Stobo Castle

The haar which settled on Edinburgh overnight was so reluctant to shift this morning that we decided to kill two birds with one stone by driving inland to sunny Stobo Spa near Peebles and finalising the payment for the proposed night's stay in October with my five daughters.

The resulting cheque was such an eye watering amount, that for the moment I couldn't think how to write the numbers, far less the words.
It was almost a third of the amount we paid for our first house back in 1963.

I watched last night's opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games until the last firework had exploded over Glasgow.
It was indeed full of energy and Glaswegian humour down to the tea cake dance and the Scottie dogs preceding the national flags.
There was the heart stopping moment when Prince Imran, the Games Federation President, couldn't get the top off the relay baton to extract the Queen's message much to her amusement and that of the audience as she stood patiently waiting and watching as the Prince and Chris Hoy struggled with it.