It’s official. Since January this is the longest I’ve been without sea swimming.  One whole week, and its been hard! It’s only because I’ve been away in Glasgow most of the week so I couldn’t get to the sea if truth be told. I’ve survived, but only just.

So let me tell you about Glasgow and what my daughter has now named ‘the world’s biggest fail’ It’s a long story but well worth it if you get to the end I promise you.

A few months ago Orkney Beef saw tickets for sale to see Status Quo. He loves them, I saw them years ago and that was one time too many. So knowing how much he wanted to go I asked my son to go in my place being as he lives and studies at Glasgow now. He kindly agreed to go and, making both his parents happy I bought the tickets as requested by OB.

The tickets never arrived and it was coming up to a couple of days before we traveled.  So I called the ticket office and spoke to the woman who agreed to have the tickets ready at the collection office.  As I wasn’t going, Orkney Beef was to collect them which meant I had to produce a letter of authority to allow him to pick them up on my behalf being as I’d bought them with my card.  In short, it was a massive palaver.

We flew to Glasgow and met up with Tech Support.  We had a few hours to kill before the gig so went to the Christmas market in George Square.  The lights and atmosphere were amazing and full of the joy of Christmas I suggested we all take the ferris wheel.  It turns out this was a really bad idea.

It turns out the whole thing was powered by my fear because despite my initial excitement and the whole thing moving pretty slowly, as soon as we got in and started moving I discovered how terrified I was.  I mean nearly at the crying stage.  And we had to sit waiting virtually at the top while other people got on and off, the crriage gently swinging in the breeze.  I pondered with the idea of asking them to stop the ride so I could get off. Nightmare.  Orkney Beef was loving it and didn’t bat an eyelid, but Tech Support took hold of my hand and held it for the duration of the ride, telepathically messaging me not to make a holy show of myself in front of several thousand people.  He himself who NEVER gets stressed was also not enjoying it that much but making less of a fuss and just closed his eyes and held my hand.  He’s a beautiful soul. Orkney Beef found the whole thing hilariously funny and I’m pretty certain he’s now on the naughty list. Eventually, the nightmare was over and the men prepared to set off to the gig clutching the letter of authority, and proof of purchase, and ID. (all this faff to see an aging band, I kid you not) and I went off to meet a friend. (stay with me we’re almost at the end…)

Not long after I’d met up with my friend and was all set with a large gin to calm my nerves I had a phone call from Tech Support.

‘we seem to have turned up a little early’

‘oh yeah?’

‘yeah, like one year early.  It’s on this date but in 2020’

‘Wait, what?!’

Yep, somehow, all three of us had been part of the ordering process and no one noticed it was 2020.  Add to that the ticket lady who had arranged for the tickets to be left at the box office and a pile of people who had also turned up a year too early and it turned out to be an epic fail and a major disappointment to Orkney Beef and Tech Support and other Status Quo fans.

Status Quo became Staus No

Same time next year?

All was not lost.  We’ve had a hugely productive time in Glasgow, in fact, why don’t you read for yourself from my Facebook post earlier in the week.

  For those of you who are bound to ask the question ‘what is eye brow threading?’ it a form of having your eyebrows tidied up using thread rather than plucking or waxing.  It hurts very little and the most painful part was the beautician recoiling in horro at the sight of my neglected brows!

I love lighthouses.  So much I actually treated myself to a book recently called The British Lighthouse Trail.  You get to tick off and date all the lighthouses you’ve seen and my earliest one is Hunstanton in 1971!  There’s a photo of my in a pushchair next to it with The Mothership standing behind me somewhere in the house. This book is going to be enjoyed for years to come as I seek out lighthouses up and down the country and think back over holidays of yesteryear.

Glasgow isn’t by the sea but does have a building called The Lighthouse and we went to the very top of it.

 

There were about a million stairs and I sounded like Darth Vadar by the time I reached the top but the view was worth it.  It turns out I can go higher than a ferris wheel when it comes to lighthouses and although I felt a bit sick when I looked down I felt secure enough not to turn it into an absolute freakshow.

Back in Orkney my friend Sian took this wonderful photo of a lighthouse and double rainbow.  Another of my favourite things.  You can see more of her work on own blog Life on a Small Island

As well as lighthouses I also love church buildings and cathedrals.  So we also took a walk around Glasgow Cathedral.  There is so much amazing design and intricacy in every corner of these incredible buildings.  I loved looking around and imagining all the people who had used this place centuries before and I also loved listening to Tech Support, whose favourite subject is sound and the production of it.  He talked about the genius of cathedral discovered centuries ago acoustics, how bells are made and a range of subjects in between.

We even walked up to the graveyard at the top of the hill.  More height! and the weather has been super cold in Glasgow causing our faces to freeze.

We shopped, went to a St. Andrews Day torch parade, walked miles and miles, and visited the Botanical Gardens.  Nearby was a liqueur shop.  I’m not a big drinker so my tolerance was pretty low.  However, I tried so many testers in this shop I ended up feeling quite sick and having to sit down.  I’m a cheap night out!

Today, Sunday we head back to Orkney.  Hopefully, we will finally have a newly fitted bathroom which has been an epic saga I will spare you of.  I plan to be back in the water first thing Monday morning and then we dive headfirst into Christmas prep I suppose!

Happy first day of Advent and have a great week.