:: ho ho ho

Well it warmed up after the big frost and Christmas Day it was positively balmy. In fact, as Faye remarked, it was warmer than some Dunedin Christmases.

So here are a few festive snaps for you to look at:


On Christmas Eve we had dinner at the Rail Bridge cafe, and amused ourselves taking snaps of the bridge.


Afterwards we went in to the midnight carol service at the High Kirk of St Giles. It was lovely - the minister did a great anti-war sermon.


You can just about make out the banners in this shot - they have angels on them, done in applique.


My little Poundstretcher tree is still going strong - not as fab as the St Giles tree.


Bertie had an appointment at the vet's on Christmas Eve, and ended up with a new dressing. Sigh. He hates it. He's wearing one of my socks on it -- when he goes out he has the sock, then a plastic bag, then his lace-up boot, which is covered in three layers of gaffer tape. And sometimes the bandage still gets wet. Sigh.


We all got lovely presents. Faye gave Bertie a Marks & Spencer dog treat stocking, and he scoffed the lot! We were disappointed to discover that the pudding in the toe was a squeaky toy. He's scaredof squeaky toys.


Faye got a beautiful shawl.


My best pressie was the flame-thrower. It was meant to be a birthday present, but Faye couldn't send it through the mail because it includes a gas bottle. Way to go!


After opening the presents we went for a walk. Bertie wore his antlers, the ones Faye got him that have flashing lights and play "Silent Night". He was a huge hit, especially with children.

:: more frost

Here's another picture I took the other day, frost crystals on the shed roof. See the slight sunset glow there? It was taken at noon.

:: stitched up

Bertie update: He got his stitches out all right, but still has a bandage, which he has to wear until Christmas Eve. He squealed while the vet took the stitches out and she chastised him - but then realised he was crying because the receptionist was holding his leg too tightly. Ow, ow, ow!

I got some partridges at the butcher's yesterday. I went to a real old-fashioned place in Stockbridge, which has a grand display of pheasants, rabbits etc, all with their clothes on, as it were. The other old-fashioned touch is that the butcher is a compulsive opinionator, like a classic taxi driver. As I went in, he was conversing with another customer.

Customer: Yes, I've always thought guinea pigs would be delicious.
Butcher: Aye, especially the young ones that haven't run around a lot. No reason not to eat them.
Customer: They eat them in South America.

A nice young assistant fetched the partridges out of the display cabinet for me.

Butcher: Those are grey partridges those, they're the best ones.
Customer: Better than French partridges.
Butcher: Aye, they're no good, French partridges. See those over there? [Indicates birds in display.] They're French partridges, don't buy those.
Customer [addressing me]: Do you know why they call them French partridges?
Me: Because they come from France?
Customer: No! It's because they run [makes running motion with fingers].
Butcher: She doesn't know, she's a townie. It's amazing what town folk don' t know. Country people know it all.

The partridges look awfully wee. I got four just in case.

I've got all next week off, hurrah. It's not actually such a bargain - Christmas Day is a non-publishing day, so everyone gets Christmas Eve off. Whereas there are no non-publishing days the following week, so I have to work six days, including New Year's Eve. I'm hoping to get off by 11:30pm that night so Faye and I can see in 2003 in Princes Street, with fireworks and a dram.

There's a lot of grumbling by those working on Christmas Day. Usually it's a very short shift - everyone comes in early, works hard to get the paper finished and are off home by 8pm or so. But this year The Powers That Be have decreed there shall be two editions, with almost normal off-times, 9:30pm and 11pm. Plus it isn't clear whether anyone has arranged for food to be laid on. The canteen is closed and all restaurants, cafes, shops etc are shut. Merry Christmas, wage slaves! You can be sure that none of the Powers will be working that day.

:: update

Well yes, it's been a while since Bertie hurt his foot. Over a fortnight -- he gets the stitches out tomorrow morning.

