this is completely unrepresentative of my day and today should be a reprint of yesterday's shot but i was driving two people about today and couldn't stop to take a photo.

fortified by smoked salmon and scrambled eggs we drove west to a market town and back again, through a borders landscape that changed from open moor to fertile valley and back again.

job done we headed back north, big M making friends en route with the lady in the service station who turned out to be a refugee from zimbabwe and the woman who was serving tea who took a shine to us and gave us extra big bits of cake.

spent a fascinating afternoon discussing podcasts and feeling energised by enthusiastic people. this is the ceiling of the room where we met

came home to find my family exhausted by having been up late watching liverpool's defeat - the 'mighty reds' scarves and banners still draped sadly over the new tv (i am desperately trying not to think about how much it cost and what percentage of a new and better computer the same amount of money would buy). off to watch the fab new tv in a red wine induced coma. (..it'd be churlish not to enjoy it now it's here...)