Monthly Archives: October 2019

Today would be the last day for seeing folk and finding the few items we were still trying to acquire before heading home tomorrow.  The sun shone for about 5 minutes when we awoke and then it proceeded to rain steadily for the next 16 hours.  Mother Nature was doing her best to make sure we were ready to go home.

We had a few things that we’d yet to find to bring home including a small gift for a friend that I shan’t mention here just in case – don’t want to spoil the surprise! – and the hunt involved charity shops and specialty stores. It’s quite a common item but not necessarily easy to purchase.  We started by visiting all the charity shops in Stirling: British Heart Foundation, Marie Curie, PDSA, Stratcarron Hospice, etc. No luck. So we tried switching to the other item on our list:  a new duvet cover.  We are still fans of the duvet with a cover and no top sheet.  Which means the covers get washed frequently and need to be replaced fairly frequently.  These still aren’t that common in the US and the only place we have ever had any luck is IKEA.  But now that the closest IKEA is in Canada, we are quite keen to bring one home from this trip.

But not just any duvet cover – those we can order on line. We were on the hunt for one that matched the odd shade of blue in our bedroom.  In fact, we had brought a paint stick with the paint color on it so that we could compare it to the ones in the shop.  We hit all the department stores still left in the town but again, no luck. So into the Bluebell Tearoom for a cuppa and a GTF scone with jam (yum!) and then to continue the visiting.  Off to see mum for the last time this trip.  She was in fine spirits and had us laughing out loud when a news item about the US president came on the telly and she burst out with “See him?  How has no one shot him yet?”

Then it was off to see the missing brother who had just got back from his own holiday the night before.

Travel tip #37:  When you plan a trip to visit folk, make sure they are going to be home.

We hadn’t shared the dates of our trip with anyone until just a few weeks before we left which was after they had booked a trip to Portugal.  Luckily we managed to have one day that overlapped so we popped round for a cup of tea and to make plans for getting together for our last night.  Then it was off to the Torbrex Inn for some lunch.  I was thrilled to see that they had GF steak pie on the menu – which I figured out later wasn’t exactly gluten free.  Ugh.

Fully fueled, we continued our quest, heading into Alloa to check the charity shops there.  And success!  In the window of the Stratcarron Hospice shop there was the coveted item.  We headed back into town via the retail park where a stop at Harry Corey netted a smashing duvet cover with the right shade of blue in it.  (And only 12 pounds!) Then back to the flat to pack before dinner at the Allan Park Hotel.

This trip has been unusual in many ways.  We haven’t done many of the typical things that we traditionally do when we visit and tonight’s dinner was another departure.  Instead of a carry out and a heavy drinking session with large numbers of family at the house in Bannockburn, it was just the 4 of us having a lovely meal and behaving relatively like adults.  Of course we had a wee drink before we left and then a few drinks with dinner then we did get a taxi back to the house for a few more drinks before yet another taxi took us back to the flat.  So it wasn’t *too* far off the usual.

Dubious data for the day:
10,575 steps and 4 floors
Charity shops visited: 10
Types of drinks consumed: 5
Number of people ordering highland chicken at dinner (stuffed with haggis): 3 (it’s not GF – oh, darn.)

Another morning with sunshine – and rain because it’s Scotland.  Today’s plan  was to finally tackle the elusive Glengoyne distillery!  We have tried to make a tour there in the past (in 2015 and again in 2016) but for various reasons have never made it past the shop.  Well today we were going to fix that!  We headed out bright and early and made it there just in time for the 11am tour.  And while we do know how whisky is made so the tour wasn’t strictly necessary, we are now starting to pay more attention to some of the details:  who uses peat, who has steel versus wood washbacks, who malts their own barley, etc. So we did really enjoy the tour – and the whisky.  We started with their 12 year old and ended with a dram of the 18 year old.  And Frank got none of mine. Yup, I drank all my own whisky for a change which tells you what it is like – light and somewhat sweet with no smoke.  The last distillery we visited where I enjoyed the dram was Dalwhinnie which is lighter still than that Glengoyne.

