I did mention that the weather was on the turn, right?
Not that you can tell by my perfectly coiffed hair... Just one of many wind-sculpted looks I sported.

You so need a travel blog.

I love your reportage. I swear if you wrote travel books, I would absolutely read them.

Before I left, Limey told me very strictly to stay away from the water.
The winds were getting up and High Tide was going to be high.

Keep away from the seafront.
Yes, Limey.
Don't get too near the water.
Yes, Limey.
Be careful, there could be large waves.
Yes, Limey.

I did listen, honest. And take on board everything she said. But I also have eyes and a brain and I know if she'd been there she would have realised that I was in no danger whatsoever. She did pick me up on it when she saw the photos though.
That was the day I told you to stay away from the seafront, wasn't it?
Yes, Limey :lol:

As you can see, the wind picked up and the sky greyed out, but there wasn't a big tidal surge while I was there.
Other places on the island were harder hit that day, although nothing like as bad as the previous week. I know the boat wasn't running, and some children were sent home early from school, but Whiting Bay just had some rain and sea-spray.

Only to name-check yourself ;)

Hahahahahahahahah.

I got a mention...I win!

Actually you get a win and a gold star for paying attention.

Off "home" on the bus.
I think it might have been raining again by the time I got back to Limey's.
But at least I didn't fall in the water.

For dinner that night I soaked the leftover lamb and some dried apricots in red wine.
I'd bought a mini bottle and can honestly hold my hand on my heart and say I used it all for cooking. Risky business, but it worked.
I can't actually remember what else I did to it. I expect it was some sort of stove-top stew, because that's my forte. Oh yes, I went for a quasi-Moroccan style adding onion, carrots, tomatoes and pretty much everything else I could find. Bulked out with a barley mix and served with warm crusty bread.

Limey noticed my preferred method of cooking and eating whilst I was there.
Cook in one big pan, eat from a bowl.
Had I been there longer I might have learned The Way of the Slow Cooker, but this time round they just got my usual.

Oh, in case you wonder why Limey was absent from my account, she was working.
Ditto tomorrow (Tuesday) in order to free up Wednesday for our trip to Machrie Moor.

Off to Lamlash with Mr Limey.
He was going to work, Limey was chauffeuring us both.
I didn't think much of Lamlash on previous visits and didn't expect to spend that long there, intending to get the next bus to Whiting Bay and spend my time there instead. Perhaps in the much-maligned Coffee Pot.

But in fact it yielded up unexpected pleasures and I was happy to potter about for quite a while.
It stayed dry, but it was grey, so the photos of the actual bay don't do it justice.
I've just snuck in some trivial ones hoping you won't notice.

Oops.

1) Okay this was just weird.
An abandoned crutch. And no nearby church even.

2) There's something about the minutely manicured grass on a bowls green that really appeals to me. And there are quite a few on Arran. Something for the auld folk to do. To make up for the absence of hostelries I expect.

1) Limey did tell me what these were. Not technically palms. But they look tropical and that will do for me.

2) Moar Holy Isle.

Cocks!
Well, chickens anyway.

Another shop window.

Skull bag I liked.
And me.

[Correction: the home baking in the Coffee Pot is excellent and the establishment itself is always bursting with old farts and middle-aged farts stuffing themselves whenever it is open. ]

Sent by thought transference

I stand corrected, Ma'am.

Whilst I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that assessment (:P):

I would like to clarify, that only one of the beggars I stopped to say hello to had a dog. I did however spend a little longer talking to the guy with a dog, because I was talking to him about dogs. I have no idea if the other guy would have wanted to discuss dogs, since he didn't have a dog. Therefore I did not stop and talk about dogs with him; I just gave him a couple of quid and exchanged pleasantries.

I find it very difficult to walk past a beggar. I find it very difficult to walk past a dog. But for different reasons. A beggar with a dog I find difficult to walk past for both reasons.

