Haddington & Aberfeldy
August 2015
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More garden mayhem ensued, with Daisy about to jump on, and wrestle with, her Uncle Paul. Becky looks ready to be tagged in.
Dare you enter the scary ladybird cave of hell, where shrill, shrieking creatures reside? Granddad Graham crept cautiously to the opening but did not go in.
Gregory decided to join in with the scaring.
It was now descending into violence all over the garden, as the girls focussed their attention on their seated Granddad.
The excitement was clearly all too much for him, though, as he swiftly fell fast asleep. Seemingly Daisy and Becky were also tired out, leaving Paul to try to tickle them awake.
Gregory stole my phone, but Paul doesn't seem to believe he was actually having a conversation
"Yeah, sorry Steve, that was just my uncle. Nah, I'm chilling in my grandfolk's garden after a barbecue, so I won't be able to come to the pub this evening. Maybe next time. Speak soon. Bye."
When the blueberries were dished out, Becky and Gregory cutely swapped bowl contents.
After all that excitement, it was time we escaped to central Edinburgh to take in some of the Fringe Festival, as we like to do more or less each year these days. Graham and Avis had bravely offered to look after all three children, so we were free to stay over at Louise's and Paul's. First stop was Joe Lycett's stand-up, titled That's The Way, A-Ha A-Ha, Joe Lycett, at the Pleasance Courtyard. It was a breezy, entertaining hour or so, and we had reasonably good seats after some, um, sharp queue work.
After coordinating a stupendously brief rendezvous in the queue with Paul Brunger and Vicky Roe (also catching glimpse of Laura and Charlie but barely having chance to utter hello), and a playing of the pregnancy card to get first dibs on seats in the auditorium, we watching Ian D Montfort: Under Sciency Conditions, also at the Pleasance Courtyard, I think (but a slightly different venue). Ian was a character by Tom Binns who specialised in psychic reading. The show ran as an amusing spoof of such things, with a sideline in some actual tricks.
He also slipped character momentarily when an idiotic gentleman decided that walking across at the front to go to the toilet barely five minutes into the show was the way to go. Our psychic hosts reaction had be unexpectedly giggling. There was some other lack of respect shown by some of the audience from near where the aforementioned chap had come from, but once they had decided it was best to shut the hell up, the show continued and it was all very entertaining. At one amusing point, he was using a ball to choose members of the audience randomly, and when it was deflected by an attempted catch it bounced off Paul's leg and underneath my seat. I did everything I could to avoid picking it up, mumbling "I don't want it", and thankfully a bullish bloke on the row of seats in front of us was rather more keen to take on the mantle of going up onto the stage. I was all for watching the show, but not at all for taking part!
On the way home, this does not look like the kind of place to go to. Lots of violence there, surely.
Having not eaten since the (copious amounts of food we consumed at the) afternoon's BBQ, we relented and popped into a chippy on the way home. Paul even joined in, tackling some battered fish (and nicking a few of Lynne's chips).
And that was our trip to Haddington (with a bit of Edinburgh). We headed back over to see our children the next morning and the house was still in one piece. After some leftover BBQ food for lunch, we went on our way, via the Forth Bridge (one of Lynne's favourites...), to Aberfeldy.
After a fairly smooth and now-familiar post-lunch two-hour cruise, we arrived at our designated lodge (or Drumcroy Highland Lodge to give it its full name). And almost instantly, upon sight of the lush green landscape and hearing the absence of sound, any residual stresses and strains evaporated.
This year, we were to be in the Tay Lodge. We had the choice of the two lodges next to each other since we were first to arrive, but this one was nearer to the car parking spot and so it got our vote given the mountain of luggage that we always bring.
And this would be our view for the next 6 days, although the orange football wouldn't remain in the same place.
In fact, The Boy so picked it up, not completely aware at this particular point that it is better to kick it. Daisy looks a little moody in this shot; not sure why.
Ah that's better, young man. You can tell he's growing up when he swaps dribbling down his chin for dribbling a football.
Following the transfer of ownership (as I mentioned earlier, Nicky and Calum sold them earlier on in the year), some of the lodges (including this one) had seen some internal renovation. For example, in this lodge the wall in between the main living area and access to the bedrooms and bathroom had been removed. In addition, the far wall had been given a brickwork feel with a log-burning fire installed. Clearly this latter feature was of no use to us, and instead the base served as a place on which one's toe could be regularly, and painfully, stubbed. Gregory enjoys exploring the new surroundings, no doubt looking for sources of mischief.
