Far from the madding crowd

Or just down the road a wee bit at Balmedie beach.

Tess was recovering from a late night Evotronic sleepover and early Sunday morning netball tournament, while Sam was recovering from the trauma of herding his dirty washing into the machine and a war hammer session, so they both stayed at home.

If I'm honest, I was recovering from over enthusiastically spending my Christmas vouchers in the Monsoon sale, the kind of enthusiasm that over exceeds the voucher value.....by a good mile. As for Dave, he was recovering from having to share the wifi with more people than usual, even though the usual is usually more than he will tolerate anyway. Gamers are high maintenance when it comes to other family members daring to use the Internet of an evening.

The beach was on maximum Kate Bush Wuthering Heights mode, misty haziness every which way.....lovely soft light.....alas, any mellow feelings were short lived due to the crazy amount of dog crap on the grassy dune walkways...." totally boggin' " best describes it. Bag it and bin it people, bag it and bin it!!