Down in the Cave

A normal Saturday morning with a trip to the market but the afternoon was spent in the cave wrapping up tombola prizes with Maggie, Carmen and Janine. Now I know how Santa's little helpers feel in the run up to Christmas but I have to admit it was fun and the endless pots of tea helped.

Keeping Going

Today it was time to turn my attention to the Christmas market so Flo and I set off around the local shops to put up notices and to solicite a contribution to our "guess the weight of the heavily- laden basket" with which we hope to replenish the coffers of our website. The evening was much more fun as the Association had organised a tutored tasting at the local wine shop. That's more like it - too much work and all that...

Into the Thick of It

Still coughing but there are things to do. Like tickets for the Tombola in the morning and potting up cuttings in the afternoon. The trunk contains a super (secret) surprise and to get to it, people had to try and find the code and the plants for our stall to raise money for the Téléthon. France's answer to "Children in Need" though on a much smaller scale and covering very specific charities for genetic disabilities.
In the evening, Christian was up in the other village for a meeting and then it was back to Michel and Joëlle's for a late dinner.

Chez Nous Again

Another hearty breakfast and another lazy morning before Noël drove us down to the airport. Flight went without any problems and we arrived into Girona on time where we met up with Rosie to give her a lift back to the village. Home sweet home!

Cold and Frosty Morning

Weather, a hearty beakfast and a lazy morning chatting. I don't even pretend to understand the logic but having missed the shopping in Glasgow and trailed around Ayr, I decided that Tesco would have all I needed. Another good idea bites the dust, so we'll move hastily on to a pleasant evening spent with Angus and Maureen, some tasty nibbles and a few drinks.

Au revoir Glesca!

Eddie once again saved us from the perils of public transport and gave us a lift to the Art Galleries where we meeting Andy and Maureen for lunch. It was such a stroke of luck that they were down from the Highlands at the same time as we were in town. We were able to see photos of the new bairn and what a wee darlin' he looks too and they were able to hear about our respective activities. You can see that Maureen is dead impressed by her friend in high places! What's more they've said they'll come and visit this year and now it's writing they'll just have to follow through, won't they? So, we said goodbye to them and then goodbye to Eddie when he dropped us off in the city centre where we were meeting Noel for the journey down to Mauchline. Eddie even gave us a farewell gift; lemsips for me and a packet of mushy peas for Christian which he'd found delicious when we'd had them the night before! I sometimes wonder if he doesn't have some ancestery from across the channel or perhaps it's to do with his Dad being Belgian....
Once at Ann and Noël's it was apéritifs, dinner and round the corner to the B&B as the bathroom was undergoing a reconstruction.

A Dreech Day

Windy, rainy, cold. Suzanne, brave woman that she is, set off (alone) to harvest veg for dinner in the morning while the rest of us lounged around reading the papers. Plans to walk to Kibble Palace in Kelvingrove Park gave way to a ride in the car as we managed to persuade her that this was a much better idea. The winter gardens, with a floor space of 2,189m, really are very beautiful with one part being dedicated to orchids; some of the Australian ferns have been there since the 19th century. It's history is interesting too. Built for a private Estate on Loch Long in the 1860's, it was dismantled from 1872 onwards for removal to Glasgow by barge up the Clyde and by cart. It was closed for rennovation in 2003 with the plants being housed elsewhere, and dismantled and transported to South Yorkshire for repair. Phew! There was also a rather nice statue of Ruth as well so I just had to have my photo taken next to but as she looked a whole lot better after a hard day's gleaning than I did in my anorak and woolly bonnet, you're not getting to see it! Well, I'd done a hard day's coughing!

A quick whizz around an exhibition of paintings by local artists in an adjacent building and we headed off in search of "Tattie Mac's" which had had a good write up in The Herald, for a late lunch. Despite the name, it was a small, modern place seving bistro food and not a baked spud in sight!

Arrived home to find that Suzanne's Dad, a man with an interesting on life and storys was already there. Dinner of roast beef appeared as if by magic and we all went to bed feeling well fed and happy.

Eating is such pleasure!

Time to move on to Glasgow, dear old Glasgow Toon but not before a bracing walk along the seafront and lunch at McCallums with Eddie and Suzanne who came down to pick us up. There were even a couple of seals in the harbour. Weather was pretty bleak ( Scotland, November so no surprise there) so it was a night in with a curry after Eddie was outvoted about watching "Strictly". Glasgow and curry are synonymous, not quite sure about "Strictly" though. Let's just think "Billy Elliot" and as for once all the kids were there, Eddie was on tae plums!

Wedding Bells

Bill and June pulled all the stops out for the wedding. Of course there was a piper to herald the arrival of the bride; there was a singer to keep us entertained while the register was being signed then a cartoonist and a local lad who had tried out for the "X Factor " while the photos were being taken in the grounds of 'The Brig o' Doon'.

That wasn't all... during the meal there was a trio of singers who had been passing themselves off as hotel staff during the afternoon, a pipe band, a video box, camera on the table to snap away as we enjoyed ourselves and fish and chips later on. Our table consisted of people who had worked in Toulouse, Marilyn and Alistair, our old neighbours, so we found plenty to talk about. Last orders in the hotel were called at 12.30 am so, it was across the road to the house that the family were staying in to drink some more. Managed to walk the mile home at 3am, goodness knows how!

Shopped Till We Dropped

You can see our bedroom from this photo. It looks out over the golf course though with such a dreary day, the view was some what limited. Undeterred by the drizzle, we set off for Ayr after a "full Scottish" that didn't have any porridge. Trailed round and round the shops before meeting up with Karen for lunch in "The West Kirk" which as it's name suggests is an old church. Trailed the same shops again in the afternoon looking for a top for the wedding. Found two and ended up wearing neither! One rather snooty woman was well put out as I hadn't taken the outfit in and I didn't know what fabric the suit was made from! Christian, through all this, was relatively patient but gave up in favour of having a coffee as I made a final tour of the town. In the evening Colin and sheila picked us up to go to the "Ruppee Room" in Ayr for a curry. Food was good but you just couldn't hear yourself think for the noise so a coffee across the road was a welcome relief.