He was very drunk the day I picked him up way back then. The vet had given him a shot to bring him round as I had to pick him up early (before work), but he wasn't "awake" in the full sense of the word. The lift was stopping about halfway up the building, so to speak. He recovered after a few days and now he's totally stir crazy from being kept on the lead all the time. I've been putting chew deterrent on his bandages, which has worked a treat, and he has a little boot to wear too. He's worn through the stitching on that, so it has to have a plastic bag inside.

I've been busy being organised for Christmas -- I'm doing very well, I have very little left to organise and there are still five days left!

Faye arrived a couple of days ahead of schedule -- her British colleagues had convinced her Scotland was far, far away so she'd planned on taking a couple of days to come up. In the event she did it in one hit! The house was filthy - I was leaving cleaning till the last minute - but she didn't mind. I dragged the tree down out of the attic and we dressed it together. She also brought Christmas decorations and I already had a pine wreath, so the place is looking reasonably festive. (Bertie is also looking very Christmassy -- Faye brought him some more antlers, and these ones not only have flashing lights, they play Away in a Manger as well! Not a happy puppy!)

And at least the windows are clean - I managed to snag one of the local window-cleaners as he was passing and get him to do them. Only a fiver, and he even did the front door! What a bargain. He's going to come regularly from now on.

As you can see from the picture above, it's quite cold at the moment. The back yard hasn't defrosted for days and in some places you'd think it had been snowing, the frost is that thick. Last night a fog came down as well, which is still lingering. That's why the trees are frosted right up to the tops. Jingle Bells!

One wonderful aspect of the weather is that the frost bounces white light into the house, making it much brighter inside than normal in winter. Especially with the windows being so squeaky clean.

:: Mark Harden's Artchive

Mark Harden's Artchive

This is a great art site. The best bit is the image viewer. Worth a visit.

:: jingle all the way ...

Bertie and Faye at the marina this afternoon. Brrrr.

:: uh oh

As I write this, Bertie is in Linlithgow, coming round from an anaesthetic. He's got stitches in the cut on his paw, which apparently is a classic greyhound injury -- it's in the web between his toes. I took him to the vet this morning as the home medication didn't seem to be having much effect. So now he's strapped up with a fancy-pants bandage and has yet more antibiotics. The damage to me, so far: £136.30. Kaching!! Still to come: two bandage changes (at least) and stitch removal in a fortnight's time, plus more bandages after that. Kaching!!

Good news: he's insured! Hurrah!

Bad news: the excess is £80! Boo!

In five minutes I have to drive to Linlithgow (again) to pick up a groggy dog. I'll take him for a sedate (or is that sedated?) walk, then off to work for a 3pm start due to early deadlines.

:: time flies

I never did get back and finish that, did I? And now it's nearly Thursday (ten minutes to go) and Bertie's on to his next injury (cut paw, ow! ow!). He's being home-medicated -- a thorough sluicing with salty water, followed by lavender oil (it's antiseptic and he hates the taste, so doesn't lick so much). The dew claw injury has just about healed up; I hope the antibiotics are still active!

Where did I get up to in the travelogue? Flodigarry. So we stayed overnight and it was lovely -- the breakfast was superb, stewed prunes and apricots, mmm, and good coffee. It was raining, so we didn't do too much more walking, just around the grounds with the dog. Who had his photo taken by a tourist.

Then we drove back to Barevan through the romantically soggy landscape -- collecting more dog biscuits at the bridge toll. The highlands and islands really do look good in the rain, and at this time of year there's more colour around than in the summer.

Jenny and John had been coping with the farm work all right, and after Andrew had been round the cattle we whizzed off to see the latest Harry Potter. It was ok, though pretty dark in parts. There's one character, Dobby the House Elf, who I found particularly disturbing. He has a thing of punishing himself for mistakes and misdeeds by beating his head against the wall. In one scene, he said, "Dobby's been very bad. Dobby had to iron his hands." He held up his hands and they were bandaged. It's enough to give me nightmares, let alone a sensitive ten-year-old. But the rest was fun, especially the flying car and the quidditch match.

I came back the next day, traffic was fairly heavy so I didn't make good time. I had intended to go out, but crashed on to the sofa instead. Holidays are so tiring!!

