. Saturday was quiet after that and Liz went to St Ives for chuchch see, it bucketed whilst she was away. The cats were cowering inside as far from their flap in the kitchen door as they could get, they were not impressed with the downpour.

Sunday we went off to the Norfolk broads to meet Sue , Melly, Melvin, Robert and the boys on their little 47ft cruiser. We met them at Acle, just the other side of Norwich, and went for a trip on the broads. Liz made one of her large chocolate cakes for the occasion, this was greeted with much joy. It was quite busy and there was even what looked like a bachelor  party on another boat, the same size as ours, they had a fellow in a luminous green mankini skiing behind their boat in the equivalent of a rubber tube, they must have been doing at least 5 miles an hour, speeding? We had a wonderful, roast beef, lunch at the pub on the side of the canal in Acle, then the two boys decided to have a little dessert, waffles, chocolate muffins, caramel ice cream, cream. syrup and flakes, I still get heartburn, and I only looked at it. They did have a little help though and battled to finish it.

Fifty shades of grey, is that a new hair dye?

There was a fun day in the Co-op car park on the 29th July, Liz and I did the book stall, naturally , we supplied quite a few as well. The day started at 11am and it started to rain at 12, so much for that. The day had the makings of a good day, but the weather put paid to that. We had to move the books and sold only about two more, we did make £29 odd, so it wasn’t too bad and there was also a cake stall, Liz on made one chocolate cake for that.

Tristan chillin' and saying nothing!

Liz had a brainwave in Lidl the other day and bought one of those fancy body thingys that hold women together, picture a top without sleeves. When we got home she tried it on, it took two of us, quite a while and a lot of huffing and puffing, I did suggest a liberal application of Vaseline to her upper body, she declined. The top seemed to work, but her feet were swollen to a size twelve, thank goodness the excess didn’t go the other way. one big head in the house is enough! That is going back, this lycra is too tight.

We had an interesting weekend, went out to a race night do in Chatteris, had a bit much to drink, more than one beer, thank goodness I was not driving. We took Catriona’s bed to her new house in Peterborough, that took some doing. We had to stop and re-tie it a few times and even got Bobby collecting half the base in the Celica. The mattress flew off the roof on the parkway, but luckily no one ran over it, now a little scuffed, but still OK. Louise Matt and Tristan were around after spending the day at her office do in Chatteris, Tristan looked quite alert and interested in everything, he does seem to like the TV.

There's another raspberry Liz!

We had a busy weekend. There was an auction on Saturday, but there was nothing we could not live without, so went early. We had to dash round to a friend’s house to put up the 4 metre by 6 metre marquee for a party on Sunday. The weather was great on Saturday, really warm. We went round to an allotment and picked three punnets of raspberries for the lunch on Sunday. Liz enjoyed the taste, they were good. The party was a 70th birthday party for Melly, our friend’s, father. The party was great and we had a hog roast prepared by our neighbour’s brother, the same one who catered for Catriona and Bobby’s wedding.

Drink Liz?

The marquee is up

The weather has really perked up now and I’ve put away the snorkel and flippers and got out the braai and lawnmower. Whilst waiting for the rain to go I did wonder what responsible sourced prawns were, did they jump voluntarily into nets and responsibly harvested fruit, did that just fall into the pickers baskets, a mystery? Liz has now decided to go on diet as all she has done in the winter is eat, she is doing a weigh-less type diet, but it involves baked potatoes and baked beans, it is right up there with the cabbage diet, I am going to put up a tent for her at the bottom of the garden! I had my eye test yesterday, it is all run by people from the Asian sub continent, got away with less than £200, boy they know how to charge.

Catriona now has two cats from some cat rescue place, I wonder what they think of her fish tanks. Tristan Toyer is fairly growing and gurgling, and Louise is looking at a larger car, as she can’t fit the child seat in her Celica.

19th July, 2012

All aboard!

The engine was called Dragon. ( I said engine!)

