It's voting time! *

* To the tune of Leonard Cohen's "Closing Time "...
I tend to enjoy my usual Mondays. I like the certainty and structure that my morning Pilates class gives me, the socialising with a different set of people from usual, the regulated exercise when I'm really just recovering from getting up ... so when our teacher texted the class before I was even out of bed to tell us class was off because she wasn't feeling too good, I felt a bit knotless. And somehow I didn't do anything redemptive, other than an extra half hour of Italian and filling in my postal vote and then working out precisely what I had to do with it. I always have this fear of messing it up. If you have only ever gone in person to vote - and I wish I still did - the photo above will give you some idea of the envelope within an envelope malarkey that ensures all is private. (We once were going to be in Orkney on polling day and arranged the postal vote then; I imagine plenty of Scots will have to do the same this year, with a London-centric, essentially English government deciding to go to the country at the start of the summer holidays in Scotland. 

Apart from that I read the papers a bit, fell asleep over the Italian, enjoyed a riotous phone call with a friend, had lunch, hung out a washing. That last reminds me - while England was having heat warnings and the north-east of Scotland was at 24ºc at 10am, we in the west had drizzle till elevenish and no real sun until about 7pm, though it was a tad warmer than it has been at 19ºc. 

Later we went to Benmore Gardens, where we ran the gauntlet of hordes of Edinburgh school children, several of whom were in the River Eachaig in the red waterproof over trousers that are the hallmark of Benmore Outdoor Centre. Many of them were yelling at the top of their voices, though one lad was floating serenely down the stream on his back, like Ophelia ... and it was far from peaceful. Once on the hill rising above the gardens, however, we were alone with the birdsong and the scents, wonderful, exotic scents brought out by the warmth and drifting over the hillside. It worked its usual magic and I felt better. Collage in extra.

I spent the evening to-ing and fro-ing on Facebook with an old school friend whom I've not seen since I was about 19, sharing videos and music chat. And somehow it's once again past midnight.