Shuttle-life

And we're back, as you might recognise from the photo...

Woke to the grey chill of an Edinburgh-under-haar morning, up and dressed early enough to see the boys off to school - 8am seems awfully early to someone whose school life, as pupil or as teacher, always began at 9am, or even 9.10... But there they were, somehow dressed and organised, with two rucksacks apiece slung over their blazers, heading off separately to walk to school for an 8.30 start. There was a brief moment of drama when Po the dog decided he was going too, eluded us all as he jinked round us at the front door, leaped (a first, this) over the garden wall and headed off down the road after my younger grandson. All this before breakfast - such excitement.

Our errand today was to go to a private clinic for Himself to have an MRI scan of his back; it seems that he's not sufficiently cowped to merit an NHS one these days, though both doctor and physio are happy for him to have one. As we weren't entirely sure where the clinic was, and because the road works in the area are currently spectacularly confusing, we called a cab and had a brief walk round until it was time to go in. It was so cold - I believe it was 7ºc, with a brisk East wind - that I forgot my original intention to have  a proper walk while he was inside, and chose to sit in the waiting area and read my phone instead.

We drove home in the afternoon, and were so hot in the car by the time we reached the ferry that we went out for the walk we didn't have earlier. It was still briskly windy, but the sun was brilliant, as it had been all the way from Edinburgh Airport west, and the sea was such a vivid blue, highlighted by little white horses, that I've dedicated this blip to it. The moored yacht was bobbing violently, and in the hills on the far side there was a distinct cloud of smoke. I discovered when we got in that there's a warning out for a high risk of fire from now till Saturday, especially along the west coast.

On a political note, it's interesting to note how Iain Blackford can now speak in the Commons about the PM without the boorish howls of derision from the Tories that often drown out what he has to say. Today when he said that the PM is a liar, you could have heard a pin drop. But the last word has to go to a tweet I saw today: 

"A fridge the size of India. Oh, to live in such times"