I Wish

I don't wish for many things for myself because I'm fortunate enough not to need to wish for things.  However I was at an afternoon garden-party at a friend's on Tuesday and happened to be talking to a delightful lady who mentioned that she could whistle.  Please don't ask me how the topic came up.  As you will know from a recent post it's not something I can do so I certainly did not raise the subject.  However few people I've heard can whistle quite so loudly that it actually hurt my ears when I stood in front of them.  Louise, however, can.  Boy, was I impressed! The whistler was not maintaining that she could do much better.  Perhaps.  But I wasn't going to be the one standing in front and that close again without earplugs.

4 June: A Reflection

I woke to a text from Gaz wishing me a happy birthday - a wish which was followed by a surprising - and very warming - number of others and a wish which was to prove very effective in coming true.

The day was cool but sunny so I decided that my first call would be to Kelvingrove Park next to Glasgow’s main University buildings. It is a magnificent park in the true tradition of British cities and their Victorian era Councils and benefactors. (Kelvingrove Park was established by the City Council in the mid 1850s.)

The reason for the call was to visit the tree planted in memory of our son Andrew - who preferred to be called Andy - who died on this day in 2006. The tree is doing really well. The setting is really fitting overlooked as it is by the splendid main building of the University - in the background of the first photo below.

The tree in the foreground was planted to commemorate the life of Andy 

I was taking the photos at the same time in the morning that Andy died so it was an opportunity for some quiet reflection.

After that I went to the Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery to meet Friend Who Knows Too Much and her daughter who had, a few hours previously, had confirmation of her BA degree. So the lunch to which I was treated was a most enjoyable occasion. FWKTM and I then spent the afternoon at the Art Gallery and Park chatting and catching up.

Back to Anna’s we had a quiet evening with dinner and a DVD of a modern take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. 

Thank you one and all. It really was a wonderfully happy, if sometimes reflective, birthday.

I Can't Whistle Either

A few days ago I posted about the mediocrity of many of my achievements.  A number of you were kind enough to post complimentary comments. I have given some more thought to the subject but decided that as this was a family blog I would write some more on my blog A Life in the Day Of.  You can therefore spare yourself the need to endure the repetition of the personal pronoun by simply waiting for the next post to appear on this blog.  If you want to read more you can do so here.

Enjoy your Sunday.  Unless you are in New Zealand or Australia in which case that exhortation will be pointless as your Sunday will almost be over.  So, for my antipodean readers,  have a great Monday.

A Change of Place

Up (by mistake I have to admit) at 0400 yesterday and off on the 0700 ferry to Glasgow.  Scotland is a bit like New Zealand in some ways.  One of those is the fact that if you want to drive from North to South from Inverness to Glasgow there are only two basic routes: down the centre or down the West coast.  Neither is a particularly good road and the principal one, the A9 down the centre which carries a great deal of traffic, is single carriageway for most of its length.  The A82 down the West is entirely single carriageway and exceedingly windy as well.

Unfortunately the A9 was blocked from 0200 by two lorries which collided head on killing the drivers instantly.  The road remained blocked until the evening whilst crash investigators studied the site and the debris was cleared.  In the last 10 years 71 people have lost their lives on that stretch of road.  The Scottish Government is, however, tackling the problem. The road is scheduled to be dual carriageway by 2025.  By that time another 100 people may have lost their lives and countless hundreds been injured.

I have a video camera in the car which records the road all the time that the car is moving.  I can see it becoming a requirement by some insurance companies in the not-too-distant future.  It has made me much more aware of my driving and the driving of others.  Yesterday the camera recorded two incidents of reckless, nay dangerous, overtaking.

I had a comfort stop by the village of Glencoe at the National Trust for Scotland's visitor centre.  Whilst there I photographed the glen:

So now I have a week or so in Scotland's central belt before returning to Lewis.