We went to the Nene Valley Railway on Sunday, there was a steam engine show on as well and we went for a little ride on the old train into Peterborough and back. I got a discount ticket because of my advanced years, over 60! We went for the first mile or so behind a steam engine and the rest of the trip was behind a diesel locomotive. There were quite a few miniature steam engines to run on the roads, plus a couple of full size vehicles. It would appear that the major problem with the miniature engines is the soot that builds up on the driver’s face, no picture, sorry. The coaches on the train were genuine vintage, a lot of the coaches etc were from Europe and were wider gauge, I guess they won’t fall over so easily, ha, ha. They were offering free bus rides on a vintage bus to a farm that had a vintage bus show, but we had no time. We were treated to a few sights on the trip and at Ferry Meadows I wanted to get out and take pictures, but I was told by a station person to shut the door if I was not getting off, ulp! We were able to disembark at Peterborough station and take a few pictures. We had a great day and even saw an ancient Vellocette motor cycle that would have appealed  to Andrew. We also managed to get pictures of a steam train.

Some old boy at the station

Chinese takeaway

I made a lovely Chinese dinner last night, spicy lamb with Jasmine rice, mmmm tasty and expertly cooked. Chinese food is supposed to be healthy, but if eaten in the quantities we have it maybe not, still we’ll see. Sweet and sour chicken is on the menu tonight, with some stir fried veggies, that should keep us going. The lawn is crying out to be mowed again, but it may not get it’s wish, it is going to rain soon (I hope), we need the rain for my proposed rice paddy. If I am going to eat Chinese we are going to have to take up subsistence farming, how do you grow bamboo shoots and soya sauce! The cats think we are already doing that as they get to eat birds freshly caught under the bird feeder, placed within a short stroll of the back door. Sooty is a bit fed up with the wait for the right flavoured bird to fly in, she is partial to the ones with yellow feathers, although I have not seen the robins recently.

The starlings are fighting over the bird feeders next door, so the sparrows are using our feeders, Sooty is salivating and also has a crick in her neck.

Went for an eye test today, didn't managed to see anyone, I will have to go back next week, maybe I will have better luck then. ( I hope you got the pun)

13th July, 2012

Grammy's boy

We finally had a short break from the rain, so I have managed to cut the lawn and release the cat’s, I expect they will be hungry now, there weren’t any feathers when I found them in the long grass. I am thinking of selling the lawnmower, it gets so little use these days,and buying a rubber duck and fishing rod instead, I have also had a huge delivery of wood, not a good sign, it means the rain may continues a few days longer! Had a little chat with Robyn, on skype, in Korea. She seems to be settling well and says that the Koreans don’t seem to have many old cars.I gather the old cars are sent to Taiwan. They appear to drive a bit fast but no sign of any dented cars, amazingly. The scenery looked very picturesque, on her iPhone,a bit like Cape Town, she was amazed by the fact that they had fields of crops in the middle of town.

Chinese

Coming soon!

Bucketing again, and I was going to prune the hedge today, oh well.... The birds around here are thoroughly fed up and tired of hiding under the broad leafed plants. We also have a bit of washing that has been out for a few days, it is now on it’s tenth rinse cycle. The Olympic flame seems to be zig zagging across east Anglia, and rushing around to meet itself all over the show, I am surprised it is still burning with all this rain. Black pudding, eggs and crispy bacon for breakfast this morning with some fresh tomatoes. We will not be braaing today, will roast a bird instead! There was a hedgehog at the back door last night so Liz rushed out and opened a tin of sardines for it, and shoved it through the cat flap, the door was locked see. Soolee the cat thought this was for her and went flying through the flap to get it, she could not understand why Liz insisted on putting it outside, still humans do behave weirdly at times and it was a nice little treat,mmmm... The hedge hog was around again and I managed to snap a couple of pictures of it. I am going to have to tag them so that I know whether it is the same one, this looks like a new one, they do stop when you start taking their pictures, and as soon as we finish they act like Flash and are gone.got the grass cut and half the hedge, top still needs doing, when the rain stops, maybe the weekend, or maybe not! Liz is having a bake-a-thon in the kitchen, cheese scones, fudge and a lemon drizzle cake. I will just stick to the Chinese food, made a lovely Kung Po chicken with Thai jasmine rice when Louise came around, it was nice and spicy, but not too hot, everyone loved it. There are rumours of hot dry weather on the way, maybe more braais.