I honestly don't know if it's age or penury which has slowed down my street-giving.
I always preferred to give to performers anyway, and will still buy the Big Issue when I have enough in my purse, but I'm unlikely these days just to give to someone on the street.
It's certainly not a moral decision on my part and I will always acknowledge someone who asks me for money or assistance, even if I can't give.

Although I admit to deliberately steering clear of chuggers.

My real confession of course is that I can't walk past a cat.
And I don't even have to engage with another person. Hahaha.

Oh I don't give anywhere near as much as I used to. I just can't. When i had it, I was generous with it. Now I don't have it, I have to be careful with what comes in and goes out.

That was an unusual day. It all got slotted under Trip to Glasgow. Along with grabbing a latte on the way up. I relaxed my rules for a couple of days. If I'm going to do that, it feels right to include a couple of quid for a guy with fuck all. Now I'm on the other side of the trip and paying off the credit card. Those few coins I gave to two blokes in Glasgow centre get lost in the whole :)

The one glorious whole?

One of the cool things about Arran - at least on the side where Limey lives, is that the bays are also surrounded by hills.
So they feel quite distinctive and set apart.

1) The main road through the village

2) Where there's water, there's moss

I thought this pair of holiday lets were just beautiful.
They overlook the harbour, obviously.
Let's all go and stay there.

ETA - looking at the second photo again, it might not even be a holiday let.
But I bet with enough money on the table we could have it anyway.

Swans again.
I did tell you I was obsessed.

We have a beautiful mated pair of swans in the park. They've taken up residence in the boating lake.

Two bars, both closed.
I wasn't going to go in them, at least not to drink. Although both had great vantage points for watching the world go by.

I had to take a photo of the opening hours of The Pierhead Tavern because it made me laugh. It's quite a substantial establishment, and you'd expect that even off-season it could support itself just from local trade. But instead it's only open three nights a week. Lazy Scots.

Except Limey told me the real story, which is that the brewery chain which ran it, pulled the plug quite suddenly last year. And in fact it was the locals who stepped up to keep it open at all, because there are very few social gathering places and/ or drinking establishments left there. Bad for those that live there, bad for tourism.

Moar power to their pint-pulling elbows I say. Shows you shouldn't make snap judgements. Or at least I shouldn't.

The Drift Inn had lights on behind the bar, but the chairs were up on the tables, so I didn't embarrass myself by trying the door. Shame, because it looked like a place that would have a Breville out back.

Back to the cathouse.

That night was Rich Levy night.
We had pasta sauce with clams from the hamper he sent.
I made it with rice rather than the pasta which was also included, because it fit better into bowls that way.
Limey provided a whole bag of prawns and I was going to siphon some off to have in a sarnie the next day (prawns are still considered a luxury in my house) but it ended up as a kind of gumbo and all the prawns were decanted, coated in sauce and thoroughly enjoyed.
So, not kosher Rich, sorry.

We talked about having dessert but that was before we started eating.
Were all too stuffed to even consider it afterwards. I lie, we did consider. Just not for long.

Oh - I forgot to mention.
I got Mr Limey Utopia on DVD for Christmas. Luckily I didn't know he (they) now have a blue-ray or I'd have felt obliged to get it on that and it's much more expensive...
We watched the first episode together one evening, can't remember which.
I had forgotten how sweary and violent it is, but also how very very funny. I'm not sure if that came across to the Limes; I just snorted reasonably quietly to myself.

Now I know Limey has a visceral reaction to blood and gore. So she did really well. She watched in silence and did not make any kind of fuss. But she admitted to me afterwards that when she woke in the night, she found it hard to get back to sleep because of what she'd watched. Which made me feel rotten. I hope Mr Limey enjoys the rest of it. And it did look absolutely gorge on their spanking new big telly.

1) Here tis me with part of the Limeys' music collection in the background

2) Old chap. That hare tugging on his cape better watch out, he's already wearing ermine.

