Pumpkins for Sale

Yesterday's trip home from Banffshire proved to be a journey from hell.
It was largely our fault for deciding on a route through the Grampians instead of travelling down the east coast.

We had hoped to rub shoulders with the gentry at House of Bruar, north of Pitlochry, but after driving through rain and mist when we couldn't see the Cairngorms far less the snow on top of them, we arrived at that retail spot in the middle of nowhere to discover that most of the rest of Scotland had the same idea of worshiping there on a rainy Sunday.

The crowd pushing through the doors looked like the mad scramble at Selfridges sale on Boxing day. We used their loos and departed for Bankfoot and a civilised lunch at the Visitor Centre there.

Our resulting good humour was sorely tempted on a 3 mile tail back at the Forth Bridge which took the best part of two hours to negotiate.
Road works were to blame, but with only 2 men actually working, and 3 lanes of traffic being coned into one lane over the bridge, it was a disgrace. Too bad if you had a flight to catch.
The tail back on the other side of the bridge going north was equally bad.

To put the cherry on the cake, I realised when I unpacked at home, that I had left my cycling gear at the cottage. How that happened Is beyond me; I'm definitely losing the plot.

I'd rather look at this country bumpkin advertising his pumpkins for Hallowe'en than look at the Christmas decorations on offer; although what is wrong with having good old British tumshies for lanterns on the night I don't know, even if they're much harder work to carve.
A case of Trick or Treat winning over Guising and Hunty Gowk, I think.

As an unofficial promoter of Scottish tourism, I have put my Sandend photos on Flickr.