This new job I'm in is frantically busy some nights -- like tonight. As well as revising everything and subbing some things and checking the pages and doing little odds and sods, I'm a general trouble-shooter and liaison person. I have to hold about six tasks in my head at any one time, prioritising and reprioritising as new problems come up. This can wait, that is urgent, the other might seem urgent to the person whose problem it is but can go fourth on the list. Meanwhile there was a party going on upstairs and some of the partygoers were standing at the atrium railing, sipping their drinks and gazing down at us beavering away.

But it's fun, I enjoy it. There's lots of variety and the time speeds along when you're busy.

Nearly time to go home, phew. Tomorrow I'm going to finalise arrangements for a lunch for our old foreign desk team: that will be fun! Five angry, opinionated people get drunk in working hours! Whee! I'll have to get someone else to walk Bertie that night; in this job I don't get a break long enough to go home in, and there won't be time between lunch and starting work. I'll work something out. Maybe I'll bring Bertie to work with me -- he can sleep in the car and I can walk him in the park.

:: I'm baaaack!

I've been back for a couple of days but as usual have been flying around catching up with practical stuff and not sitting down and writing about my hols.

Which were great! We went up to the farm on Friday after Bertie got the all-clear from the vet (and more biscuits). Had a great few days on the farm, including a lovely dinner out with Andrew's folks and his aunt and uncle. I got lots of presents and so did Andrew, so we had a little opening session every day. There was also a small drama involving Andrew's other aunt and the Cawdor estate drama -- for a few ghastly minutes she thought she was to be evicted from her cottage, which the estate owns, but it was a misunderstanding. Phew.

Sunday we left for Skye, had a great drive there, stopping for a late lunch at the railway station cafe at Plockton. The bridge tolls have to be the friendliest anywhere -- the attendant sweetened the £4.70 charge with a handful of biscuits for Bertie!

Our first stop was the B&B at Eabost West -- very comfortable.

View from the lounge (same as from the bedrooms):



Tasty breakfast too!



We had a good walk to wear that off, to the Coral Beach near Dunvegan Castle. There was a "no dogs" sign, but we decided it really meant "no terriers". Bertie behaved himself perfectly, apart from eating sheep droppings (ewww!) After a quick cup of tea in Dunvegan, during which it rained, we headed south to um, er, a place near Carbost, long Gaelic name where we scrambled around on cliff tops in a cold wind. Brrr. Next port of call was the Talisker whiskey distillery, where we were disappointed to learn that the next tour wasn't until 4.30pm, too late for us. But a group of Norwegian submariners just happened to be there having a private tour, so we tagged along with them. Very interesting, lots of fascinating smells and sights. We weren't allowed to take photos because of the firefighters' strike.

Then it was back to Moira's B&B to wash and dress and walk the dog. Then, hurrah! We were off to the Three Chimneys for our birthday treat (a major treat for me, as Andrew picked up the tab!! What a guy!)

It was the most extraordinary route to an award-winning restaurant, driving for miles down a single-track road keeping an eye out for straying sheep. But well worth the effort -- the food was divine. Here are some snaps:


My starter: Skye seafood croustade with scallops and lobster, mmmmmmm


Andrew's starter: black pudding with mushrooms and apple. It looks odd but he says it tasted sensational.


My main course: lamb, perfectly cooked, on leek mash with roasted root veg and a port wine sauce.


Andrew's main course: Scallops and monkfish, luscious.

We also had half a dozen raw Skye oysters each, fresh and delicious. First time I've had raw oysters for a long time.

I didn't take photos of the deserts because by then other diners had arrived, but I had a dreamy chocolate tart, which managed to be creamy, rich and light all at the same time, and Andrew had marmalade steamed pud and drambuie custard. The wine was a German sauterne, just off dry, very nice.

We were full as ticks after all that! It was the best restaurant meal I've ever had, wonderful.


Andrew was falling over, he drank so much ... no, he's trying to be artistic. "There's something wrong with your chin," he said. Yes, the famous family chin, glowing away roundly.

