Buying the Christmas Tree

Yes it's a palaver, yes we have to drive the length of Loch Eck to satisfy some romantic notion of mine, but since they moved the sale of Forestry Commission trees from a clearing along the road from Puck's Glen to Benmore this is where we buy our tree, in Glenbranter. A slight gripe this year, in that too many trees were already mummified in netting, all ready to be popped in someone's car - there is not a chance that I would buy a tree without inspecting it for symmetry, lopped branches, double trunks and all the other possibilities afforded by the real thing. I did prefer wandering round on the grass picking up trees for a look, finding the perfect one in the rain rather than in a shed ...

But I grouse. It was rather lovely, actually, to come out and see these wonderful peach-coloured sunset clouds in the sky after a wet morning and several days of gloom - all the more precious to be able to have a walk in the glen in the last light before what promises to be a dire weekend of southerly gales and rain.