8th July, 2012

We finally had a short break from the rain, so I have managed to cut the lawn and release the cat’s, I expect they will be hungry now, there weren’t any feathers when I found them in the long grass. I am thinking of selling the lawnmower, it gets so little use these days, I have also had a huge delivery of wood, not a good sign, it means the rain may continues a few days longer! Had a little chat with Robyn, on skype, in Korea. She seems to be settling well and says that the Koreans don’t seem to have many old cars. They appear to drive a bit fast but no sign of any dented cars, amazingly. The scenery looked very picturesque, on her iPhone,a bit like Cape Town, she was amazed by the fact that they had fields of crops in the middle of town.

Reminder: prune hedge....

The washing will dry soon, if it stops raining

Bucketing again, and I was going to prune the hedge today, oh well.... The birds around his are thoroughly fed up and tired of hiding under the broad leafed plants. We also have a bit of washing that has been out for a few days, it is now on it’s tenth rinse cycle. The Olympic flame seems to be zig zagging across east Anglia, and rushing around to meet itself all over the show, I am surprised it is still burning with all this rain. Black pudding, eggs and crispy bacon for breakfast this morning with some fresh tomatoes. We will not be braaing today, will roast a bird instead! There was a hedgehog at the back door last night so Liz rushed out and opened a tin of sardines for it, and shoved it through the cat flap, the door was locked see. Soolee the cat thought this was for her and went flying through the flap to get it, she could not understand why Liz insisted on putting it outside, still humans do behave weirdly at times and it was a nice little treat,mmmm...

Cationa and Bobby's wedding

The wedding was on the only dry sunny and warm weekend in May. We put up two marquees, a 3 metre square jobby and a 4 x 6 metre one. There were also two porta loos, hired, plus an emergency caravan loo, to place next to them, you would have to be really desperate to use that one though. I had managed to get hedges trimmed and lawns mown before the marquees were put up. Michael and Sophie arrived on the Thursday and were a great help, Michael was in the bar sorting it out in no time. We had to pry him out to go home on Tuesday with a crow bar, we managed to put a fridge in the bar  as well. It still needs work though, but there is the mirror and even a set of optics on the wall, that Liz bought some time ago in anticipation. The wedding was to be a standing only reception with hog roast, so we managed to get seating for everyone! The cake was a collusion between Liz and Christine (Bobby’s mother). Catriona bought a lovely cake stand to hold the four tiers that were made, the stand was made of reinforced iron and concrete ( I lie, it was stainless steel and quite strong), to hold the fruit cake. Catriona’s theme was pink, naturally, with butterflies. Bobby now finds he has a mad urge to step on any butterflies or moths he now sees, I can sympathise, we are still finding scattered butterflies around. The bridesmaids looked lovely in their green outfits, I won’t describe the colour because I am sure to get it wrong. I had a a relatively easy day, no cooking, although I would not have minded, still it was nice to have someone else do it. Catriona looked lovely in her wedding gown and we even managed to squeeze her into the passenger seat of the Mustang driven by a friend of theirs. I had to sit in the back and hold tight! We laid a bit of rubber on one section of the road, just to make sure that the car had the oomph, it did! The ceremony at the church went well and the little flower girl had a ball. The wind blew the confetti around the bride and groom when it was thrown, making it look like, dare I say it, butterflies around their heads. Little Bobby was a very happy looking soul, poor bugger! Bobby is only 6ft 7inches or is it 7ft 6, don’t know, but he can reach everything on the top shelf. Liz managed to get a lovely outfit at the last minute in Peterborough, I bought a new tie in honour of the occasion, spare no expense that’s me.