The next day we moved to our next accommodation, at Flodigarry, but first we went off down to Elgol, another looooong single-track road. At one point it was guarded by a fierce highland cow. We had to shout at her to get her to move. Bertie was very impressed by her horns and didn't even THINK about barking at her.





Then black north to Flodigarry, stopping for lunch at the Aros Experience at Portree and for a steep walk at the Old Man of Storr. I stopped before the top -- ran out of steam -- but Bertie and Andrew pushed on up to the Old Man. It was a rush because it gets dark at about 3.45.

The hotel was great, a real treat. It's quite expensive in season, but at this time of year it's almost cheap -- £35 each. There's a vast lounge with several sofas, a grand piano and a roaring log fire, a swanky dining room and a fairly scuzzy bar. There were hardly any other guests, so we got to have our bar meals in the dining room and had the lounge to ourselves. Bertie wasn't allowed down there, but he was exhausted so didn't mind too much.

Pics:


The hotel was built as a private house by a descendent of Flora Macdonald -- she used to live in a cottage nearby.


These were everywhere -- big mice, dressed up. Bertie was creeped out by them. So was I.


The bar is in the battlemented white bit you can see in the view of the house, on the right. It has a Moroccan theme -- the original owner lived there -- but the hotel owners haven't let that influence the decor.


Meanwhile, back in the lounge...


It was comfortable in a tatty, well-worn way.


Well it's 6pm and I've got to have a shower and walk the dog before I go out. I'll finish this later on ... maybe tomorrow night at work. Sigh.

:: ouch

That's what it says on Bertie's new bandage, in several languages. Autsch! Aiee!! That's pretty much what Bertie was saying when the vet snipped off his broken dew claw. She made him a little muzzle out of a bandage in case he bit her, but I don't think he would have. He was really shocked that she hurt him though -- his pal! His chum! And I was in trouble too for taking him in there and not smacking her when she hurt him.

He came round after a lot of cuddles and biscuits -- at one point the vet was hugging him and crooning: "You're just misunderstood, yes, you're so unloved and no-one understands you, poor dog,"

"No-one feeds him either," I added.

"Noooo! You're starving and unloved and misunderstood, poor, poor Bertie," she said as he crushed up against her, trembling. I think it was a Vulcan mind-meld.

I don't know how Bertie managed to break his claw, but he probably caught it on something while running around manically on this morning's walk. We were at Blackness for the first time in ages, and he was really excited. We were just going into the woods when I noticed there was blood on his leg. He was very put out when I marched him back to the car.

Right now, full of biscuits, painkillers and antibiotics, he's conked out on the floor behind me. I have to take him back to the vet on Friday morning, before we go north, to have his leg checked out. It should be ok -- it doesn't seem to bother him too much to walk on it, it was just horribly painful to the touch.

Here are pictures:

That lovely bandage in full -- it's still reasonably pristine because I sprayed chew deterrent on it. Ewwww, yuck.


Injured dog writhes in pain while owner callously takes his picture. Actually he's zonked out on painkillers and waiting for me to carry on scratching his chest.

Otherwise, we're good to go! We're staying at a B&B at Struan, south of Dunvegan, for two nights, then one night at the Flodigarry country house hotel. Both my first choices were closed and it was tricky finding somewhere that's open and takes dogs. I'm leaving on Friday, after the vet visit. Friday night we're going to see the latest Harry Potter film, Saturday night we're going out with Andrew's aunt and uncle, then Sunday (after feeding the cattle) we leave for Skye. We head back to the farm on Wednesday, and I go back to Edinburgh on Thursday.

I'm really looking forward to the whole thing.

:: flat tack

This new job certainly has the hours whizzing past. I start half an hour earlier, so for a start I'm having to alter my routine. Then I'm busy from when I sit down until now ... my break. I do prefer to be busy right through, and it's varied work. I'm beginning to learn some of the system's internal workings, which is most interesting.

