A trip out

Today, for the first time since Christmas Day 2020, I left the Stirling Council area. I drove east along the M9 (first time since October 2020) to meet a friend who lives in Edinburgh. Linlithgow, our destination, is more of less equidistant from our homes. Linlithgow is blipper Alan Roger territory but I didn't see anyone who fitted the bill to make an enquiry.

My friend and I have known each other for almost 39 years. We were joined by the younger generation as our daughters are also friends. Having met in the car park we walked round Linlithgow Loch stopping for our picnic lunch under the great walls of the Palace. This isn't a brilliant photograph as I was rushing but I had to record the day with a blip of the Loch, the Palace and St Michael's Kirk. I've added an extra of a juvenile black headed gull (I think) to represent the bird life on the loch.

What an event! I haven't seen my friend since last October when the four of us met at Portobello during the half term amnesty. Since then she has had a tricky time so it was especially good to see her, get some exercise and a thorough catch up.

These decisions - travel, seeing people - take a lot of energy I find. Despite the leisurely stroll I feel so tired. Living like a hermit in a hobbit hole, aka lockdown, has removed the need to make these sorts of decisions and I'm woefully out of practice. The only way I suppose is to do more and luckily these are far from serious decisions so it doesn't matter if I make a mistake.