Monthly Archives: May 2016

Our conference was super busy but we all did really well. Our symposia was really successful, I had fun chairing and the conference civic welcome in the city hall provided an opportunity for Selpie O’Highland dancers. Hey Gretch we really need Selpie lessons.

I was excited as the conference closed as we were visiting the Childsmile team the next day. They picked us up early on Friday. It was sort of like a Mr Bean episode, with three Aussies who had been munching on Scottish shortbread, hence with expanding waistlines, crowded into the backseat of a small Scottish car. We visited a couple of schools and I must admit I was desperate to steal very cute Scottish 5-year-olds. We walked into one classroom and were met with an excited gaggle of the cutest, Glaswegian speaking wee ones who yelled out ‘hello Australia’. We were treated like royalty and the kids were so excited that their poor teacher had massive trouble controlling them. Vanessa, I did think of you. They wanted to talk about great white sharks, snakes and spiders and were totally intrigued by us. Even the little ones were asking ‘do you know my cousin in Australia’ – again, we couldn’t understand a word they were saying but oh my goodness they were very cute. Their teacher told us she liked the tooth brushing programs as it was the only time they were quiet for the whole day.

Our train trip to Auld Reekie was again easy, and it was nice to have a wee rest before we braced ourselves for the cobblestones and climb up to meet William and Robert at the gates to the granite fortress that dominates the Edinburgh streetscape. Today we have walked 500 miles and it isn’t over. Virginia isn’t convinced she even likes ghosts but you seriously can’t come to Edinburgh and leave without one poltergeist sighting – we are drinking buckets of good builders tea, stuffing chocolate in our mouths and getting rugged up ready for the terrifying covenanters prison. I keep telling Virginia it isn’t scary … but of course … I lie !!!!

The wee beastie was floating on her back as we drove up the side of the Loch. It was nice to arrive into our lodgings in Inverness and there were good locks on the door to keep out the heinous Campbell ghosts. We wandered through the bronze age Clava Cairns and past the Cairns of the fallen Highlanders buried beneath the soil of Culloden. It is pretty fantastic to drive some of the most scenic roads in the world all within the space of 24 hours, and drink in the history of the Highlanders. A pitstop at the fantastic Blair Atholl watermill wasn’t planned, but that is the lovely thing about Scotland. Pull off the road into any small village and feel like you have walked into Brigadoon. We munched on great toasties and fabulous shortbread in the 1590 mill. Fabulous eating bread, where the flour of the bread that you are eating is being stone ground a few metres from you. We arrive into Stirling late afternoon so went in search of a wee drop at the 1733 Settle Inn. We could have sat for hours as the drinks cost almost nothing and the fire was burning in the tiniest, stone walled pub. Virginia had no idea what the barman was saying so it was a damn miracle we ended up with exactly what we wanted. We arrived back into the very cool Glaswegian city. From Sauropods, giants and beasties to partying Scotsman, great restaurants and the noise of the most vibrant of cities we had been to a parallel universe but were now back to work.

This trip will always be known as Selpie O’Castle, Selpie O’Castle with fountain and Selpie O’Hairy cow. Carol even brought a pink brolly with matching shoe laces for the occasion. Whilst we were headed for the bathtub of the wee beastie, my imagination was wild again as we left the shortbread tin Eilean Donan over the Drochaid an Eilein Sgitheanaich across the Loch Alsh. Skye really is the most dramatic and wild place. With the wee beastie floating around on her back in Loch Ness, I was convinced that I could see thumping Sauropods plodding across the wilds of Skye. Now I have had totally crappy asthma so perhaps it was a bit of oxygen deprivation but I was totally convinced that any moment the lagoon loving wee beastie would peer down at me through the window. As we drove across the remote, fog covered roads you could occasionally see the giants finger tips poking through the clouds. As the rain pelted down and the wind rocked the car, I was once again convinced that giants or beasties would rock our solid German engineering. Just as I closed my eyes for the giant to toss us, the sun poured down through the giant’s finger tips.  Our wee stop for a 40 pound round of restorative G&T was completely over the top but we had survived stomping Sauropods and giant beasties so decided it was a small price for Carol to pay for the ambience of the over priced Portree bar.

I fell on to the plane after the long and exhausting days of moving house. I do wonder whether moving house is sort of like having a baby; well I hope so, cause I have to do it all again. In the middle you just want to give up, toward the end you think – I just wanna get this over and done with even if I die in the process, and then when it is all over, the memory just comes back in little bursts of panic until it fades, and you can’t remember, so you go back for more.

The flight was easy really. I couldn’t complain at all because I had the loveliest 90-year-old sitting beside me and she flew the whole way without one complaint. She looked about 70 and was a retired physics professor from Cambridge – a bit awe inspiring isn’t it to be a female physicist who started work 65 years before. The journey through Heathrow was all pretty simple and arrived into Glasgow about 5.30pm. Waited patiently for a couple of hours for Carol to pick me up. She said she would be there by 5.45 but by 7.30 I gave up and caught the bus. Arrived into the predictably comfortable Premier Inn on Buchanan with VDS strolling down the street. We went out for a very nice fish pie. Had knocked and knocked on Carol’s door but assumed she was passed out cold. Eighteen odd hours later Carol appeared in search of restorative tea.

VDS and Carol had the car tucked away in the car park over the road and we piled enough suitcases to stay here for a year into the back of a wagon and turned the mighty hearse toward Fort William. This time my trip was with Virginia, Carol and Victoria from Uni Melb, who tagged along for the adventure. Victoria is totally addicted to selfies so all of the way up the road it was .. quick stop .. Selpie O’Castle !! The drive up through the Great Glen was as beautiful as ever with the soaring mountains of the Highlands still covered in snow. Every time I drive up that road I am in awe of the most spectacular scenery but also spooked by the ghosts of the Valley of the Weeping. Mort Ghlinne Comhann, or the massacre of Glencoe always stirs up something in me. Hard to explain when it happened in 1692 but to me there is something about that road. Hey Tom, I have been reading about the massacre and hadn’t processed that the “The Rains of Castamere” is based on it. When we get to where we are going I plan to eat nothing, bolt the doors and cover my head with a wee blanket to keep out the ghosties.