Tomorrow is my last night on before I go on holiday for a fortnight. I've been pondering how to celebrate my half-century (how can I possibly be that old?) and it's taking shape -- I'll make bookings tomorrow. For a while there I feared it might be a misery-fest, what with the work crisis, but now that's sorted I feel fine about it all.

I'm going up to the farm, probably next Friday, then Andrew and I will go to Skye for a few days. We're going to stay at Dunvegan, hopefully in this B&B and have our joint birthday dinner at the Three Chimneys restaurant. Then we move to Glen Eynort, in a remote corner of the island for another night, then head back to the farm. Fingers crossed it all works out.

My cold is nearly all gone -- it was just an annoying sniffling one, nothing serious. Bertie cut his foot the other night charging around after rabbits, but that's healing up well too. He was beaten up by a staffordshire bull terrier the other day but wasn't injured -- apart from severely dented ego and bruised pride. The staffie's owner had to sit on it to subdue it. Meanwhile his other dog, also a staffie, was ignoring the boys' antics and trying to get me to thrown her "stick" -- a great big log. They really are strong dogs, eh!

I'm thoroughly enjoying my new sofa. It's sooo comfy! I can stretch right out on it and my feet don't touch the other end. It's a more tomatoey red than I remember from the shop, but that's ok.

Back to work again now...

:: hot gossip

In case you didn't find it, here is the link to the story about Andrew's neighbours. This is the second episode -- it's rumbling on nicely.

:: sickly

Woke up with a sore throat this morning, really sore. I had a nice hot bath and wrapped up warm so I feel a bit better now. I hope this doesn't turn my weekend to mush. I haven't had a cold or anything for years.

Driving home last night I suddenly found my rear-view mirror full of blue flashing lights. I pulled over and immediately went into my "please don't give me a ticket" routine. I always get out of the car, I never sit there waiting for the cop to come up to the window. I'm unflaggingly polite, pleasant and cheerful. I admit right away to doing whatever it is they're pulling me over for, apologise sincerely and thank them for their chastisement.

I have never ever been given a ticket, and I've been pulled over lots of times.

This time it was speeding -- 50mph in a 40mph zone. "I didn't think I was going that fast," I said, "I thought I was only doing 45." That made them laugh, because of course it was still over the speed limit. Apparently I was "only" doing 45 but then I sped up as I went down a little slope just before the start of the open road.

The nice policemen made me get into my car and turn off all the lights. Then I had to turn them all on again -- parking, full, high beam, indicators, brakes. Everything worked. Then I had to pop the bonnet (I couldn't find the catch and one of them had to do it for me) and they checked the engine. Finally I was admonished and sent on my way.

One o'clock in the morning, you'd think they'd have better things to do, grumble grumble.

My last day in my current job! How strange. I don't have a last-day feeling at all.

Tim is away from his desk and this is tinkling away tinnily as his mobile phone rings unanswered.

:: argh

This is how I feel lately -- though I hadn't thought of this chap's practical approach to it!

Today I had to collect Rona from the railway station, so it was probably not a good idea to start downloading the Windows XP service pack an hour before I had to leave. I got engrossed, and suddenly had five minutes to shower and get out of there. The download still had two hours to run. Blimey.

So I hurtled off through suddenly sluggish traffic, found a park, flew down into the station -- and her train was late. Whew.

Traffic was bad on the way home too, so Rona got the fast-forward tour of the house and facilities before I roared off. Bertie will be happy -- she was planning to take him for a walk. Gorgeous day, by the way, sunny and clear, with lots of golden leafy autumn goodness everywhere. I had to be in to work early for a meeting with the two blokes I'll be working with. Very interesting -- seems my course in Visual Basic was a good idea!

Ikea phoned -- the new sofa arrives on Monday, which is a day off, hurrah, so no complications with me not being there.

Right now I'd better do some work.

:: happy endings

Crisis over! I'm moving on to another job, still on the paper though -- details by email. I was offered a couple of choices (plus the option of staying where I am, with changed duties) and took the most interesting -- it's a temporary position with a small production team for four or five months. I get on well with them -- in fact I had dinner at the home of one of them on Saturday night -- so I'm happy about the move.

