Of weather, mainly ...

I reckon we got off easily today. I was expecting much worse weather - more like what they had in Edinburgh, I suppose. But the morning was mild and still, so mild that having put on a slightly warm jacket for church I realised in a minute that I'd boil and changed it for a silk hoodie I've had since the 90s. It doesn't get much wear in our climate, though I've often taken it abroad for evenings. 

By the time church came out, the sun was out too, tempting us to have coffee in the garden when we got home, but we were driven indoors by sudden heavy rain. Later in the afternoon we looked at the forecast for Rothesay compared with that for Dunoon and headed once more for Toward. We walked along the road in hot sun - me with an umbrella in my bag but no hat, no sunglasses, no suncream. Dunoon had been grey and damp, and the contrast came as a surprise, forecast and all. I paddled on a patch of firm sand, then sat waving my feet around till I could put my sandals on again. Meanwhile, text messages were pinging in from my abandoned son in Edinburgh, showing pictures of floods outside his house and telling of flooded basements and new shopping malls ...

We drove back up the road from the bright sun, crossing onto wet roads just at the Highland Boundary fault line. It was pouring when we got home. 

Blipping an extraordinary bit of sea-washed tree-trunk on the shore, studded with stones and bits of pottery that were presumably around it in the soil when it was growing. It seemed an organic thing, lying there in the sun.

Family footnote: My d-in-l and the navigating granddaughter made it! I went to bed last night in a state of suppressed angst because I knew they were driving from Caen to Brittany in the dark of the evening, and it wasn't till this morning that I was able to find out they'd arrived. Phew. 

Next instalment: the saga of Trying To Get A New Passport Quickly.