rwrylsin

The car was serviced last week (and the banging noise was apparently a broken shock absorber, now replaced) so after a little sleep-in we took it for a drive yesterday.

We headed north-west, stopping briefly at Rest & Be Thankful to admire the view, then south through Argyll to Colintraive. Here we turned around again and buzzed up and down the coast a bit trying to locate our "estate". A year or so back we received a couple of square feet of land beside Loch Riddon as a gift, and figured we should go see what it looked like. (The Scots in the back will kindly stop sniggering, it's a symbolic thing.)
Anyway, we think we found the right area despite the peculiar directions, took trophy photos that may or may not include our square feet, then decided to get out of the rain. A pretty enough spot but telephone wires somewhat spoiled the view of the loch from the road, so the photo is from a little further up. Perhaps we need to get planning permission to erect a tall pole on one of our square feet so we can climb up for a better view.
Hmmm... what sort of vertical space do you get with these things? How high would the pole have to be before we could spread out and build a castle on it? :)
But then I suppose we'd fall foul of some law about plunging our neighbours estates into eternal twilight. Curse the nanny-state and its stifling of innovation on the part of very-very-small landowners.

From there we drove east to Dunoon, caught the Hunter's Quay ferry across to shorten our trip, then home in time to have dinner before Doctor Who.

A beautiful, sunny bank-holiday weekend here. Too bad I don't get the day off work. At least it's nice and quiet now.
Anyway, as davidcook has mentioned, yesterday we went for a little walk up Ben Lomond. Given that our last significant hill climb was two years ago, it might seem a little insane to be launching straight into a 12km walk up a mountain that's near enough to 1km high as makes no difference. It is, but we're a little time poor at the moment, and it's supposed to be a relatively easy one.
( Details back here )

We had a vague plan to try our luck skiing on Saturday, but a morning phonecall to the ski-hire place revealed that conditions weren't much good for cross-country.
So instead we shopped, then went for a shorter drive via B-roads through the Campsie Fells, Fintry, out to Doune Castle, and back home on the motorway as darkness fell. Conditions were foggy, with extreme frost in lieu of snow. Photos will follow. We were particularly impressed by spots on the road where puddles being splashed aside had resulted in spectacular ice formations on walls, plants, and wire fences. Trees coated in ice were also very pretty.

Sunday was a lazy day. A little cooking, a little writing, a little TV, and I'm not sure where the rest of the day went. It was very wet outside which didn't encourage adventure.

Now back at work, and feeling quite uninspired.

Interesting times indeed. We already knew that the Clyde Expressway at our doorstep was about to have two years worth of major roadworks, but hadn't noticed that Partick Station (which backs onto our carpark) is going to be demolished and rebuilt as well. (Scotland's 5th busiest station apparently).
The demolition and rebuild will take place without interruption to services they say, which should be something to see.

Anyway, despite the prospect of major construction work happening at both our front and back doors, we're not moving. I cannot yet face packing boxes again, and the thought of trying to find a suitable new flat fills me with dread. I expect to see an increase in the number of "For Lease" signs in the neighbouring windows though, with a little luck we can have another two years without a rent rise.

Both projects look like they're going to keep activity to reasonable hours for the most part, which reminds me of the contrast I've noticed between these thing in Scotland ( compared to Melbourne )
Scotland does give the impression of being perpetually "Under Construction" in a way that Melbourne doesn't, which gets a touch irksome sometimes. But that might just be leakage from my annoyance at the general littering. I'll save that rant for another time.

Ambled through the routine this morning and arrived at the train station to find the way to the platforms dark, barricaded, with both security and rail staff standing in the way. No trains running at present, no word on when they would be.
So toddled back home, observing that compared to yesterday the weather was pretty mild, dry, and not hugely windy. I know Scotrail run all over Scotland and apparently almost all the bridges in the country are currently closed to traffic so weather must be bad elsewhere, but you'd think they could keep some suburban lines running.