Yes of course the above shows one of Limey's gorgeous Christmas decorations.
She kindly gave me permission to take photos of anything I wanted.
Her house is a wonderland of pretty, unusual and bang tidy things, another lifetime is the least I'd need to document it properly.

The tree is one of ?three? I think.
The trumpet is one of many instruments.

Bookcase, and not the only one.
Just to show they're not just about the music.
Although I expect both of them do much of their reading electronically these days.

And this gorgeous little chap who I would be quite happy to smuggle home. Except that he belonged to a family member of Limey's and is therefore likely to be missed. Oh and because that would actually be stealing.

Machrie Moor.
Hmmm.
Same as last year, I've been both anticipating writing about it but also dreading it.
Except this time part of the dread came from the fact it was my last day on Arran.
I wanted to share it with you all so much, but I knew that when I did my trip was pretty much over. Okay it was over last Thursday, but I've been reliving it since then ;)

I also felt the post should be in the right place, because what I was doing and how I was feeling does have a bearing on the actual day. Nothing dramatic, just that Arran had a chance to work its magic on me.

One thing I missed on this trip was being able to properly explore.
It was just too wet, and had been too wet for too long.
I'd pictured walking through the woods again, it's part of what I hold in my heart about Arran now. Limey counselled against it but she didn't even need to this time. I knew it would have been folly.

This was completely borne out by our Machrie Moor experience.
It was only mildly boggy, and only in parts, but it made it quite clear to me just what the woods would have been like. Much muddier and much worserer and therefore with no peace at all.

For anyone reading this who doesn't know, we lost a Dwellar last year.
Her name is Claudette and her monikers here were Brianna and Trilby.
Limey and I went to Machrie Moor on the Isle of Arran, Scotland to remember her in the same week her funeral was held in the US.
Many people here loved her and I am one of them.

Just thought I'd make it inclusive.

Limey drove us there.
Sunshine!
Proper sunshiny sunshine!
We didn't really think it would last, but it did. It didn't have any real warmth to it, but then it wasn't a cold day.
After squelching and jumping puddles and avoiding sheep-leavings and finding work-arounds where the track was saturated I was plenty warm.
I performed a very slow, not very teasy strip-tease in the course of two miles. Gloves, hat, scarf and in the end waterproof jacket all came off.

1) A little circle that I didn't photograph before. Note water.

2) Limey hasn't really just killed someone, there are other reasons to adjust your gloves. Although our trip was accompanied by the crack of gunshot and the yelp of dogs as pheasants were hunted in a far-off field.

Limey and I.
Seated on different parts of a sacred monument, albeit in the same circle.

Because Bri would love that.
And because we can.
And because why not.

I also wanted to recreate the photo from last year, of Limes eating a picnic up a mountain in the snow.
She gamely offered to eat some choc as a substitute, but we agreed that we're not out to make memes here.
Probably just as well given the annual nature of our photo ops.

1) Brianna's stones from the circle we were in.
I doubt you could have seen them if I'd taken this photo last Spring, it was that drear and dreich.

2) And me, again.

There is a story to the photo of me above.
There could have been many more photos, trust me.

I had an odd impulse to sit up on a stone which wasn't immediately accessible from ground level.
It wasn't of a particularly impressive height, but I did need a boost up from Limey.
I dutifully took off a boot, to keep her hands clean, but ended up face down on the top of the stone, spread-eagled, arse in air.

STUCK.

I am not as limber as I once was, and there were a few seconds where I thought I might even have to give up and shuck my top. But I persevered, hindered slightly by Limey's laughter but helped enormously by more boosting from same.

I think she was a bit disappoint that she didn't get to take a photo though.
At least not until I sanctioned it.

She did replace my boot and take two lovely photos, so I am very much in her debt.

What we brought to remember Claudette.
No singing this time, but I did try to talk as if I was talking to her.
I cried in the end.
I told her about the frog in the well, and how I'd brought the frog for her, but was in fact taking it home again. Same with the purse.
I just hated the idea of something genuinely special either being taken away by someone with no understanding of its meaning, or rotting away.
I bought the purse for her you see, before she died.

