Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain...

I was still awake at 3.30am with the howling winds and rain of Storm Ali swirling round the house.  I could have had a more restful night if I'd closed the window but I hate sleeping in a room with a closed window.

When I looked out the window this morning, the garden furniture was scattered everywhere (apart from the table which weighs a ton)  Almost time to store it away for the winter and close the Gin Palace.  That thought makes me sad but once it's done, it frees up my head to embrace the new season.

Jan, one of David's ex-work colleagues who now lives down south after retiring earlier this year was passing through the area on her way home from holiday, so we met up with her for a late lunch at Gloagburn.  A beautiful rainbow appeared as we drove up the A9 and touched down on the south bound carriageway, turning all the cars from grey to colour :-)

When we turned off the A9 onto the country road towards Gloagburn,  it was  clear to see that storm Ali had been quite cruel to a lot of the trees.  Massive branches had been ripped from their boughs, almost blocking the road and it was a bit scary to drive under branches that were still being harassed by the strong winds.

When we arrived at Gloagburn they had a power cut so could only offer sandwiches, but the power came back on just as we sat down so David and Jan were able to have the smoked haddock and cheese souffle.   We had a great catch up with Jan.  Just like David, she is wondering how she ever found time to work.  

We left just after 4pm, us to drive back home in time for our Tesco delivery and Jan to drive the 300 odd miles back home.  I don't envy her that drive. 

We've had an industrious couple of hours getting ready to welcome Blip Pal Patricia tomorrow.  After following her journal for a few years and getting to know her on blip, I can't wait to meet her.  She's here till Sunday so looking forward to showing her around some of the sights she's been reading about on my blip.  And shhhhhh...don't let her,  but I have planned a little surprise for her, just hope I can pull it off! ;-)))