The drive up wasn't to bad at all. Marcus and Finley both slept at times which was great and we only listened to Room on the Broom a few times, which is always a bonus for the parents. We arrived at Elsie's and she had put on a good spread of sandwiches and cake and lots of tea a most welcome end to the journey.
Elsie was on good form and it was lovely to see her. We go far to long without talking to her but she is such a lovely person that when we do see her it is like we never left her. Saying good bye was difficult.
We saw Great grandma Headon and although the boys won't really remember her while we are in Oz I was really pleased that She managed to see them both and have a cuddle with them. It is a shame that we don't see her more often but we tend to so busy (not a great excuse I know) at a weekend that we never seem to have the time. She was ok and pleased to see Finley again and to meet Marcus for the first time.
Dinner on Thursday was much fun. Some good friends came down from Polmont and joined us and the boys for a meal. Regaling us with stories of cats hiding under floorboards and talking about fun times at school and uni passed a few hours until the boys were well beyond tired and in desperate need of sleep.
Friday saw us traveling to Dollar to visit my school. How things have changed in the 9 years since I left. Twas a very odd feeling when I realised it was approaching a decade since I left. It was sponsored walk day at School where they were hoping to raise in excess of £60K! A lovely day for a walk in the Ochills behind the school but we weren't kitted out properly for walking and I don't think Finley would have made a 10+mile walk...let alone us!
Seeing Craig was great, as per usual he was uber busy with the pipe band and generally running all things CCF. The signallers were having issues receiving messages from the wandering radios. Even though he was busy seeing him in his normal arena really took me back to be 18 and working alongside him to work through whatever had gone wrong and learning how to deal with problems and how to get the best out of people you work with. Looking back I learnt an awful lot from him. I just hope that I can pass on everything I know to the boys.
Heading up Dollar Beg was strange. The number of times I had done it is the past had never really prepared me for thinking it may be the last time I ever saw the tree covered hill that conceals Castle Campbell or cross the River Devon in the flood plain at the bottom. Dollar will always be a huge part of my life and leaving it behind really hit me.
On to Linlithgow to see Gail. Unfortunately she was busy developing a new exhibition so we had a lovely walk around the Loch and ran Finley ragged. Marcus was so excited by the ducks and swans (once he woke up anyway).
A fun afternoon by the Loch lead to us heading into to Edinburgh to have a wander through Princes Street and try to find some jitter balls for nursery. The wander was good but the jitter balls were no where to be found. We did however find some sunglasses for life in Perth, decent ones that I will try my best not to scratch! As it was such a lovely day we had ice creams in the park and after I got mint choc chip for myself, Finley decided that he would rather that than the chocolate I had got for him. So with grumblings I gave it up (the sacrifices we make for our children) until my Wonderful Lady managed to do a three way swap and got me my mint choc chip :) I Love her so much.
After ice cream we ran around bare footed with the boys. Finley with Anna and Marcus with me. Cue scene from some cheesy romcom. Finley throws ball and it lands at the feet of a good looking guy reading in the shadow of his bike, he looks up and see's Anna looking sheepish and raises and enquiring eyebrow. She smiles coyly and indicates Marcus and I. Who I hasten to add were doing our best to block the walkway on Princes Street Gardens by walking and sitting down on the path and I was giving my best lines to a trio of 80+ ladies. Who got the better deal? I'll let you decide that!
a short walk took us the pub where we were meeting some friends for a drink. Vinca and Becky managed to make it and Vinca was a star in keeping Marcus amused and seeing Becky was great. Hadn't seen her properly for a long time. Was really sad to leave them. However we had to as both boys were shattered and needed sleep. Saying bye was hard. We will really miss them and I will try and keep in touch better.
Another bad nights sleep led to Saturday morning and we headed to Linlithgow once more to see Gail. Again she was busy with the exhibition but still to see her was good and both Anna and I were in tears at saying goodbye. Both Gail and Elisabet have been really good friends and have always given sound and unbiased advice and looked out for us and our Family. Good friends are hard to find and we are lucky to count these two amazing ladies as ours.
The journey down wasn't to bad. We had a lovely couple of hours with Gwen and Ernest who were really pleased to see us and meet the boys. They had made a lovely snack lunch and found Janey's old toys for the boys to play with. Both Finley and Marcus played really well and behaved themselves. So proud of them. I had always got on well with Gwen and Ernest, I spent many a happy hour sailing at South Shields and hope one day that I can show the boys my skill (or lack thereof) with RC yachts. Again saying bye was very strange, I hadn't seen them properly for over 4 years and even though both Janey and I are now married to other people we felt welcomed and loved. Driving away with a tear in my eye made the drive home hard.
And finally home it was that we come. For the first time in, well ever, it really did feel like 'Home'.
No comments:
Post a Comment