Perseverance.

Pentax K1000, Kodak BW 400CN 135, ISO 400.

Another sunny day. We've been really lucky! I've managed to gain quite a good tan over the last couple of days and by the end of today I felt even browner. After breakfast, we all trooped into Harrogate - M and I had offered to cook dinner for Mum and Dad so we stopped off at Waitrose for groceries. I wish we had a shop like that in Aberdeen; so much fresh local produce and interesting ingredients for people that like to cook.

When the car was loaded, we headed to the main street and discovered a new cafe - Baltzersen's - which sold Norwegian cakes and pastries, and was beautifully decorated in the Scandi style inside. They even had blankets warming on the radiators, so if you got chilly while you were sitting outside you could wrap up. Very Norwegian. The owner's Grandmother came from Sauda, where M and I were on holiday a couple of summers ago. He had skolebrød for sale, which are my favourite cakes from Norway - a cardamom-flavoured sponge with a well in the centre filled with custard, fringed with icing and desiccated coconut. Mmmmh! There's nowhere to get hold of anything like that in Aberdeen, and when I mentioned that to the owner, he seemed quite intrigued - Aberdeen has such good links with Norway and is so affluent that a place like that would surely go down well. Maybe it'll be on his business plan now!

After kaffe og kaker (coffee and cake), I suggested that Mum, M and I go to Brimham Rocks for a walk. Dad's ankle still isn't better so he didn't join us - he's busy finishing off a painting of a dipper, which he's hoping to display on his stand at the Great Yorkshire Show next month. It's a lovely painting. When we got to Brimham, M and I scrambled on the rocks while Mum fretted at the bottom - she did a lovely job of taking some photos with the Pentax, though. M is such a natural climber - I am not; however, I enjoyed myself so much and was quite proud that I managed to scramble up a few high rocks (and get back down again with some help from M).

When we got home, M and I baked a chicken, ham and leek pie for supper, and while it was cooking, he and Dad watched the Grand Prix while Mum and I drank wine in the kitchen. We were meant to be eating pistachios too, but Mollydog stuck her slobbery mouth in the bowl and managed to hoof down 4 nuts (still in their shells) and get all the others a bit wet in the process, so I just stuck to wine.

After dinner, Mum and I played Maxi-Yatzy (said in comedy Norwegian accent) until the French thriller I'd been waiting for all week, The Returned, came on. It was just as good as I'd hoped - it's been ages since I've got hooked on a good drama. That's Sunday nights for the next 7 weeks sorted, then!