Tag: driving

Day 1343 a lovely night with the Crochet Hookers last night and Winter Solstice today!

What a lovely night last night. The Boarding House in Howwood was lovely.

We started off for a few drinks in the Gateside Inn and then Lesley drove us to the Boarding House. It looks super festive.

Tee hee Evelyn is holding the door open while I take my photos!

I don’t have any photos of us at dinner as it was a big round table and impossible to get us all in… here I am before I go out.

Although you can’t see it, I must tell you a funny story about the dress I wore.

First of all… me in a dress. Doesn’t happen often.

More importantly…. Where on earth did that dress come from?

I was looking for a black dress for the funeral today and came across a black dress that I have no recollection of buying. I have wrecked my brains. I don’t recall EVER having seen it before and it fits like a glove.

The dress I was looking for is nowhere to be seen and yet this one seems to be in its place. It has lovely lacy see through sleeves.

Not a clue where it came from.

A couple of pics of the lovely Evelyn and Anne!

Wait till you see the food!

I had sesame chicken strips with mustard mayo and Evelyn had bang bang cauliflower to start.

I had monkfish with chilli and garlic oil with flagrant rice and flatbread. Evelyn had Turkey with all the trimmings. (other meals were available but I wasn’t stretching over everyone for photos! 😂😂

Dessert was Cranachan Pavlova. It was beautiful! also tasted as good as it looked.

We had lots of good chat and put the world to rights as we usually do.

We had Secret Santa and all got lovely gifts. It was such a nice night. I hit a wall after dessert and could have slept at the table!!

Thanks to Lesley for driving and to all the girls for a great night!

It was a crazy wild day today and I had so much anxiety about driving up to Perth. I was so nervous setting off…. Overthinking how bad the weather was. It was only a yellow warning and I’ve driven in red warnings before… I knew it would be nothing but I think I have an “appetite for drama”…. I pinched that from a podcast today! I heard it and thought that was SO true!!

I do and I have…. An appetite for drama and suffering. I want to feel hard done to at times, I want people to feel sorry for me. Recognising it is half the battle. I will slap myself in the face with “appetite for drama” quite regularly….. upon reflection… Craig… in case you’re listening… slap me with this and I’m likely to slap you back 😂😂😂 that’s just my ego talking. I’m allowed to recognise it. I’m not ready for anyone else to.

Apart from narrowly missing a pile up at the Braehead exit of the M8 (wow the adrenaline flooded through me!) and being blown off course on the M80…. The drive was actually quite lovely. The sky cleared blue, although the wind was still blawin’ a hoolie. It was nice to see so much of Scotland just before Christmas… and in the daylight.

Once I found where I was going, I completely relaxed.

Driving home was a breeze…. (That’s a bad metaphor as it was still wild!!) I drove like a pro. It’s like I’m two different people at times. 😂 (actually I’m way more than two different people but that’s a different story. 😂😂). Not a worry mmmon the road at all, weaving in and out of traffic. Second nature kicked back in.

So back home now. Christmas jammies on for a relaxing evening after more socialising than I’ve done in years. 😘

Today is the shortest day with sunrise at 8.46am and setting at 3.37pm.

The light is being born again. I love that idea. This is it folks…. Summer is a-coming. Get those flip flops at the ready!!

Also today is my fast-aversary!! Ok I made that word up. It’s a year since I started fasting and I have managed it for 365 days. Who’d a thunk it?!

I feel I have a long way to go but I am down a couple of dress sizes and I’m way more comfortable in my own skin. I always struggled with feeling bloated and I can honestly say I’ve not felt bloated once in a year.

Would you believe it’s 35 years since the Lockerbie disaster.

I was sat with my dad in the car… we were delivering Webb Ivory Christmas catalogue orders to Dad’s Scout troop…. We were outside Kevin O’Reilly’s house in Penicuik….when we heard that a plane had come ONE HOUR AND EIGHTEEN MINUTES drive away from our house. It’s also sad that Kevin O’Reilly is no longer with us either. He was in my year at school.

Only 4 more sleeps until Santa comes. I’m not dreading Christmas this year. I’m embracing it quietly from the couch beside the beautiful Christmas tree.

So many bad things are happening all around me. To people that I love. These are not my stories to tell but they do have an effect on me. Not everyone is happy this Christmas and I’m more aware than ever that life is today, here and now and it is what you make it.

Appreciate everyone you have around you.

Tell them.

Make it awkward.

Be vulnerable.

The world needs way more of that right now.

Stay safe everyone 🎄🎄🎄

Day 1287 I dot the told! 🤧😷

I woke up with the cold this morning. Actually that’s not entirely true as I woke up at 12.30 and about 5ish with the cold.

I was about to say I felt totally fine yesterday but then remembered that technically that wasn’t true. Least said about that the better. The minute I jumped in the shower yesterday, I felt better.

