Yesterday when Norfolk was breezy and sunny, Scotland was hit with the worst storm in 20 years (or so they say – I think people exaggerate these days). Lochgoilhead was hard hit, and of course the power went out. Luckily R was ok because of the solar and the Powerwall. Even so, I havered over […]

I stayed at the Black Lion rather than trying to camp out in a half furnished house. It is a lovely old pub with a few bedrooms and is very warm and welcoming (worn old stone floors, roaring log fires etc). The rooms are good too – I had a massive king sized bed with […]

I’ve got the journey to Norfolk down pat having done it four times now. My preferred (preferred in the sense of least awful) is Helensburgh, Edinburgh, Peterborough, Ely, Kings Lynn by train, and then the last leg to Walsingham by the coastliner bus. Actually I’ve been known to moan about this journey but I’ve grown […]

R had to take poor little Saphy to the vet in Dunoon this morning. He went for a walk along the front while she was having her X-Ray and saw this lovely sunrise. I’ve always liked Dunoon as a place – unlike my Mum who has an irrational hatred of it for some reason. Saphy […]

However hard I try, there is always much too much food over Christmas, so the leftovers I always try to freeze and then finish up during Jan and Feb. Today was the last gasp of the turkey. I cooked the bones and some leftover meat in the slow cooker and made soup with leeks, onions, […]

R and I are now walking up to the waterfalls every second day (alternating with the Inverlounin loop). Today there were a few beams of sunlight stealing through the murk of the Argyll winter. Someone has removed the boards which were “blocking” (in the loosest possible sense) the bridge over the burn at the top. […]

This was the situation in R’s bedroom the other night. Not a great picture as hurriedly taken on an iPad, but it shows Lucky and Amber on the bed together. It did not last long after we came into the room, and Lucky then retreated into the room J had vacated. Lucky and Amber tolerate […]

When I was a child, regardless of what rather basic meals my Dad (who did the weekday cooking because my Mum was at work) served up during the week, we would always have a really decent Sunday Lunch. This being 1970s/80s it would be a roast dinner with a good pud, normally either a roast […]

I must be perfecting this journey, because J and I made it door to door in 12 hours. I honestly think the train is the best way of doing this journey (best of a bad bunch because all the options are bad). I am going down there one last time to supervise the house clearance […]

J’s parents had lived in the Little Walsingham house for over 70 years. His dad died twelve years ago and his mother died back in April. J himself lived here all his childhood, so this place is stuffed with memories for him. Today the removal men came to take all his antique furniture and china […]