Back up the red carpet

For the second time this week today I stepped up a red carpet. First was on Sunday when I went to the première of England is mine. This morning the red carpet was out at the Royal Society of Edinburgh in anticipation of a visit from the Queen, who was there to award medals to three eminent Fellows. I walked up it just before the Queen's arrival.

None of those Fellows to be honoured were me, but (to my complete surprise) one has connections to me. Yes, this is another coincidence story! Do read on...

When I first arrived at the event I took myself to the room where tea and coffee were being served. I had a quick look round to see if there was anyone there who I knew. There wasn't, so I deployed my usual 'at an event with nobody to talk to' strategy. This is to find either (a) the oldest person in the room or (b) look out for anyone who is on his/her own.

I spotted an old man whose wife was deep in conversation with another person so headed towards him with a friendly smile. He was pleased to chat with me (hurrah) but he was as surprised as I was when a lady in a blue dress interrupted us and said 'Why hello Hazel!'

This lady was my Auntie Anne - not a real auntie, but my mother's best friend from school. She has absolutely nothing to do with the Royal Society of Edinburgh, so I was at a loss to understand why she was there. It turned out that her daughter-in-law (the wife of her son Andrew, who is a few weeks older than me) was one of the three medal recipients today. (She's Professor Tessa Holyoake, in the pictures on the Daily Mail web pages.)

So my excitement of the day was not seeing the Queen, but instead catching up with my Auntie Anne, Uncle Jim, and (once baby playmate) Andrew ;-)

Exercise today: walk to work via the RSE (11,471 steps)