So originally she had the jade frog, chocolate coins, real Chinese coins, a lucky purse, tulips and a bottle of Bacardi.
We left a tulip, both types of coin and the Bacardi we poured and then each had a sip of.
Limey took the remainder of the tulips home, the same as the daffodils last year. It's a cliché to say it's what Brianna would have wanted, but she would. She was an enjoy it while you got it person.

.

beautiful

Loving those boots btw.

I really like that shot of the three stones. Well done.

Cold winds.
Warm thoughts.

Nifty.

Wonderful photos. It looks like it was a great trip

Really love those standing stones.

One day, oh one day, I will try and get to Arran.

This set of stones had one that came with it's own natural step.
I think Limey was disappoint.

Oh yes, here is Limey being disappoint!
And an out-take of me just to even things up.

1) Looking away from the Moor to the Kintyre Peninsula.
2) And green and sheeps; view from the carpark looking back.

More lovely things from Limey's house, this time the sea-themed bathroom.

A fine piece of scrimshaw.
And if you don't know what that is you've obviously not tried to stave off the end of a weekend my eating cake and watching the Antiques Roadshow. Shame on you.

We picked Mr Limey up in Blackwaterfoot on the way home.
I hoped for a repeat cup of tea in the hotel there, as it was the first place I visited last Spring, but it was closed.
Lazy Scots :p:

Instead, when we came back I decided to get busy. Limey had noticed that the recent blowy weather had left her garden strewn with twigs, which when collected made excellent free kindling. As I was going to be home alone that night with the fire all to myself, it seemed reasonable to contribute to it in some way. Of course they work better once they've had a chance to dry out, but twigs is twigs.

1) Cyd-Sox going sailing.

2) The collected kindling, my bedding and Cyd's cat palace.

Nice kindling.

I'm really enjoying this thread. You're doing a great job as always, Sundae.

Last night on Arran, to be spent all alone as the Limey's were off for the band Christmas Party.
Like anyone who is busiest at Christmas, this had to take place in January of course (we had our department meal in November).
I was invited, but figured it would be too tempting.

Instead I baked some beans for myself, which I have to say were pretty good.
I packed my case and generally got ready for an early start the next morning.
Well I say early, I caught the bus at 07.00. This morning I'd already been at work for half an hour by that time.

When the Limes came back we did have a chance for a chat before bed.
I was a little perturbed by the following conversation:

- Does [name of person I don't know] expect us to do the rory-bories tonight?
- I think so.
- Well not me, I'll be asleep by then!

It sounded like a really bad codeword for rumpy-pumpy!
Which is fair enough, but it was a shame the word bories was in there. And weird to think of them discussing it over dinner, and Limey turning it down flat.

Of course it wasn't about sex.
The Aurora Borealis were supposed to be visible at 02.00.
Turns out I was still wide awake then, overly worried about missing the bus/ boat/ coach, about my long journey in general and about what I might come home to.
I couldn't see them. Shame, it would have been a perfect end to the visit.

One final photo from the boat, to show it's possible to manage the idiosyncrasies of Gaellic, but still have problems with basic English.

So I think all that's left is for me to thank Dani for her company and good humour.
Oh and dinner - I never paid you back did I?

And Mr & Mrs Limey for their hospitality, kindness and various purchases on my behalf including tickets.
Work have asked us to book our holiday as far in advance as possible, so I'm already blocking in some dates. My birthday is 1st July which is in term time - it's not really fair to book the school holidays as most of my colleagues have children.
Maybe I could come up and frolic in your wonderful house around that time?

I don't feel the same pull to Arran that you've always felt, but seeing the sea is something I try to do every year. And now I wasn't to be amongst the trees again too.
Greedy.

Won't that put you right in the middle of everyone getting ready for the 4th of July celebration? I expect Limey will be playing the "Stars and Stripes Forever" by Sousa at the big concert

Sarge, you are one goddamn funny man. :)