The tropics of Scotland

I woke up at 2-something last night to go to the toilet, I looked out the window and it was still light! There’s just no dark at the moment which is ridiculous. It’s light when I go to bed, it’s light if I wake up in the middle of the night, and it’s light when I get up in the morning.

Officially the sun is setting at 10pm and rising at 4am but because we’re so far north it never fully sets. It’s a sort of twilight all night long. We have blackout curtains but they don’t really work because the sun comes in around the edges so I have to wear an eye mask which is hot and uncomfortable. Last night was hot. Even the kids complained. We could open our windows but then that lets the light in.

All the locals are loving it except for me. The parents at Highland Dance yesterday were all, “What fantastic weather we’re having!”. I just smiled and politely agreed but secretly hoped we’d return to the typical Scottish summer of cool and overcast. It didn’t help that I had a headache yesterday, the kind of headache where cool darkness provides a bit of relief but instead it was glaringly bright all day, even with a hat and sunglasses. It must be my vampire ancestry causing me grief.

Oh how I miss the snowy days we had last winter with the crisp cold frosts and muted lighting. Summer is really my least favourite season. When September comes I always feel my spirits lift but that could just be because my birthday is in September and I’m excited about presents.

I had to take Victoria to the vet on Friday because she’s got a scabby thing on her face. The vet wasn’t sure what it was but gave me some cream to put on it. While I was there I was trying to comfort Victoria by stroking her as she doesn’t like the vet and she lashed out at me and gave me two big scratches on my face. It was bad timing as I was meant to be filming something for work that required my face and I have had to put it on hold until the wounds have healed.

The vet was shocked and became too scared to touch her after that. I was like, “This is just normal behaviour for Victoria; are other cats not like this?” We’ll stroke her and she’ll be purring then suddenly she attacks us. I assumed it was just her way of saying she’d had enough. She’ll also hide under the bed and attack our legs when we walk past. She does it in the garden too. Ben describes her as ornery which I had to look up. It means bad-tempered and difficult to deal with. But we still love her. She just likes affection on her terms and she hates going to the vet which I totally understand. I’d hate it too!