Wednesday 19 August 2009

shopping, drinking, fighting, overcoming the Welsh


What we do on our holidays. Well, not really, apart from the shopping bit. We are doing a great deal of planning, too - to make a stained glass fanlight for over my front door (talked of for years and never got round to) and our trip to Mull at the end of the month. So far the latter has entailed buying a suitable wind-and-waterproof jacket (hurrah for TK Maxx, where real bargains can be found in the outdoor wear line if you aren't looking for - or even able to recognise - this year's model). My old jackets have been relegated to dog-walking outfits, and you know you can only be seen in those if you have a dog to produce as an excuse. The dog doesn't travel because of her carsickness problem, but will move in with her other family two doors down to be spoiled rotten.

Most of the ladies' outdoor jackets were in rather un-serious shades of lavender or pale blue. Can one be a convincing walker-type in lavender? I'm not a convincing walker, but I'd like to look like one. I may even carry an OS map to add to the image. In the end, I was very conservative and bypassed the fashion shades as well as the hideous construction-worker orange one, going instead for stone with a red trim. I may not be spotted if lost in the Scotch mist that has marked so many of our holidays in the West of Scotland, but at least I won't attract surprised attention by looking like a traffic cone when dog-walking once I'm back home.

I've been awake since 3.40 a.m. thanks to my next door neighbours, one sober, the other definitely not, who were having a disagreement, sort of sotto voce, in the back yard - there was reference to "a whole bottle of 15% red since 2 o'clock", and the words "you have 2 hours to sober up" uttered in a penetrating hiss. Their back door, which has to be shut fairly assertively, was eventually shut - very assertively - and all went quiet.

I was particularly interested in the emphasis on the 15%. As a non-drinker, I never give such things a thought, but clearly it matters if you're having an all-night one-person drinking session and don't want to stop. I wondered too about the 2 hours - doesn't seem long enough to sober up, really.

Of course I couldn't get back to sleep after that, and finally gave up on the wall-to-wall
radio coverage of the Afghan elections, and went downstairs to watch a history programme about Edward I and his ruthless subjugation of the Welsh before taking on the Scots. Quite a feat for a man with such a sissy hairdo.


8 comments:

Linda said...

Oh dear, I thought you slept in the back because it was quieter.
Hope the tribe kept you company and improved their knowledge of history. We Welsh can do with all the sympathy going.

Susan said...

Would that be "the" Mull - of Kintar asks the Canadian duo ?? or are there Mulls all over the place ?? We had to google OS map (perhaps Slow Lane will need to add a glossary to her sidebar for her foreign followers) and although we enjoyed this post - there was no mention (or photos) of Millie.

Oliver & Susan

Oliver is preparing a video of all his best qualities for "her" viewing pleasure.

Susan said...

Of course Curious as we are - we googled Mull Scotland - and Wow !! how incredibly beautiful. Hike on !

Oliver

judy in ky said...

I agree... Edward's hairdo is horrid. By the way, why did all those kings feel the need to subdue their neighbors?
Scotland sounds beautiful. I would love to visit there some day. I think I would prefer to live in a smaller, quieter country (than the U.S.) some day.

Anonymous said...

Want to know something? You're utterly fascinating, you really are, especially about colours. I've been meaning to ask for some time, what colour is a grandad's cardigan colour because you once said your car was that colour...

BumbleVee said...

I'm still on the lookout for a lovely little bright yellow rain slicker...with matching boots...so I can go out and jump in puddles when it rains. Just to keep the neighbours guessing...they already think I'm bonkers... and also, to be able to walk if I want to and not get soaked....

a walking holiday....luvly...

rachel said...

It's dull maroon, Lizzie, not a rich claret, but grandad-cardi maroon..... awful. You could wear checked slippers and a tweed cap and look perfectly suited to driving such a boring car. I miss my little Volvo 480 turbo.....

And neighbour noise, Linda, can come from front or back of these houses; another reason to go and live somewhere quieter!

Mull of Kintyre is a bit of a peninsula elsewhere in Scotland, Susan - Mull is a lovely island, despite its Scottish weather. Mull of K is also a very dreary Paul McCartney song, fit only for droning inside a grandad-cardi- maroon car bumbling along at 33 mph..

You can tell I'm underslept, can't you.

Susan said...

hmmmmehhhmmmmm
ehhhmmmnnnn - over here it's a new day and still ... no Millie

Oliver

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