Weekend Break

We decided to have a break from Aberdeen City and Shire this weekend. Instead we headed to Stirling. The two photographs on the left were our overnight stay, a former school, and top left Stirling Jail.

We arrived in Stirling about lunch time. After dropping the car at the hotel we stopped for a glass of wine down the hill from where we are staying. As we were sitting outside we were plagued by wasps. Despite the food being eaten there were enough wasps to go around all the tables.

Later we visited Stirling Jail, my second prison visit this week. This prison is rather more modern, built in 1846, and quite luxurious compared with my visit earlier in the week. Single occupancy cells, a healthy (if uninteresting diet) and education for a return to the outside world. Apparently it was successful in lowering re-offending substantially until prison overcrowding meant there was less opportunity to devote attention to individual prisoners.

In the evening we had dinner at a nearby [Southern] Italian restaurant. The hotel is a former school, and while it is now very comfortable there are many aspects which are reminiscent of its former purpose. A quiet drink in the headmaster's study before retiring.