In which I waffle (a lot)

After the 'hurry up's and the 'get on's and the dashing about for the school run, I am home with just the radio, washing machine and two cats for company. The radio is a shade too loud but my mug of tea keeps me here.

A glance outside confirms that the weather hasn't improved since I sprinted from the car to the house. A menacing bruise-coloured cloud is still hanging just behind the wind-whipped trees. The seasons are moving on and our sporadic and brief summer seems to have slipped quietly out the back door while autumn has stormed in and taken centre stage.

It has been a funny year. In a not funny way.

I don't personally feel to achieved much. Surprisingly a number of friends and colleagues I have chatted to feel the same way. Hmmm - is just co-incidence or a weather induced melancholy or the world downturn? Who knows.

I couldn't bear it any longer - I had to turn the radio down to a less invasive level. An annoyingly condescending man was spouting on about aggressive take-over bids and how this would shake up the economy.
It went something like this - BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH  BLAH BLAH BLAH (ad infinitum)  blah blah blah blah..... That is better.

I am knitting again, at least this weather does bring out the crafter in me, I have almost finished the tea cosy I was making to learn how to decrease.....forgotten what type of decrease it was, my Mom did tell me! oops :)

I am also trying something else out - will show later.

I have just read back what I have written and realise what a waffling non-interesting post this is turning out to be. Will try harder.

I will share with you (coz it will make me feel better) some of our holiday. We had started off with a wonderful 8 days in Northumberland. The weather, although not non-stop sunshine, was enough to give us freckles and a warm honey-coloured glow. Then suddenly at the end of the week, rain and a change in the atmosphere on the campsite made us wonder whether to move on and discover a new delight for ourselves. Our personal idea of camping heaven is a field filled with nothing but wild flowers, trees and us.

I have to admit to not wanting to share our holiday freedom and space with other campers who prefer noisy and jolly party type get-aways. They obviously enjoy their time and I am fine with that, what I don't appreciate is when their holiday invades mine. As we paid up and left to explore further, the campsite owner apologised for the antics of the apparently unbooked and unexpected jolly camping party - I felt sorry for him, he was about to ask them to leave and he was only a little bloke.

We travelled up towards Edinburgh then across to Glasgow. As we drove through the rain sodden countryside the skies began to lighten as did our moods. It was like a whole new holiday.

After negotiating the busy roads of Glasgow and crossing the Erskine Bridge, Himself and I consulted a rather old map and discussed the route. We were about to come to a large spit of land - with lochs either side and the road split at the bottom and joined again at the top. Looking at the map (printed in the early 1980s) both roads were given equal status in size and quality. So we plumped for the one on the left, my reasoning it was nearer the sea and our destination and just because I rather fancied it......oops.


 The *wonderfully*winding*narrow*road was tacked lightly against the sheer cliff edge just above the dark and choppy loch waters. Himself gritted his teeth and clenched his hands till his knuckles went white as he drove us along a single width road whilst towing the caravan....... oops again.

I kept up a hopefully cheerful and happy commentary about the view and the fact the sun was shining and we were going up a lovely part of the countryside yadda yadda yadda and the boys did the same only theirs was interjected with -
Holy COW - have you seen the drop!
..and............ Wowser Dad - that was CLOSE!!!!
.......and.............
This is EX-CI-TING Dad can we do it again!?!?!? -

 and.........this is JUST LIKE a ROLLER COASTER!!!

(Gee thanks boys for the support and help)

Any hoo, after a rather steep downhill (cue hot brake smell)  then an equally steep climb (cue hot engine smell) I spotted a picnic stop which Himself quite happily pulled into. It was nearly 5pm and we were all starving so I turned the caravan into a chuck-wagon, Himself consulted his maps, the boys claimed a picnic bench and the dog rolled around in glee on the grass.

We sat and ate looking over Gare Loch and all the excitement and tension of the drive began to fade. In a mile or two we would be joining back onto the main road up at Garelochheid and we could carry on in a less 'fly by the seat of your pants' fashion. Phew.

On our return journey, after our holiday - we chose NOT to do this road, preferring the other one on the map which was a wide many-laned thing. Easier to drive but far far less fun and adventurous.

But life is like that - choose the unknown path and take what comes or choose the well trodden path and find nothing new.....................