Bobby and Michael discuss 'bar' matters

We, Michael, Bobby, Matt and me, went round various shops and supermarkets buying booze on Friday, we were not going to run out! We had shed loads of lager and a few ales for the others, we did have a little left over, but not a lot, we had a bunch of piss cats to cater for, I don’t know who invited them. I have had to buy booze since the wedding, the rotten devils managed to drink most of it! We managed to get all seventy odd folks in the garden and all had a merry old time, the last lot left at 11pm. The cake was easy to cut, Liz did not use her concrete blend, but bought some ready made from the Co-op. The main dish was, of course, the hog roast that went down very well, there was even a bit left, not a lot, it was finished with a bit of sweet and sour sauce the next evening.

The cake in assembly mode, one more layer to go!

The bar was run by Michael, with help from Sue and Melly. They looked positively tropical in the garden and had a ball. Cat and Robyn’s friend Helen even supplied a bit of exotic hard tack, Captain Morgan spiced rum and Malibu, that went down well. The bar was really busy the whole afternoon and evening from 3pm until 11pm and beyond. There was no one disappearing into the house either, even Granny and Lindsay enjoyed it.

Catriona passes the loos

Tristan was there too

We were able to get the marquees down while it was still dry, instead of having to wait for a week, like the last time. Oh yes, no one used the emergency loo.

Liz reads the guide

The machine an Elna

Had a busy weekend. The auction was on Saturday. We went via Holme, the back roads to Oundle, we were caught by trains for about eight minutes, luckily not like the iron ore trains in Saldanha. We had the usual fun trying to find somewhere to park the car. The auction had started when we got there, the rain stayed off, so that was a plus. There were a couple of fairly new sewing machines, Liz got quite excited.  I bought some lamps for the bedroom for very little, they are wooden so that Liz doesn’t break them when she knocks them of her bedside cabinet, the shades are made of rubber(should be), not really, they are a gold material with tassels, very nice. The sewing machines came up and I bought the first one a very nice looking Brother for a shade over £40, a bargain as they retail for over £200. There was a lot of nail biting when the next one came up and Liz had to look away when it got to £40, the auctioneer looked a bit numb too when I kept bidding, I had never spent this much at auctions there before, my previous record being only £8,when the mist etc had cleared and the dust settled I was sixty pounds odd in debt and Liz was over the moon, my washing, ironing etc is now assured for many years to come. The auctioneer nearly passed out when he knocked the machine down to me, I don’t know who was the most surprised, him or Liz. Louise had the Brother sewing machine and Liz kept the other machine, an Elna, to replace the one I bought her about thirty years ago! That’s it she will have to wait a few more years for another. After shopping we got home at four and were off out again for a braai with friends at five thirty. Sunday was quiet, Liz played with her new machine, I rewired and put plugs on the lamps, fixed a sticking door and cleaned fish tanks, watched England beat Australia, oh, and cooked some sweet and sour pork fillet with egg fried rice. Thank goodness the day was miserable and windy so we couldn’t sit outside!

 

May 2012

This month was  quite a busy one for us.

Loch Ness

Loch Oich in the am

Something burning in the kitchen?

We went up to Scotland at the beginning of the month, to spend a few days with Michael and Sophie on and around Loch Ness. We spent the night at their flat in Edinburgh before continuing the drive to Fort Augustus in the highlands. We experienced quite a few weather extremes on the trip, it rained, snowed and even hailed on the way there, in between bouts of brilliant sunshine.  We arrived in time for lunch and had a parking spot, organised by Michael, near the canal. The weather was brilliant then and the cabin cruiser was great with sliding glass french doors. The boat had all mod cons including heating. The boat was really fancy and the first night we experienced temperatures of minus 5, it was bitterly cold but one flick of the switch and, voila, we were warm again! I managed a couple of nice pictures of mist rising above the loch in the early morning. We experienced a couple of locks on the Caledonian canal and went under a bridge that crossed the canal, after it was opened. We saw the boat used in the ad to promote Scotland. The cook was sent ashore to tie it to the jetty when they moved it through the lock. The weather for the rest of the trip was great and we manged quite a few good pictures. The trout put up a bit of resistance, by hiding, but we caught a few and had a great trout and egg breakfast on some of our fresh caught trout.

