Reasons to be cheerful...

Part 3 (000) 

Having planned it months ago, the day finally arrived for Blip pal Karen to jump in a plane (that's in a plane, not from a plane ;-)) and travel up from the south coast to Bonnie Scotland for our much anticipated blip meet.

We pulled into the pick up car park at Edinburgh Airport just as Karen texted me to say she'd just landed.  Perfect timing.

Twenty minutes later we were hugging and saying hello.  Complete strangers meeting for the first time but already good friends.  That is the magic of blip!

We came home via the Queensferry crossing popping into South Queensferry first to let Karen have a good view of the Forth Bridges.  

Pointing upwards I said to Karen, "that's the rail bridge."  "They all look pretty real to me" she replied!  Hahahaha...perhaps I'll have to tone down my Scottish accent I thought :-))

Back in the car and home to let Karen drop off her bags and get settled and meet Lola and Alan.  I think it's fair to say Karen impressed them both :-))  

After a lovely chat and a glass of Vimto at home (you can see what a bad influence this woman is!  :-) David dropped us off at the Dormy Clubhouse at Gleneagles where we were meeting another blipper Ingeborg, who's here on  holiday from the Netherlands.  By good fortune her holiday 
coincided with Karen's visit, and as Karen and Inge had already had a blipmeet a few years ago when they both lived in Belgium,  it was a re-union for them.

Over a very lovely lunch with a VERY lovely waiter :-)) we had great fun catching up.  This is the third year I've met up with Inge when she's here on holiday (and thank you Inge for my lovely mug. I have a thing about mug sizes and it’s the perfect size!  :-)))

After lunch we had a a wander in the grounds of Gleneagles as I wanted a scenic spot to take a photograph of them both as my blip entry.  

We sat on the wall at the front of the hotel (after paper hankies were produced to clean up bird poo from the stone.  Really?!  Standards are slipping at Gleneagles! ;-) and proceeded to have a good giggle, especially when Karen produced her selfie stick (see extra :D) 

Once the same set of photos had been taken on all three of our cameras, we dropped Inge off at her holiday home and then headed back to ours.

Not long after 5pm we were in the Gin Palace drinking Prosecco - see K in extras (panic not, the Gin Palace does not discriminate against other drinks.  It is an inclusive establishment :-) and eating nibbles till it was time to come inside for dinner.

Karen very kindly brought Alan a gift of a lovely blue Brighton hoody and after dinner he was happy to let Karen show it to him (he can be funny about opening gifts) and gave her some of his dazzling smiles.  The hoody will be perfect for all the outdoor activities at Kielder next month.  Thank you Karen :-))  And for my Brighton Gin, bar mat (to be blipped at some stage) and Brighton Gin rock!  :-)))))

After a chat about our plans for tomorrow, Karen headed to bed where I am just heading too.  Tired but happy :-))

When I got notification from Blipfoto that my 3000th blip was coming up, I was so thrilled to find it was falling on the day of this blip meet, because if anything embodies the power, magic and fun of blip, it's a blip meet.  

I have made so many friends here and some, like these two amazing ladies, I've had the pleasure of meeting.  

3000 blips!!  Jeez I can remember my 300th blip like it was yesterday! 

Thank you Blipfoto for giving me 3000 Reasons to be cheerful :-))