Wednesday 31 May 2023

Hairdryer

Tomorrow I am scheduled to go away for a long weekend with Middlesister, so this is the last tale until next Tuesday at the earliest.
From Facebook archives
31 May 2014 at 23:03
Loud cursing from the bathroom - at some length and strength.
Master of the house emerges.
"Ben, where's the hairdryer?"
"You've dropped the radio in the bath again haven't you?"
So like the home-life of our own dear Queen...

Monday 29 May 2023

Good Hair Day?

From Facebook Archives
30 May 2014 at 17:10 
So we're driving back from a couple of days in Bridlington. 
My hair had got really manky and I washed it this morning and let it dry hanging loose.
Not knowing whether it looked tidy or through-a-hedge-backwards I asked Fester 
"How does my hair look?"
"Very Rubenesque dear, with just a hint of Pre-Raphelite."
Henlady  I love Pre-Raphaelite hair, mine is so straight.
MsExlibris  I think I would take that as a compliment!
Bess Cavalier  I'd take Rubenesque or Pre-Raphaelite any day - got to be an improvement on Crystal Tips!

The 2019 Scottish Trip Part 2

No photo description available.
The Sound of Sleat

 After watching Great British Road Trips the General Wade Military Road episode Thunderthighs requested we drive that road from Inverness to the Glenelg ferry.

From Facebook archives

28, 29,30 May 2019
We drove General Wade's Military Road all the way from Inverness to Glenelg and straight on to the ferry.  No chance to photograph it and no room to open my door once we were aboard.  As well as two blokes operating it this ferry had a pair of really friendly Border Collies.  Sadly I couldn't get a photo of them.
No photo description available.
Dr Fester enjoyed the cruise and was so happy to see seals.
"Take a photo of them"
They're too far away.
"That's ok, you can crop it."
Anyway, there were seals who seemed pleased to see us.
 
 No photo description available.
Ferretfingers enjoyed the cruise too
 
When you get to the other side there’s nowhere to stop for a photo so it’s right up the hill in first or second gear. 
Our picturesque lunch spot was in Broadford car park.   
 No photo description available.
Then we drove back over the Skye bridge and down to the even more picturesque EileanDonan.
Twenty years ago (or more) when we first took the boys to Skye Ferretfingers was carsick and we stopped in the carpark here to clean him up.  Which we mention every time we spot it on the tv or elsewhere.  There was hardly anything there then.   
Now there's a posh visitors' centre, car-park-men to guide you, coach parking and hundreds of tourists of all nations.
We just had some very nice ice-cream, took some photos and headed for our guest house.
 
Our bedroom at Caberfeidh guest house has one of the best views we've ever enjoyed.  
I spent a lot of time just staring out of the window watching the changing light changing the character of the loch.  No photos could do it justice.   
The rooms were really comfortable and the breakfast was excellent too. 
The Dornie Hotel (just over the water) did us an excellent dinner.  Fester and I shared a seafood platter and introduced Thunderthighs to langoustine (not impressed).
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Ferretfingers makes himself at home wherever he is; the view was wasted on him.   
He insisted on closing the curtains at bedtime.   
I still woke up at 4am.   
I went to the window to look at the loch, opened it to better listen to the dawn chorus, and heard the cuckoo.
The west of Scotland in May is definitely the place to hear the cuckoo; we heard and saw three last year on the Mull of Kintyre.
 
We had an uneventful drive to the Ardrossan Hotel in Ayr, dinner with Fester’s friend the Beetle Professor and his Wife, and a wet drive home via the Military Road (the Hadrian’s Wall one).
 
 No photo description available.

Sunday 28 May 2023

The 2019 Scottish Trip Part 1

 

From Facebook Archives

No photo description available.
Not the worst view we've had from a hotel window; The Moray Firth and beyond from 
The Smithton Hotel just outside Inverness.
26, 27 May 2019
After watching Great British Road Trips the General Wade Military Road episode Thunderthighs requested we drive that road from Inverness to the Glenelg ferry.
 
We’ve stopped over in Inverness many times but never had a proper look around so this time we stayed in Smithton, bussed in and got on a City Sightseeing hop-on-hop-off for the tour. 
Unlike Glasgow (and elsewhere) in Inverness they inflict every type of Scottish music on passengers with the interesting and informative commentary.  The pipes start as soon as you board then it's short snaps of Jimmy Shand, Andy Sterwart, the Proclaimers, fiddling Strathspeyreels, execrable versions of Mull of Kintyre and Amazing Grace, other Caledonian stuff I can't name and Hoots Man There's A Moose Loose Aboot The Hoose.  The last was the only one Ferretfingers liked and giggled about for a day or so.  Even right at the back on the outside there was no escape; I spent a fair time with my handbag shoved over the speaker to deaden it.
Other than that, the wind and the rain, it was an excellent ride.
 
Thunderthighs found and hopefully presented me with a Loch Ness cruises brochure but I demurred on the grounds that there were bound to be pipes playing and, much as I like them and would like to do the trip, it would drive Ferretfingers demented.  Also it would be full of tourists.  Thunderthighs agreed.

No photo description available. 

 
27 May at 14:52
The bus broke down on Culloden Moor. 
Ferretfingers fell asleep.   
We won't discuss how Thunderthighs reacted.

 
 
 
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27 May at 15.52 
Looking over the battlefield
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Now this is a form of information board we like.
Information on one side and a bench on the other.
No photo description available.

Tuesday 23 May 2023

Full Snails?

My snail hunting obsession may have led to this mondegreen...
From Facebook archives.
 
22 May 2017 at 22:55 ·
Only 2 snails this evening, and no return of the friendly cat.
 
24 May 2017 at 10:26 ·
Yesterday at yoga Ingrid, the teacher, was telling us about her great-niece who is studying Beauty at Newcastle College and doing treatments at home for practice and not much money.
"She's doing all the stuff: waxing, tanning, facials and full snails."
Some new treatment I'd never heard of?
No … a little thought and I realised she'd actually said "false nails
Quiet giggles on the mat in the corner.
 
Only one snail found on last night's hunt.
🐌🐌🐌
I have a family event to attend, so there will be no more blogs until Sunday at the earliest.