The next event was Catriona and Bobby’s wedding!

February 2012

No lawn mowing today!

Tristan on his travels

Weather report, the month started mild and rapidly went to hell, in a hand basket. We have had some very cold weather recently, which started on Friday 3rd with a hard frost, it froze the pond filter and as a result nearly all the water was pumped out, I had the wonderful task of topping it up using a bucket, I had some help from Liz and we managed to put in about 400 litres of water to fill it to 2/3rds. The following weekend we had a tremendous air frost and loads of snow. The midday temperature was minus 8 Centigrade, and foggy as well. Louise chose this week to have her baby! Louise was told to report to the hospital in Peterborough on Monday night and would probably be induced ( or is it inducted?, ha ha) on Tuesday morning. Liz was having a textathon with her until at least ten pm. We got a call at 3:18 am Tuesday from Louise, she produced Tristan at 1:18 after less than two hours labour, unlike any of her mother's marathon efforts. Our neighbour was also woken up, and he is deaf, Liz was quite excited! We were able to visit Louise and Tristan at 4pm in the afternoon. The hospital is quite fancy, but Louise had to get permission to do anything to the baby, she couldn't even clean it's little eye without the sister being consulted. Matt was quite happy although he had been sent home at midnight and then immediately recalled. Louise was released from hospital at about six and at half seven I took Liz around to help Louise settle in with Tristan. I left her there until Saturday evening, I was in charge of the cats for a few days, peace and quiet. I returned Liz to Louise and Matt after church, on Sunday. We had a roast chicken lunch at Louise's house, prepared by Liz. Robyn and Catriona were around to play with the baby.

Robyn's graduation July 2011

We had a week off last week to attend Robyn's graduation, she has finaly made it out of full time education. We took a day trip to Ely and admired the cathedral, from the outside, and the captured Russian cannon from the Crimean war. We took a little wander down by the river Ouse and had a delightful light lunch at the Maltings on the riverside, along with all the other old folks, I think we were the youngest there! The river was idylic with the gaily painted narrow boats sailing up and down and moored alongside. Liz did admire one boat that she thought would be ideal as a river bus. We managed to find free parking near the cathedral, which was a bit of a bonus. The town was fairly busy, and it was such a lovely day. Liz was quite enamoured with the chimneys on the building on the high street alongside the cathedral. I am not puting one of those on the house, no matter how good it looks! There was one particularly pretty little house near the cathedral that realy looked a picture with all the flowers in the front garden. The area is supposed to be suffering a drought, but it certainly looks green, unlike an African drought.
We went to Wisbech (Wizbeech) the next day, but it rained, so it was not quite so pleasant, blooming drought! Thursday dawned quite brightly and at about noon we were off to Oxford with Robyn for the 'graduation'. I think no one was more amazed than Robyn when she was told she had a 2,1 pass. We went to a park and ride site and took the bus to Robyn's university. We arrived in plenty of time for her graduation, it was at 5pm. There was a lot of traipsing around to get her gown and the tickets etc for us to attend the ceremony. Robyn only spoke to a couple of the graduates there, although there was quite a greeting form one of the girls she had been there with ( she was from Mexico). There graduates were quite a cosmopolitan lot, they were from all over the world, Africa, Asia, America north and South and Europe. The only people who seemed to be missing were Eskimos and Australians, which I found quite surprising. There was one graduate dressed in full kimono and white socks with the wooden shoes, it was quite incredible, then there were other girls dressed in red skirts, there were all kinds. Robyn told us we had to sit in the front row, so we rushed in and got a seat right at the front, but it was to close to photograph her, still there was plenty of chance for that after the ceremony. The whole thing only took an hour, which was enough, as our hands were sore from continualy clapping for about thirty minutes.