Gemma’s birthday on Monday. I’ve been having some difficulty convincing her that she’s not old. All went well though. We did opening of presents by the loch in the sunshine, after a bit of driving up and down the coast, trying to find a suitable spot. Brief look at Castle Stalker. Bar meal at the hotel later. Poker and pool in the evening.
Yesterday the satnav got us to within sight of Tesco but failed to get us to the entrance of the car park. It’s officially crap. Sea life sanctuary on the way back. Standard fare for that kind of setup really. In need of a facelift generally. Curry in the evening. Loud pool. Burning logs for the heck of it.
This time it’s a holiday cottage near Glencoe. Less of a drive, and managed to get Kane on the insurance so had some help for the middle part of the journey. Good to absorb the environment and not concentrate on the road so much. I discovered that satnav is really just a toy to keep passengers amused. A primitive graphical representation of your progress along the route, sneak previews of village names and petrol stations, upcoming street names, your speed, the speed limit (although that’s not always up to date); even little bleeps when you’re approaching a speed camera. The problem for drivers is that the digital woman (Tim is too deep for the tinny speaker on my phone) waits till the last second to tell you which turning to take, and she pretty much doesn’t know local details like one-way systems. She singularly failed to get us to the hotel that owns the cottage. A pair of eyes proved much more useful in that respect.
Smooth journey up. Two years on, the Zetec coped well again, this time with the engine running at the right temperature. If only I’d known two years ago how easy it is to change the thermostat on a mk 2 Mondeo (apparently not so on the new shape). If only I’d also remembered that car dealers talk horse dung much of the time. Car geekery. For Heaven’s sake…
The kitchen/diner/living room has a large pool table in the middle of it. John had some niggles about the accommodation. Much pool playing, much conspicuous consumption and high spirits. People who haven’t seen each other for a while. Connections being reformed. Wedding DVD well received.
Swimming at the hotel early this morning. Holiday sea air buzz. Tensions evaporating. Oban today. Sunshine most of the way there. Cold and windy near the sea front. Judith’s foot playing up again. Cheese toasties and a dour waitress. Atmosphere.