Then is was lunchtime so back to the Old Mill Inn in Killern with their lovely tasting board and homemade soup that scuppered our first visit.  The food was just as good as we remembered and a group from the distillery tour also turned up there for lunch!

Then it was back to visiting. We picked up Frank’s niece and went to visit his mum. She was much brighter and cheerier today but her legs were bothering her so we didn’t stay too long.  We did our regular run into Callandar and stopped for tea and cakes.  The River Teith was bursting it’s banks and water was slowly creeping into the carpark where we stopped so we didn’t stay too long.

We stopped at the City Walls for dinner – one of the niece’s favorites – and then it was out to Alva for more visiting.  We hadn’t yet seen another nieces new house so we popped round there for a cup of tea and more blethering before heading back to the flat to start contemplating packing.

Dubious data for today: 5,407 steps and 5 floors (it was a small distillery)
Number of stories about how fast Frank used to drive these wee roads back in the day: 27
Number of rainbows spotted: 4

Bright sunshine greeted us when we eventually awoke far later than we had planned.  (I haven’t had much luck sleeping past 7 or 7:30 regardless of what time I go to bed and today we slept until 8:30!) A quick bacon and egg roll – induction hob sussed! – and we were off to visit mum. We caught her in the middle of her breakfast so we went into Bridge of Allan for a coffee and came back for a lovely visit before moving on to the main event of the day:  a trip to Edinburgh.

The trip itself was not particularly unusual as we often go to Edinburgh for the day when we visit but the reason for today’s trip was a bit different as I was going to do a bit of work. I have the privilege of being the president of an international data organization (IASSIST) and the vice president works at the University of Edinburgh.  So when we realized that our monthly administrative committee call would be while I was in Scotland, we arranged for me to go to her office and we could participate together.  While this does techniulaly count as working while on vacation, I don’t consider it really work because I have been part of this organization for decades and have met some of my now dearest friends through it.  And we arranged to meet with several of them today.

So on to the 11:42 train to Edinburgh.

Travel tip #35: take public transport whenever parking or alcohol are likely to make things messy.

We arrived at Edinburgh Waverly station just before 12:30 and wandered through town to get to Bennet’s Bar – a lovely old pub where we were to have our first meeting: a pint with a friend and former IASSIST president.  We sat and nattered through a pint there before heading across the street to  the Blackbird for lunch.  I had the most interesting thing:  a GF waffle topped with avocado, feta cheese, pepper jelly and pumpkin seeds.  Unusual and delicious.

Next stop:  the university building where I would take my call.  Frank toddled off to continue his search for a model Alfa Romeo while I was otherwise occupied.  (Still no luck!) Despite the inevitable minor technology glitches (camera works but audio doesn’t, then vice versa, then it gets sorted), we managed the meeting very well, thanks mostly to a very able and organized secretary.

Business complete, it was time for the next stop which was drinks at Sandy Bell’s with a friend and former treasurer of IASSIST (sense a theme here?).  We chatted about digital preservation, world politics, and raising teenagers before it was time for him to go home to the family and us to go to our final “meeting”.  Moving on to the OX184 pub in the Cowgate, we met with the vice president and her husband for drinks and more social discussions.  And thusly well watered, it was time to find food.  We said our goodbyes and went off in search of a pub that served something I could eat.

Travel tip #36: Try to eat before you drink.  Or at least before you have the 5th pint of cider.  Your stomach will thank you.

We managed to find the Albanach on the Royal Mile that could do a gammon steak with egg and pineapple plus peas and a jacket potato.  Just what the doctor ordered!  Frank got a haggis and neeps pie which suited him fine as well.  And the timing couldn’t have been better:  10 minutes after we ordered, they stopped taking food orders.  Phew.  We finished a lovely meal (but not all of our pints unfortunately.  No judging!) and made the 9:33 train back to Stirling.

Dubious data for today:
14,945 steps and 32 floors (Edinburgh is a multidimensional city) including 118 steps up the New Steps from Market street to St. Giles street
Number of pubs visited: 5
Number of pints consumed by all pub participants: 21

Today (October 7) is the reason for the entire trip: our 30th wedding anniversary.  Apparently this is the Pearl anniversary not that we’ve ever minded such things. We originally thought it would be a great opportunity for us to have a big celebration with all the family and friends who couldn’t be there on the actual day but that didn’t work out.  The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft a-gley as Robbie Burns once penned.

