I am not gonna lie…. Today has been anxiety central for me. Worrying about the day I never saw. I used to love driving Abbie the camper van but for some reason, recently, she seems 10 times the size and I am nervous driving her.

All the little things that have gone wrong in the last few years, have blown up out of all proportion in my head. Also, to be fair to me…. It’s that time of the month, all of a sudden, it seems like no time at all since I was on hands and knees on the couch with last months stomach cramp. I am still certain that HRT is the way forward but I’m not enjoying this part.

I’m meeting family at the Bridge Inn in Linlithgow at 1.30pm. It takes me 54 minutes to get there. I leave with 2 hours and 10 minutes to spare, just in case!!

Craig is home as Rangers and Celtic meet in the Cup Final today. He’d be a nightmare sitting through lunch wondering what was going on in the game! It wouldn’t matter so much to him if it wasn’t the two rivals playing.

I had a fear about the size of the car park and it would seem it was a well founded…. The car park is tiny compared to my monster sized van. I was able to get turned around and park based on it being way busier later on. I should be able to drive straight out of my space. It took a lot of too-ing and fro-ing to get into the space.

This is ridiculous. I really need to nip this in the bud as I can’t be nervous driving it otherwise I’ll never go anywhere.

Anyway…. The restaurant is beautiful.

That’s the positive to arriving super early. I can have a wander and get my anxious breath back.

I’m sitting outside in the beer garden, it’s cold but a nice warmth when the sun comes out. I was here an hour early but it’s now only 25 minutes. Time flies when your mind is full of worry.

And breathe.

The interior of the pub is just as nice as the outside. It’s so tastefully done. Really rustic. I love that word… 😂

There are 11 of us for dinner so we didn’t know in advance but it turns out there’s a set menu for groups of 10 or above. Who knew?!? I suppose it’s understandable and there were about 5 options for starter, Main and dessert… at £31.95 for three courses.

Now I’m used to the village pub next door that’s still not above £20 for 3 courses…. But that’s ok.

The food itself was lovely, really tasty and well made but my main and my pud were both different to what the menu described. I was particularly disappointed at my berry crumble with ginger and lemon crumble…. Being apple crumble!!! Now this might be a very British thing, but we do not complain. We just moan our way through it and accept we deserve what we get. It’s too hard to complain.

It was great to get a good chat and catch up with everyone. I also made it back through Glasgow before the Cup Final was over and missed all the traffic!!

So there are positives in my day….. lovely to see everyone and see that beautiful restaurant. To face my fears driving over on such a beautiful day and to be sitting in front of the fire now with this bar of chocolate.

Since I took that photo… the chocolate has actually gone already 🤦🏻‍♀️😂 och I musta needed it! 😆

Back on the fast with a hot water bottle for the cramp 🤕

Stay safe everyone 🍫🍫🍫