This shows both the view in a different direction and also, inadvertently, the close nature of the car parking space to the lodge.
The next (and final) Allens to arrive were driven in by the Aberfeldy-Pitlochry pick-up service, having made the epic train journey from Manchester (although not quite as epic as my 8-hour journey from Royal Leamington Spa whilst at my third year at university, when I travelled up for Nicky and Calum's wedding).
The taxi driver, aka cousin Nicky, was keen for a sit down and a chat with Daisy, who is unfortunately obscuring the view of Gregory and Lynne.
Next on scene was young Matty, with a mysterious accomplice who will, after a brief cameo here, take no further part in this story. I shall not reveal his name because to do so would require knowledge of such information.
The sequencing is a little odd here, because here is another photo of the young Gregory but I have yet to show you a picture of the mysterious Allens. Which of the Allens would it be?
Well, the answer is Nana Sue and Aunty Katie (playing with her hair, naturally). With Jonathan and Jordan staying home (not together) on cat-watching duty (or something), and with Matt and Nic deciding that a holiday to Cambodia was in their better interests, my coordinated effort to bring the Allens together had resulted in Mum and Kate popping up for three nights. Ah well. Here you can also see, for the last time on these pages, Cameo Boy.
We were kindly invited round to the McDiarmids' farmhouse for an all-you-can-eat crisp soirée. Not really; Nicky put on a splendid spread of roast chicken and potatoes and gravy and other stuff. This was possibly before Gregory had planted his head squarely on the table.
With Eddie off to feed the pheasants, I was offered the chance to tag along. It's not something I do every day so I figured why not. It certainly gave me chance to take atmospheric photos of the geometrically precise tree lines.
It was tricky to see anything through the undergrowth, but here is what looks like quite a chubby bird. Not sure this was a pheasant, though.
Looking a bit like a serial killer from the back, Eddie stalking his prey, over some pretty uncomfortable twigs.
It was somewhat of a relief to be out of the slightly claustrophobic and eye-pokingly-sharp woodland to gaze upon the open yellow field.
We had travelled here by mini jeep and would head back to the farmhouse forthwith.
It had been a long day for them both. It's 8.40pm at this point (look how light it is!) but they're as yet reluctant to go to bed, so they're watching TV. We always struggle in the first night of somewhere new, and this is no exception, despite them probably not getting the best sleep the previous night.
As the sun and clouds battle for supremacy, Gregory points out that he would, following careful consideration of all the salient points, be outside, thank you very much.
Well, who are we to deny him that? Our children here are sporting the very latest in outwear/nightwear to enable rapid transition from post-breakfast lounging to hooded-top outdoor shuffling. It's not totally clear whether Aunty Katie is trying to replicate this look or whether she has properly got ready. (It's 8.20am.)
Almost an hour and a half later, Nana Sue is ready to come over and see the family. Gregory is happy to see her and has matching drink (sans tea). Unfortunately for Nana Sue, this was roundabout the moment that a bad migraine kicked in which more or less rendered the rest of her two-and-a-bit-day stay lodge-bound. Not a time to be ill, and it was an illness which made the train journey home pretty unpleasant and indeed it lingered for a few weeks.
Still, we (the fittest) had to plough on. With one absent, the logistics shifted and Aunty Katie hitched a ride, wedged between the two child seats, in our Ford Focus as we headed to the Highland Safari to see what they had to offer this year.
Inevitably, there was child gravitation towards the play area.
Daisy was happy to pose in her favourite little blue-and-green upstairs house in Aberfeldy.
She even encouraged Aunty Katie, who is game for a laugh (or at least easy to persuade to look stupid) to join her.
Some of the directions were a little confusing. Heading to Beijing appeared to involve going via the Land Rover Departure Area and then travelling a further 5,103 miles (approximately). We went to neither.
Back to more important matters. Daisy on a slide! That almost never happens.
The Discovery Trail seemed to be a new addition and one that Gregory was very keen to explore. Lynne turned round as if to say 'are you coming with us or what?'.
Within the Discovery Trail was a small maze round which young Gregory led his Aunty.
We continued along the trail, past the Scheihallion Mine. The sign says "did you know that the largest nugget of gold ever found in Scotland was near here!", not even bothering to ask it as a question. If it was a question, I have to say I didn't know the answer. But exclaimed as it was? Well, I don't know. Either way, it's pretty big news as "largest chunk of rare metal" news goes.
On to the third page (or back to the Secret Portal).