Best of all, I get to take two weeks of annual leave which I wouldn't have been able to take if there hadn't been any changes, due to lack of cover. Hurrah! I'm planning a wee trip to Skye.

I was worried about how two of my colleagues would fare -- one of them walked out on Monday (which I think he secretly enjoyed), the other is staying on, hopefully with his position unchanged. I'm carrying on with my old job unchanged to the end of the week, then I have a week on the new job, then two weeks off. Then it's practically Christmas!

I'm collecting my next guest, Rona, at the railway station tomorrow afternoon (this afternoon, seeing it's past midnight). She's staying until Tuesday, looking forward to that.

I was going to link to a story in today's Scotsman about Andrew's next-door neighbours, the Earl and Countess of Cawdor, but it's not on the website yet. Very exciting! Check it out later on, it's a fascinating family feud. The earl's lawyer is none other than our old friend Sir Crispin Agnew of Lochnaw.

Nearly time to go home. What a stressful week this has been -- I was so distracted when I arrived at work yesterday (Tuesday) I left my headlights on when I parked in the garage downstairs. Luckily someone reported it to reception so I got them turned off before the battery went flat. I've got a long weekend -- Saturday, Sunday, Monday -- and I'll be able to relax and really enjoy it. I want to go for at least one good big long walk.

I went to see 28 Days Later on Monday night, a very scary movie. Scary because it was so real -- it's shot on digital video with a mix of experienced and inexperienced actors, so it had a gritty feel to it. Recommended for fans of scary films but not for the squeamish.

:: still ok

But I still don't know what I'll be doing in the near future.

I'll send another email update soon. In the meantime I'm frantically busy it seems. Marian came and went and crammed a lot into her visit. It was too short, wah! But it was great to see her and catch up. Next guest arrives Thursday, cue several loads of laundry.

Today I hiffed out the old sofa, disturbing Bertie no end. Not that he sat on it or anything, but ... well, shouldn't that be inside the house rather than out on the street? He doesn't like change.

Oh, there's too much to report, too little time to report it in. But I will get there. Honest.

:: I'm ok!!

I'm so sorry to have worried people with my cryptic message -- things are bad, sure, but I'm coping really well. "Despite the stress I feel calm and cheerful" I said, and I meant it. I do feel cheerful. I'm also angry, slightly apprehensive, distracted and sometimes impatient. It's complicated. But I'm ok, really -- you don't need to worry.

One thing that's cheering me is my computer -- absurd that it should please me so much but it does. It works! It works every single time I turn it on. The software has many useful and interesting new settings for me to play with. And there's still more new software to install and play with. The only thing is finding time to play with it. Bertie finds my interest in it troubling: Why are you sitting with your face to the wall? Is something wrong? He puts his head on my lap and nudges my elbow, then finally flings himself down on the floor.

If the weather's at all decent this weekend I'm getting out and about. Did I mention our Pentlands expedition last Saturday? I really enjoyed that. More, please! Not in sheep country though -- Bertie hates being on the lead all the time.

:: stuff

There's a lot going on at the moment that I can't talk about here -- let's just say it's become an extremely stressful week. I'll email people privately or phone (some of you already know what's happening). It's nothing life-threatening but it's keeping me frazzled.

Otherwise, weirdly enough, I'm hunky-dory. Despite the stress I feel calm and cheerful. Bertie has mysteriously become obedient -- yesterday he even stopped hassling some elderly dogs on command, and later on declined to bark at some boys. Next thing he'll be letting kids pat him ...

Time to go home now.

:: wee bugger

I got the bugbear virus today! Didn't get infected though, my antivirus software caught it. I installed the program yesterday and did a scan -- all clear. Then today when I downloaded my email, BING! It roared into action and deleted the nasty. Ha ha, my computer's smarter than the Aussie parliament's entire system.

So yes, the computer overhaul goes forward, slowly but surely. The best part is that I've got the printer, scanner and camera all working smoothly, all on USB. The printer goes faster! It's fab.