I’ve been home a week and really haven’t done much. It took a few days to get over the flight, I felt exhausted for about three days. It might have been the shock of seeing blue skies and sunshine. 

The car started OK, which is always a good thing. I applied for both passports, the British one about $200 cheaper than the Australian one. Quite the rip off. Both have only 7 months left on them so I can’t really use them anymore and I’m hoping to go a wandering at the end of the year. 

The garden and house were all in fine fettle although the weeds have made their presence known and I haven’t dealt with all of them yet. I did cut the grass and nearly filled me new green bin to the top. 

Glad to be back in my own place. I am very grateful to Ken and Linda for looking after me for a couple of weeks and I’m sure that now that I have gone, they can once more roam the house in perfect nudity uninterrupted. I’m just happy that I can also just leave my dishes in the sink for a day or two before they hit the dishwasher without feeling exceedingly guilty. 

The weather was a bit dull for the first few days back but now that the sun has appeared and the clouds have fucked off it feels like a perfect winter, still a bit fresh at night but today it got up to 25 C. 

Spent one day reinstalling WIN 11. For some reason it lost my desktop, and I could not find it anywhere. I looked in the registry and many other sensitive areas and came up empty handed and so I formatted C and reinstalled. I didn’t lose much because I only install a couple of programs on the C and the rest shared over the other two drives. 

I tried to download WIN 11 directly but no good and so I had to install WIN 10 from the disc and get the thousand updates needed to get WIN 11 up to date. It does start a bit quicker now which makes it all worthwhile. I also set up windows restore which never seems to stay active. I think that after each windows update it must switch it off. I’ll have to check that because I know I have activated it and then there is no restore point when I need it. 

I walked into Ipswich yesterday to the library to find something to read and of course I took this opportunity to stop for a Brisket Burger which is just absolutley delicious.

Today, Sunday, I went out on my bike for the first time in around 7 weeks and my goodness am I unfit. I did a 20km circuit that I often do which as a good mixture of terrain and at times my thighs were just screaming at me. I got out of breath a couple of times and my heart rate was up at 150+ a few times, but my legs……well I didn’t have any. I guess I’ll suffer in the morning for my efforts today and it will be a few weeks before I’ll be getting a pizza after my bike ride. 

Back to work in the morn, make some money to spend at the end of the year. 

Get the train it will be easier they said, you can relax they said, however no one predicted I would be sat next to Scum and that the train would leave late and it just got later and later as we headed south. Eventually we were running so late that they told us that we needed to get off at Stafford and get a plan B.

Now I call them Scum because as per Rab C Nesbit’s description of Scum they were the epitome.

My plan B goes like this; suburban train to Birmingham New Street and then from there go to Bristol and on to Chippenham. Roseanne has been updating me throughout the afternoon and she has been more helpful than the train staff.

We got about ten minutes of a warning that the train I started on was changing plans and for an hour leading up to this the train was packed because there were so many people heading south. The Scum were telling folk that there seats had been pinched at Glasgow Central, which was shit, and so they were not going to move and give the folk that booked the seats they were sitting in. Very logical!

The Scum’s child was a Fuckin nuisance. He tried to shut the window blind a few times and I just stopped him and then he began to complain to his mother who looked at me and told him to shut up… but he did not. I would have happily thrown him from the train.

As the journey progressed they had food and large bottles of beer of course because that’s what you do. And the kid just continued to be a pain in the arse talking on the phone to imaginary friends. Even my noise cancelling headphones could not block this wee prick out.

When it was finally time for them to leave they got up and made their way to the door along with half the carriage and then started shouting at the Indian woman behind them because she was shoving into them, I personally don’t think she had much choice as she too was being pushed.

The expletives and racial slurs were many accompanied by clarification of her being pregnant, I think she was just fat. So as usual the perception of the Glaswegian as a Scum drunkered has come to fruition for all to see.

Got to love Scum…

Eventually I reached my destination and Roseanne was there to meet me 😁

Happy Days 😀

I’m coming to the end of my trip in Scotland. So far all has gone to plan, however there have been times when I thought that it was all up in the air. With a bit of luck and good fortune I stayed in front of Storm Floris which nearly derailed my last week here.

Some of the best roads in the world are on the west coast of Scotland and my wee Peugeot navigated it well and it travelled down the road as it it was on rails. It took a few days to get used to the six speed manual but it soon became second nature.

The screen interface controls everything which is not good. Trying to adjust the air conditioning is just so dangerous when moving, however Google Assistant worked fairly well and got a bit cheeky at times.

The tour of Glasgow Central was definitely a highlight. Great way to spend an hour and a half and well worth the £15 ticket price.

Strolling through different parts of the city, looking at the architecture makes me very proud to be a Glaswegian. I hate it when folk criticise Glasgow when they really haven’t taken a proper look. It is a city full of gems that are sometimes not so obvious to the casual visitor, you have to make a wee bit of an effort to see the true wealth of what it has to offer.

I returned the hire car hire today and they gave me a £51 refund which was just marvelous.

One more day to go here in Scotland and then I’ll catch the train on Monday morning down to Chippenham where I’ll stay for a couple of days before flying out on the 14th, and hopefully back in the hoose on Friday morning. Not sure at this stage if I’ll get an Uber or the train. I’ll see how I feel when I get back.

I didn’t sleep at all well last night, worried that the ferry would be cancelled due to the storm approaching from the Atlantic. I’ve been on Lewis the last few days and I’m ready to leave.

