4 Years

Four years ago we got married. As if by magic, today I have four massive spots on my face!

We decided to celebrate (our anniversary - not the spots) by going out for dinner at an old haunt of ours, The Raj in Edinburgh. It was quite a long time since we had been there and they have done the place up a bit, as well as changing the menu. Still, we had a couple of really good curries before heading to Favorit in the city centre for coffee. It has also been done up since the last time we were there, but they still have coffee and they still have chocolate brownies so we were happy.

Next, we went to catch up with an old friend at the cinema, this time using free tickets courtesy of Coca Cola. That friend was none other than Mr Will Ferrell and it was great to see him again! We went to see his new film Step Brothers and I have never laughed so much in the cinema in my life. I think this is his funniest film so far, but please, do not rush out to see the film on that recommendation alone. Unless of course you want to see a bit more Ferrell for your money than you’re used to, because lets just say it’s a bit ruder than his other films and probably has more swearing too. Anyway below is a trailer which is rated as ’suitable for everyone’ if you want a little taster:

Once we stopped laughing we made our way home via Corstorphine and guess what we saw by the side of the road? … A badger! He was just foraging away, looked straight at us when we slowed down the car to look at him, and then he shuffled off into the bushes. It was pretty cool.

Catherine

Scran, Books and a Grumping Hamish

I’m off work for a few days, so since Catherine had to go into the office to check Monthly Record proofs, I decided to go in with her and browse the FC bookshop. As always I ended up buying a couple of things. (As an aside, Catherine claims to have often ’stalked’ me many years ago, when I worked in Wesley Owen in Inverness, popping in frequently pretending to need books. If you ever read this Charles, be assured that my interest in the FC bookshop is purely to do with buying books!)

I bought the following which look interesting: The Schaeffer one is a present for my Dad.

After my shopping spree, we stopped in at the Haugh Inn in South Queensferry for lunch. The food’s good in there and cheaper than most other places in the town. Catherine had a bacon cheeseburger, whilst I munched my way through scampi and chips.

The Haugh Inn

Now we’re home, I intend to chill out and read this afternoon. There were so many books lying around the house that Catherine allowed me to buy some more bookcases to house them all in.

New Bookshelves!

Hamish looks at home, doesn’t he? He’s in a grump though, after reading Driscoll - too liberal and ‘far-out’ for any teuchtar gorrilla apparently!

Hamish In A Driscoll-inspired Grump

A.

Glasgae

As Andy was writing sermons today, I decided to head to Glasgow and do some visiting. First on the list were my lovely Grannie and Grandad who live in Cardonald (and you can see Tommy Sheridan’s house from their kitchen window!) The journey normally takes about 50 minutes, but today there was loads of traffic and it actually took an hour and forty. Still, it meant that I got to listen to Queen’s Greatest Hits II all the way through (with plenty time for repeating my favourite tracks) which always makes for a good sing-a-long.

Once I was there, I enjoyed a couple of hours chatting, showing off holiday photos, and munching on homemade pancakes (with the butter spread 6 inches thick - just the way that most old people and I seem to like them!) As I was leaving, the rain stopped long enough for me to get this picture of Grannie and Grandad with the very large hanging basket currently blooming at their front door.

No Grannie is not on steroids, Grandad is just standing on a lower step!

Grannie had told me when I arrived that the man next door had been taking pictures of the basket, and I had assumed it was because he was so impressed by it. Conversation later revealed that he simply had a new camera which he was testing out, and he had even been taking photographs of the other neighbours putting out their rubbish bins! Still, he gave Grannie the resulting prints so I think she was chuffed.

Next I went on a little adventure to East Kilbride using the directions which I got from the AA route finder website. Anyone who has used AA route finder in the past will know that the directions are not always accurate so I had no idea where I would end up. I saw parts of the world I did not know existed, and passed by places I had always heard of but never been to eg. Rouken Glen and Giffnock. Still, I reached my destination (Michelle and Dave’s flat) without any problems although I obviously went wrong somewhere as I approached their street from the left when according to my directions it should have been on the right.