I had such a lovely drive over to Edinburgh. What a difference a Bertie Beetle makes. I’ve been meaning to talk about that for a while… Craig must be sick of me saying it. 😂 I LOVE driving again. I’m able to pull away from junctions without being terrified. I’m able to skip out in front of people rather than waiting for a completely clear road. I was driving at 70 miles an hour the whole way to Edinburgh and it felt like a dawdle. I am brave enough to move lanes again. Despite how awful I felt yesterday morning I had a really lovely drive over. I did have the car at 26°C to keep me cosy. maybe that was a sign?!?

We had a lovely family get together. I still seem to struggle with small talk. I know that I used to drink to cover that but not any more. I overthink things and can’t always think what to say. I hear myself and think “urgh why on earth did I say that?”. I cringe at some of the words that come out of my mouth…. Yet I LOVE the real deep and meaningful meaty conversations.

My mum’s cousin Pam and her husband were over from Colorado… we all met in Duddingston, Edinburgh at mum’s cousin Joyce’s…. There’s a mouthful and a half.

Here we all are yesterday.

My brother set up this great timer photo and I seemed to pick the forefront and massive spot!!

So back to today…. I went into work early as we are skeleton Tartan this week, and I wanted to let the guys know what they were working on…. As the day went on I just got more and more blocked up. I had chills shivering through me. I had the heating up on full in the portacabin!

Quite early on in the day I realised I had to stay until 5pm to receive a rental van back. The thought of it was awful…. The day dragged on and I felt so knackered. Actually I just focused on what needed doing and actually had a really good afternoon. The time passed quickly and I got lots done. I didn’t even feel like I’d stayed late. I have literally talked to myself all day and it’s worked. There have been no tears.

I have this lovely gift, from Evelyn, hanging from my rear view mirror.

Stay true to yourself ♥️

Oh and a little bit of mint choc chip ice cream makes you feel a bit better too.

Stay safe everyone ♥️♥️♥️

Day 1179 ROADTRIP from Clachtoll through Ullapool, Drumnadrochit, Fort Augustus, Fort William, Glencoe and home!

We’re home a day early. The forecast was dreadful today and it rained incessantly from teatime last night right through. I think that would be ok if you’re in a caravan or Motorhome but we’re literally sitting on top of each other in the van and nothing dries.

We took a leisurely drive down the west coast of Loch Ness, which adds about an hour and a half to the journey, but we’ve seen some amazing scenery.

It’s much windier roads although it looks like the straighter route.

We left here around 9.30am.

Via The Bothy in Ullapool for brunch, for the third time this week!! Freya approves. 😂 A roll and haggis and an oat milk decaf latte!

A leisurely walk through Ullapool…. No rain here thankfully!

Then off on the road down the west coast of Loch Ness, through Muir of Ord, Beauly and Drumnadrochit.

We stopped again in Fort Augustus, to take Freya for a walk down by the lovely river. It’s drizzling now.

I spotted some thistles on the way back to the car!

None of them had a stunning backdrop sadly….

We carried on down and hit traffic just outside Fort William. 20 minute queues just to get into the town! So straight through and stopped just at the Isle of Glencoe Hotel at Ballachulish. My trusty Co-pilot took photos as we went over the Ballachulish Bridge.

It was so calm when we stopped. After the incessant wind of the last week, the calm was very intense and almost loud, if that makes any sense. I said to Craig it was like being inside but outside. 😬 he politely said he knew what I meant! 🤔😆

Freya had a good walk and run around and we had some biscuits and cheese before the last leg of the journey, down through some of Scotland’s most beautiful scenery, Glencoe and Loch Lomond.

Of course it was VERY cloudy but after all the rain, everything looks so fresh and green again.

I wasn’t 100% certain that coming home was the right idea, but the heavens opened just north of the Erskine Bridge and it’s been pretty torrential ever since. We had a lovely day meandering home rather than a bored day being stressed about being stuck inside the van on a soggy campsite. It was absolutely the right decision.

I am devastated the holiday is over already. It seems so fast and almost like I didn’t appreciate it enough at the time. The weather hasn’t been the best but we have been lucky with a couple of lovely days. It just passed in a flash. the Clachtoll Beach Campsite is impeccable. Spotlessly clean. Motivational signs in the toilets.

Free use of paddle boards, kayaks, boogie boards…. If it’s not blawin’ a hoolie outside!

Freya has also been an absolute joy. What a lovely wee dog she has been. We never get that one on one time with her. Very special and obviously all thanks to lovely Louise next door for moving in and looking after the other two (who seem very big now that we’re home!!)

I’m very proud of myself for taking over the driving on Tuesday when we drove back up from Ullapool…. I’ve not written that blog yet… but I will. I’ve overcome my driving anxiety and felt more comfortable driving than being a passenger, no offence to Craig!!

So back to auld claes and porridge as my Grandad used to say.

Calaidh and Bhruic were so excited to see us… and we did come back to some waterworks and traffic lights outside house. We’d sprung a leak so at least that’s been fixed!

Lots more blogs to follow when I can get round to them!!

Stay safe everyone 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿💙🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