Category: Journal
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A family walk at Finzean and a visit to the farm shop
We went for a lovely walk in Finzean yesterday with a visit to the Finzean Farm Shop. Finzean is pronounced “Fing-an”. The z replaces an old letter than no longer exists and has an ng sound. Finzean is such a pretty spot to walk as it has a good mix of forest as well as…
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Celebrate Aberdeen and cartwheels at Drum Castle
Yesterday we marched with Aberdeen Cycle Forum in the Celebrate Aberdeen Parade which recognises the many charities and community organisations in our city. It was a fun event with lots thousands turning out to participate or watch the procession. I took Hoss. Today we went for a walk at Drum Castle. And Elizabeth did some…
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Congratulations to Elizabeth!
It’s Elizabeth’s turn to do amazingly well in her iGCSE results which came out today. She totally blitzed it getting straight As: 6 x A* and 1 x A. She was also awarded a Cambridge International Certificate in Education (ICE) distinction. Distinction is the highest level of the ICE program and students must get a…
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Another litter pick
We did a litter pick on Saturday with volunteers from Aberdeen Cycle Forum and collected a huge amount of rubbish along the banks of the River Dee. Some of us were assaulted by stinging nettle and bramble so next year we might do it in winter or early spring before the vegetation returns. It was…
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Six and allotment things
Elizabeth and I went to see Six on Friday night at His Majesty’s Theatre which was completely packed with a full house and queues out the door. Six is a musical about Henry VIII’s six wives who tell their own stories in song, competing for who had it the toughest. I enjoyed it. It was…
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Dead gulls and litter picking during Storm Floris
This week so far I’ve picked 5 dead baby gulls from the road. Two were on Crown Street and another three were on the Raik Road and Poynernook Road ear the intersection of the two. All the roads have speed limits of 30mph or less so I can only assume the motorists were speeding or…
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Cats and The Beyond Broadway Experience
Elizabeth performed in Cats the musical at His Majesty’s Theatre this weekend as part of The Beyond Broadway Experience (BBEXP), an intensive professional show for young talent under 25. Elizabeth has been obsessed with Cats since 2020 so she was ecstatic to have the opportunity to be in it but it was a roller-coaster of…
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A walk in the woods
Another weekend has disappeared and the weekly cycle of work starts again. It’s nice not having to take Elizabeth to her very many extra-curricular activities as most of these stop on the holidays. Instead Elizabeth has been rehearsing everyday for Cats which is on at His Majesty’s Theatre next Friday and Saturday. We can’t wait…
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A second visit to the tall ships
We went back to the tall ships yesterday to have another look as Daniel missed it on Saturday due to a driving lesson. This time we boarded a ship to have a closer look. The queues were all too long on Saturday but on Sunday we found a lovely old Norwegian ship with hardly any…
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Tall Ships Aberdeen 2025
Elizabeth got to perform as part of SC&T (Scottish Culture & Traditions) in The Tall Ships Races 2025 in Aberdeen this morning. She gets lots of opportunities to perform with SC&T and they’re always excellent. Today was no exception. The sound and projection from the stage was particularly good. The only downside was it started…
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Fox family updates
We’ve been continuing to feed a family of foxes in Aberdeen along with some other volunteers after spotting the mother ill with mange a couple of months ago. The mother, Rita, is looking much better after receiving her treatment. We’re confident all her fur will grow back and by winter she’ll be a healthy fox…
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Heat, Drum Castle, Stonehaven Folk Festival, and blackcurrant jam
It has been unusually hot here. I say unusually because we’ve had almost a week of 20C+ days and typically in Aberdeen we’d only have one or two in a row like that before the temperatures drop below 20 again. Yesterday got up to 25C which was very unpleasant for us. Elizabeth in particularly hates…
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Allotment berries
It has been a couple of weeks since I visited the allotment and we’ve had lots of warm weather and rain which was meant it was an overgrown mess. Fortunately I enlisted the help of my family although it’s debatable how helpful Daniel and Elizabeth actually were. Still we managed to tidy it up much…
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Open air theatre at Fyvie Castle
It’s summer which means it must be time for outdoor theatre. We go to see The Three Inch Fools every year now because they’re so funny and it makes for an excellent evening out. Last night we saw The Most Perilous Comedie of Elizabeth I with Fyvie Castle making a dramatic and magnificent backdrop. It’s…
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Drumtochty Highland Games plus fox update
We went to the Drumtochty Highland Games yesterday where Elizabeth participated in the highland dance competition. Overall she was a bit disappointed with the results but nevertheless she managed a 3rd out of 12 in the jig and got her final intermediate stamp so she’s pleased with that. Technically she can still compete in intermediate…
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Bellflowers
The Balmoral Castle shop was selling these flowers for £22 a pot but I’ve got them growing wild in the back garden. I don’t even know how they got there as I don’t recall planting them. Aren’t they beautiful? They’re Campanula persicifolia or peach-leaved bellflowers. The garden has exploded over the past month as always…
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Inside Balmoral Castle
Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles made the decision to open Balmoral Castle up to the public for exclusive guided tours. Tickets for these tours went up for sale last year and were completely sold out the same day. Back in January when more dates and times were announced I made sure…
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Feeding the microbiome
At various points throughout my life I thought I was healthy. But as I’ve grown older and wiser I’ve learnt more and realised I wasn’t very healthy at all. As a child I ate a lot of white food – white bread, white rice, white pasta. Although my parents cooked at home it was often…
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Irish Jig
Elizabeth danced the Irish Jig at her final school assembly today. This time I got it all on camera. She hasn’t forgiven me for missing the end of the Hornpipe when my phone battery ran flat. It’s nice for her to see herself dance as it’s not something she gets to do very often. Filming…
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Bird spikes and netting
There’s a railway bridge not far from us that the city council recently decorated with anti-bird netting and spikes. In previous years we saw pigeons raising chicks there so it made me sad to see it all netted up with spikes everywhere. I wrote a letter of complaint and got a reply explaining that pigeon…
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