Michelle and Dave (at a wedding - not dressed up for my arrival!)

A cup of coffee and a good chat later, and I was back on the road to Fife. This time my tunes of choice were from The Bodyguard soundtrack. One word = amazing.

Catherine

Freebies

We’re just back from a cheap night out, courtesy of The Times, Cafe Nero and Mars Incorporated. Let me explain …

On Saturday there was a “buy one get one free” voucher in The Times for Pizza Express. As we still haven’t really been to Tesco since we got back from holiday, and because we are still in holiday mode, tonight seemed like a good night to use it. We paid a visit to the Holyrood branch where we each ordered our favourite pizzas (Andy = American Hot. Me = Pollo ad Astra). We had originally planned to head next door to Beanscene for coffee afterwards but we were starting to really question whether we had parked legally so decided to move the car and find somewhere else for coffee instead. We ended up in Stockbridge where there is a Cafe Nero branch, and it suddenly occurred to me that I had a loyalty card which only required one more stamp before a free drink could be claimed - bonus!

Following our lattes (and ok, I’ll admit that I spent the money saved by the loyalty card on a muffin) we headed to Cineworld at Fountainbridge where we used two free cinema tickets that I had managed to collect after munching through 8 big bags of Maltesers, Revels, M&Ms and Minstrels. We went to see the new Batman film, The Dark Knight. I quite enjoyed it because having watched all the original films numerous times throughout my life, it was interesting to see an alternative take on the characters, and also get some more of their backgrounds (although I was slightly disappointed not to learn much more about Batman/Bruce Wayne who almost seems like a minor character this time round). And I’m going to come out and say it … I definitely don’t think all the Oscar talk surrounding Heath Ledger’s “Joker” is justified.

I think that was all the freebies we got tonight. Oh wait a minute - I almost forgot about the free parking at Cineworld (definitely legal that time).

Catherine

A Day Off

The office was closed today, and Andy had the day off too, so we decided to get up reasonably early and head in to Edinburgh for some shopping at our favourite shopping centre, Ocean Terminal. The plan was to get some clothes that will be better suited to the warmer climate in Lucca. Despite being armed with a list of items I was looking for, I only came away with one top, while Andy got a bagful of items in the Debenhams sale without even trying!

After getting up so early, our shopping trip was over by lunchtime, so we stopped for some food at Orocco Pier in South Queensferry on the way home. We had been there once before for my birthday 2 years ago and we’ll definitely be going back again. It’s a really nice place with great views, and the food is good too! The highlight for me was the creme brulee dessert followed by a Rocky Road Mocha. And to be honest, the sausage and mash I had before that was not far behind in the highlight stakes!

The cool surroundings (and a hint of the view) at Orocco Pier

Well, I would bore you with the details of the hoovering and weed killing that I did this afternoon but luckily for you Mary Queen of Shops is just about to begin on BBC2 so I have got to go!

Catherine

Mum, St Andrews and Elie

Chloe and a confused looking Lucy!

My mum is down from Inverness for the weekend so we’ve been busy. Last night we went into Edinburgh for tea (Pizza Express) followed by a mercifully brief jaunt to IKEA. This morning we were all at the Café. Catherine had done some baking that was demolished before I got a chance to sample it, which just means she’ll have to make some more.

Some Cafe Dudes

After the Café we headed to St Andrews and then to Elie for a quick walk round by the harbour. The forecast was for sunshine, but this never materialized and instead we had to deal with pretty strong winds as you can see…

Elie windy

We’re back home now, me watching the footie on one TV and Catherine and my mum watching a chick flick they hired out on the other. The second half has started so I’m away – I’m sure Catherine will write in more detail soon.

C’mon Russia….

More PHOTOS!