Anyway, after checking the website to see if there was any word on when services would resume (nope) I joined the rest of Glasgow on the road. The carpark was remarkably empty...
Crawled ever so slowly along Dumbarton Rd. My two options to get to work are either that or the Great Western Road, and I know the GWR gets insane so this seemed the better bet. Some 45 minutes later I arrived at work, should really have been a 15 minute trip any other day.

Managed to find a place to park at work (people were resorting to being inventive, but that's normal around here). 10am, have I ever arrived at work so late?

Last update from Scotrail said some services were gradually being resumed. This is only relevant insofar as it validates by decision not to wait for them.

Addendum: Very glad I don't work in the city. Things were heavy coming home tonight, but the poor folks outbound were nose to tail and going nowhere.
Train delays were mostly caused because the network operators had to check all the lines for overnight damage before letting the the trains run. Scotrail website was unavailable most of the afternoon, I guess they got Scotdotted.

Wandering about the shopping centres, and naturally they like to include cute critters in their displays. So what would you expect in Scotland, where a white christmas is looking like a possibility? Reindeer spring to mind, I'll call Santa and elves critters, idealised snowmen, maybe some cuddly polar bears?
Nope, it's penguins. Just penguins, and they're everywhere. Skiing down christmas trees, perched in garlands, waddling through window displays wearing little Santa hats (in a variety of colours). I realise penguins go with the whole snow thing, but I've never associated them with Christmas before. So far Santa and the reindeer are most conspicuous for their absence - possibly a cause for celebration in its own right, but surprising. Spotted my first cutsie snowmen today, but they weren't in displays, they were for sale.

Meanwhile the gift packs are appearing in ever more variety. I've always been a sucker for the hampers and gift packs. Not so much that I actually buy them (well, except for the hot-chocolate pack in the post-christmas sales a couple of years back), but I do like to look. All these things I don't actually need but which look so useful and pretty when neatly packaged with appropriate accessories. Possibly it appeals to my sense of domestic order.
The packs in Australia have been getting more varied in recent years, so maybe what I'm seeing here is reflected back home, but compared to last years offerings it is slightly boggling.

Some favourites include the pasta pack which had a small pasta maker, flour and recipe book in it. The garlic bread pack with a dish, garlic press, and selection of herbs and chilli flakes to sprinkle on. 'Thai for two' with a Thai dinner set laid on a nice wooden tray, or perhaps just some nice chopsticks with rests and chinese spices? A mini Bailey's with a nice glass and chocolates... A mini fondue pot with dark Lindt chocolate packs... The variety seems endless even before you get to the spice racks and tea and coffee sets.
With every store stocking their own variations, I'm finding that if only my family were in the same country so I didn't have to mail things I could get gift packs that seem tailor-made to their tastes. The last few Christmas's I gave my parents a custom-assembled hamper because commercial offerings are never quite right, but here... My sister would love that huge brightly-coloured cocktail glass with matching stirrer and recipe book! Okay, maybe my sister's tastes aren't quite the best example here (but I know she'd like it).

In other happy shopping news, some of the supermarkets here have started stocking Midori. Now I just have to wait until I can afford to buy it...

Well, it's after midday now and officially still sitting on the 8 degrees which they predict will be the maximum for today. Outside it is grey, gloomy, occasionally wet and showing no inclination to suddenly warm up to 10 before the afternoon is out.
This is a little more like the Scottish weather we were expecting!

A full weekend, so I'll pull the fencing items out to a separate post, and this will still be a long one.

( Saturday - the drive to Inverness )
( Sunday - mostly fencing )
( Monday  - the long tourist drive home )

So, 2 castles, a priory, a cairn, waterfalls, and huge amounts of amazing landscapes.  Not a bad way to celebrate our 1st anniversary.
Photos to follow shortly.

( Saturday, Shopping & Touristing )
( Sunday, Walking and Shopping )

Apparently next weekend will be a Welsh weekend.