Bridge over the river Mackay

At the weekend our lovely friends Jon, Kate and Gabriella ( Gabby ) Kunac-Tabinor, drove all the way from Oxford on a Bank-Holiday Friday to spend a long weekend with us. By the time they got to us at 10 pm on Friday, the weekend had already seemed long to them. Restored with a stiff drink they then showered us with presents, delicious bottles of wine, and had also brought a collection of incredibly 'nosey' cheeses, sealed inside a bag and kept in the car boot.

On Saturday morning we looked at the weather forecast, which on Scottish TV is when the weather forecaster holds up a big piece of dark grey cardboard with a red arrow in the middle that says " You Are Here ". Despite this we thought we could see some yellow bits that looked like sunshine towards the edge, and decided to take them for a picnic on Inchcailloch, an island on Loch Lomond. Unfortunately we found out later that the yellow bit was actually a typhoon, as when we got there, an on-shore breeze of about 40 miles per hour was blowing.

After getting soaked eating our picnic, and with Lily then crying as she was so wet and cold, a kind lady allowed our gals to rest in their tent until the storm blew over. We expect to go back and pick up the girls in about 10 years.

We then headed back to dry land, and up to our village to see how Anne Mackay had fared in the local village flower show. She got a third prize for her roses, a second for her marmalade and a first for her cranberry jelly. Total prize money for her was 1 pound.

We also bumped into friends of ours who had won first prize for a map they had made of local walks, second for a mirror, and third in the runner bean category. In celebration we invited them to our place and drank champagne to celebrate. The sun finally came out, the gals swam in the pool, and memories of the picnic were banished.

Sunday morning saw Jim Henderson, the local landscaper, turn up while we were eating our pancakes and bacon, when we should have been getting ready to dismantle the bridge. Jon very kindly volunteered ( in the same way that Press Gangs volunteer sailors ) to help out, as well as Doug who came in from Glasgow to lend his might. We started by removing all of the old railway sleepers, and lo-and-behold, by the end of a long day, we had the basics of the bridge replaced.

We are waiting for our next big project, when we will naturally be inviting Jon and Kate back to assist.

As the weather has not improved we have booked a villa in Mallorca, Spain, where we hope to get some sunshine, tapas, sangria and potentially even some sunburn.

We shall keep you posted on how that goes.

lots of love

F,M and L

xx