The storm is going to be fierce apparently, they have warnings out for most of Scotland and many of the ferry services have been cancelled up and down the coast. This was my only option. I was at the ferry terminal at 5:30 am hoping that all would be fine and then I saw the big beast of a ferry coming into view, so so happy.

Every time my phone pinged I looked at at it fearing the worst. I had no idea what I was going to do if I had been stranded. I need to be back in Glasgow on Wednesday and that might not have been possible if I hadn’t got on this morning.

Originally I was booked on the afternoon ferry, however I changed the booking a few weeks ago and I’m so glad I did.

After arriving in Ullapool I put in Aberdeen into the sat nav via a Neolithic site and off I went trying to stay in front of the storm.

The winds were fearce and debris was all over the road. Trees were down and roads were closed, the car was getting buffetted all the way there. I’ve never experienced driving in conditions like that before. It was mental.

But I made it to Aberdeen and very glad to get there in one piece.

It’s a fairly quiet place, hardly a soul on the street. I had a very lazy morning, not sure at this stage if the ferry will be running in the morning and also if it is I’ll be up at 5am. So today I’m going to do nothing of any note. Finding a place open to have food was a challenge and then I realised that the town slowly comes to life about noon.

I noticed the fairground is packing up, pity it was there at all. What a Fuckin racket.

I’ve come to a local hotel and I’ve just eaten at the carvery, one glass of wine and a double espresso to sober up. I was going to have dessert but I just couldn’t fit it in 😭

I drove an hour to get to Tarbert in the south of Harris. Now there is a shop about two minutes from where I’m staying and I had a quick look there yesterday. Now I was only in the store for a few minutes when I heard the shop assistant speak, a broad English accent once more. Everywhere I have been there are English running small businesses. I don’t dislike the English, however it feels as if they are taking our wee country by stealth. I’m not paranoid or racist but I want to hear my own tongue when I go through these wee places.

I walked out the store because I want to buy a Harris Tweed Bunnet from a Scot. It’s a Scottish product and I want the whole transaction to be done by Scots, not foreigners.

So my hour’s drive to Tarbert could have been a waste of time, however the young Scottish lassie was very helpful and friendly and helped me select my bunnet. The quality I think is better and the style unique to their on site factory. It was also £10 more than a similar hat in the other store which I was happy to spend.

With new bunnet on my head I went on a drive   to all the beautiful places in the Isle and lastly I checked out a few Neolithic sites before returning to Stornoway.

I went to the Stornoway Art Gallery and I saw this amazing exhibition with such haunting, dark and brilliant pieces.

I’m on board the good ship Calmac and heading over the sea to the Outer Hebridies, my first time and I’m really looking forward to it. This is the land of Harris Tweed and I’m going to buy myself a flat tweed bunnet.

This is also the home of first class black pudding and I shall sample that as much as is possible on such a short trip.

Since we left Ullapool we have had an escort of a squadron of Gannets and I’ve just seen a pod of dolphins.

It was a very smooth sailing and very pleasant sitting up at the front of the boat.

My Airbnb is near the the ferry terminal and it only took a few minutes to get within the vicinity. I am tired and there is a fairground nearby making a hell of a racket and my heart sinks as I finally see a landmark. I thought my stay in Stornoway was going to be peaceful but right now I’m regretting getting off the boat.

I find the key, I find the house and I find a parking place. Thankfully the house is old and the walls are thick and so the noise is dampened down a lot. The house is small and modern inside.

At 10 pm the fair falls silent, woohoo🤗

Having a cuppa, a snack and then a shower and bed and I shall begin my exploration on the morning..

I was going to get up at the crack of dawn and get the train to Mallaig, however when I woke up at 6:30 I decide to turn over and go back to sleep. To make it worth my while I needed to get the 8:15 train but I needed sleep and so I drove there instead.

It’s a great road which is constantly ruined by these Fucking motor homes. Most of them are unable to navigate the Scottish roads and so they spoil it for everyone else. 30mph for mile after mile and when a vehicle came the other way they panic and hit the brakes. They are a bloody hazard. All they do is cause frustration and they don’t have the decency to pull into a layby to let the huge line of cars and tourist buses through. Most of them are not competent to drive anything bigger than a mini.

Anyway, I decided to blast out some Black Sabbath to calm down and also to pay homage to Ozzy Osborne who was buried today.

And on a side note, best coffee so far at the tea cafe near the pier in Mallaig. 10 out of 10.

Oh and I saw the Steam Train again.

Another amazing industrial revolution engineering masterpiece which was designed by Thomas Telford and built between 1803 to 1822 and it was built by hand. There were no machines, it was mainly Scottish Highlanders and Irish Navvies.

Neptune’s Staircase is the longest staircase lock in Britain. It consists of eight locks that lift boats a total of 19.5 metres (64 feet) over a distance of about 500 metres (1⁄3 mile).

Where is it?

Banavie, near Fort William, Highland, Scotland

On the Caledonian Canal, which connects the east and west coasts of Scotland through the Great Glen (from Inverness to Corpach).

The only real change that’s been made to the staircase is that the gates have been automated and it takes a lock keeper to operate when you traverse.

The water used to raise and lower the lock levels is recycled and prevents loss from the canal.

It costs £26 a metre of vessel length to use the locks but it’s also a lot quicker, cheaper and safer than going around the top of Scotland.

At Fort Augustus there are a series of similar locks that lead you into Loch Ness.