Andy

Culross In The Sun

Cracking day + new car = time for a drive.

castle window

not a hag

We didn’t get that far actually, only as far as Culross. It’s a strange, but beautiful little town across the Forth from Grangemouth. A lot of it’s buildings have undergone refurbishment and the result is a step back in time, with colourful, ancient buildings lining the narrow streets. A great place to cut about.

a Culross street

some overgrown steps

Andy

A Pink Day

Today was a pink day!

Catherine’s shirt was pink……

The blossom was pink…….

Even the walls were pink……

The only thing without a hint of pink was this dude we stumbled upon at Kathellan……

Who you looking at?!

More Photos

Andy

Monkey Business

Why are events, or days out so expensive in Scotland? One of the (many) things that impressed me about Paris was the price of art galleries, museums and exhibitions. In this country we get ripped off and just grin and bear it. Take today for example, Catherine and I went to Edinburgh Zoo for a couple of hours in the afternoon. In theory this should be a nice relaxed spur of the moment decision, not something that you need to re-mortgage your house to afford. It cost £19 for us to get in - now compare that to £9 for the Louvre!

What made us really mad about today was that half of the zoo was being reconstructed and so wasn’t even open to the public. On top of that, the majority of enclosures were seemingly empty, there were no gorillas or chimps, the jaguars were apparently hiding and we could only just see the zebras, but only at a distance of about half a mile and even then it was just their backsides on view. It was rubbish. I felt really sorry for the parents who were taking their obviously excited kids into the place, only for the children to be disappointed by the lack of animals on show. Add the £2.50 you have to pay for parking and you are well and truly taken for a ride. If they are going to do construction work in the off-season, or if fewer animals are available, surely they could lower the price?

At the end of my day I was almost convinced that Edinburgh’s other zoo, Tynecastle was more worthy of a visit. Almost.

Here are the photos of our day

Andy

A Day of Views and Viewers

The Forth Road Bridge from South Queensferry

It was my day off today and since it was nice outside, I decided to head over to South Queensferry and take a few photos. I managed to get a couple of shots of the town centre and the bridges. I really like South Queensferry, the old buildings on the High Street are amazing - maybe we can find someone there who wants to house swap with us, maybe on a permanent basis.

I went into Edinburgh in the afternoon and had a walk about. I stopped in my usual haunts (Café Jaques, Coda and the Free Church bookshop) and took some more photos. We’ve had the camera for a few months now, but I’m still trying to get to grips with it, it’s too complicated for my little brain to deal with.

Advocate’s Close

After sitting for ages drinking too much coffee and reading my book (Schaeffer - yeah, still reading it!), I picked up Catherine from work and we headed back to South Queensferry and to the Railbridge restaurant for tea. We justified this expense by telling ourselves that since we had people coming to view our house later on, that we didn’t have time to cook and clean up and that we didn’t want our house smelling of food for our visitors. For some reason, we had it in our minds that the restaurant was quite an inexpensive place, so we got a surprise when we opened our menus to find that this wasn’t the case at all, and that a chicken burger was going to cost more than a tenner. In the end, I settled for haggis and chicken and Catherine chose some mussels. Neither dishes were great, but the views from the resaurant over the Forth are (almost) worth the visit.

The Railbridge Restaurant

Five minutes after getting home and an hour and forty minutes before they were supposed to arrive, our first viewers showed up. This unexpected visit, as you can imagine, caused quite a lot of panic. The viewers had come through from Glasgow and the drive hadn’t taken as long as they had thought (how can you arrive an hour and a half early from Glasgow?) so they just thought they would get the visit over and done with. We did ask them to give us five minutes so that we could tidy up, but they weren’t having any of it and we had to go along with the viewing. Catherine showed them downstairs, while I ran around the upstairs frantically trying to tidy up as best I could. Ten minutes later, while they were still inspecting the downstairs, another knock at the door added to Catherine’s already inflated blood pressure - it was the next lot of viewers, this time only half an hour early! To cut a long and tedious story short, both sets of people liked the house, but weren’t exactly enthusiastic. I’m not holding my breath. The move to South Queensferry will just have to remain on hold for a little longer

more photos

Andy