No surprise that the day is grey and misty.  We had our breakfast and started the visiting in earnest.  Off to the care home for tea with mum.  She wasn’t doing particularly well and words seemed difficult for her so we didn’t stay long.  Next stop: Auntie Jean and Uncle Jimmy who have also aged since the last time we saw them and are now fully and admittedly in the ranks of “old people”.  Jimmy rarely drives now, which is probably a good thing given that he’s near enough to 90. And Jean says she doesn’t mind since the only place she wasnts to go in the car is the supermarket.  We spent an hour or so catching up on family stuff (with a short time out for me to “fix YouTube” on Jean’s ipad) and then we were on our own for a bit.

We had a lovely bar lunch at the Westerton Arms as we have done so many times before and then proceeded to mark the passage of time in our surroundings.  The hotel where we had our engagement party is currently being remodeled for offices, the University of Stirling (where I was studying when we met) is also under construction and nearly unrecognizable given my 30+ year old memories. We wandered through the center of Stirling noting changes old and new.  When did every second shop become an estate agent’s office?  How many houses can they possibly be selling?

Travel tip #33:  you can’t go back.  You can go again but nothing stays the same.  We took some comfort that we aren’t the only nostalgic travelers as we noted a couple in Vernazza who where wandering the town looking for a restaurant they had visited 20 years before.

We spent the evening with the best man and his wife who were two of the only 4 people who came from Scotland for the wedding.  We had drinks at our wee holiday flat before walking into town for a lovely meal at Brea instead of our usually “box of curry” meal and drinking session at their house. It is wonderful to have such long standing friendships even though we are generally 3000 miles apart at any one time.

Travel tip #34: take joy where you find it.  Life is short.

And so we marked three decades of marriage.  And it was just perfect.

Dubious data for today:
12,727 with apparently no floors?
Number of estate agents in the high street: 10
Number of places that are still where the were 30 years ago: a handful
Number of things we would have done differently over the decades: 0

And today begins the transition from vacation to visiting.  For two weeks we were tourists, with the majority of that time spent surrounded by people whose job it was to make us happy.  Then we had this lovely transition weekend where technically we were visiting family but they consistently go out of their way to make us feel special: cooking fantastic meals, pouring copious amounts of tasty beverages, and generally providing incredible camaraderie.  We still feel like we are on vacation when we visit.  And all that was to change.

The rain from the night before had persisted and we awoke to the steady thrum of persistent showers.  We managed to have breakfast while it was still considered morning and hashed through a few more weighty topics such as road rage, the second amendment and international comparisons of sports fans. But then we had to pack up and move on to visiting Frank’s family.  We took the obligatory good-bye photo in the front garden – not hungover for a change! – and headed north east.

We headed to Stirling  to check into our AirBnB.  We are staying at Limegrove Cottage, a flat we’ve stayed in before, which is really more than we need with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths but it’s comfy and well located with parking and a large utility room where we can get all the cruise clothes washed so we don’t have to wander around Scotland smelling like sunscreen! We arrived a bit too early so it was off to the youngest Cannon brother’s house to say hello, catch up on all the happenings, make some plans for the week, and get some information on the condition of Frank’s mom.  Then it was off to the care home for a quick visit to mom to let her know we’ve arrived and that we’ll be by to spend some time with her tomorrow.

And now to really be a local:  stop by the flat to drop off the bags, off to Sainsbury’s to pick up essentials for breakfast (bacon, eggs, brown loaf, yogurt, muesli, etc) as well as for evenings (wine, beer, and cider). 

Travel tip #31: always have a carrier bag or two in your case. They come in handy for all kinds of things and if you don’t have one with you when you leave hone, you’ll probably have one when you return. But that does make you look cool when you go to Wegmans with foreign grocery bags.

