Family visit

Last week, Neill and family came to visit us, as part of their Scottish holiday.

We had a very pleasant time, with breakfast in the White Chimneys in Pitscottie, a walk through Dura Den and over Blebocraigs, an afternoon at the St Andrews Highland Games, and a taste test comparing the two Scottish/Italian ice cream shops in St Andrews, Jannettas and Nardini (I am pleased to say the local concern got the thumbs up).

At the Highland Games, three things impressed us: tossing the caber (I had never seen this done before, I am lost in admiration), the tug of war (some epic battles in which nothing seemed to happen for ten minutes until a small crack in one team’s defence led to a quick finish), and, maybe best of all, our local MSP and leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, Willie Rennie, giving a good account of himself in the open 1600 metres race. Incidentally, I wondered why the distances run were 90 metres and 1600 metres, until I realised that these are just 100 yards and 1 mile.

We talked about Pokémon GO. Neill’s view is that, at last, Life is catching up with Art. (He did capture a few of the little critters in St Andrews, including winning his first fight.)