And finally, we really needed to eat a meal.  Tea and biscuits with the family helped to tide us over but we hadn’t had anything proper since the bacon and egg roll just before noon.  And there was no one around who was charged with or cared enough to take care of that for us! So we were on our own. Yes, we could have bought ingredients at the store to cook something or eaten out at a restaurant but why when there is an excellent chippy nearby.  So off to Paulino’s on the Glasgow road for a fish and a chicken supper, washed down with beer, and enjoyed it while trying to find something to watch on the telly.

Travel tip #32: don’t expect television in a foreign country to be any better than what you get at home. We still had a choice of dozens of channels of crap – some of it was American crap.

Dubious data for the day:
5758 steps and 4 floors
Miles driven: approximately 80 (which is why the step count is so low)
Loads of washing completed so far: 2
Different beers and ciders purchased: 9

The day started characteristically grey but dry.  We actually saw the morning because the bevy last night was actually pretty tame and there were none of the epic hangovers of years past.  Breakfast was light – fruit smoothies, coffee, and toast – because today’s adventure would be centered around food.  We were headed into Glasgow for the Big Feed – an indoor food truck/drinking/music event.

Hopping on the 11am train, we found ourselves in the center of Glasgow well before noon which was a little early for the Big Feed.  So we decided to get some culture and hopped on the subway to the Kelvingrove Gallery and Museum where we perused several galleries of art including the famous Christ of Saint John of the Cross painting by Salvador Dali.  There were also French and Dutch works and an entire gallery of Scotland’s identity explored through art with depictions of Robert the Bruce, Robbie Burns, and lots of exhibits on tartan.  There was even an organ recital while we were there so it was a well rounded cultural experience.  And it left us hungry.

Travel tip #31: support the local museums.  Kelvingrove charges no admission but does take donations so we decided that the pockets full of change that we had – some of which were pound coins – would be better used by them than by us.

Then back to the subway and out to Govan, exiting the station at Ibrox, famous home of the Glasgow Rangers football team which none of us support.  We wandered through some warehouses before finding the one that had been kitted up for the event.  A dozen street food vendors lined the walls of the warehouse with tables in the middle.  There was a full bar, a small music stage, a doggie buffet for the pets and face painting and balloon animals for the kids.  It’s actually a fabulous idea and a great way to spend a cool Saturday afternoon. We indulged in sweet potato curry, many plates of chips with various sauces and a variety of dishes involving duck.  And a few pints to wash it down.  For several hours we chatted and ate and listened to the solo female guitarist play an incredible range of music from Johnny Cash to Walk the Moon.

Thus suitably overfed and well watered, we wandered back through town for more adventures.  Instead of availing ourselves of the subway again, we walked back past the Kelvingrove and headed to Ashton Lane, a stupidly adorable cobbled street on the west side with bars and restaurants.  We enjoyed a sojourn at a fancy gin bar where we were occasionally entertained by silliness occurring in the street outside. Then we moved on again, back to the center of town where apparently it was time to eat again.  We opted for mezze at a middle eastern restaurant thinking that the smaller plates would mean that we wouldn’t over eat.  Well that plan went far asunder as there was way too much food (and more drink) and then it was time to shuffle back through the rain to the train for home.

You know you are getting old when you are leaving Glasgow at the time that most young people were just arriving for their Saturday night out.  You also know you are getting old when you are utterly appalled at their choice of attire!  There were gaggles of young women emerging from the train station, tottering on spikey heels in strappy dresses that barely covered their privates.  And they were heading out into the cold Scottish rain where I know their artfully applied (pounds of) face makeup would not survive and they would shiver and be miserable.

Travel tip #32: dress for the weather, not for the fashion. (Credit: my auntie Alice)

And now my transition to being my mother is complete.  Just bring me a cup of tea and come visit on Sundays.

Once safely and warmly ensconced back at the homestead, we consumed a little more wine while continuing to explore topics of serious national interest: buskers and other street performers, gender versus sex, cigarette vs marijuana, snus and premier league football, among others.

Dubious data for today:
16,337 steps and 15 floors.
Calories consumed: 1000000000
Train/subway rides: 5
Nuns: 0