insignificant ramblings of a 50-something woman
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Burns supper 2021
It was Robert Burns’ birthday on January 25th and Scots celebrate it with a Burns supper. This is fast becoming one of my favourite annual events, perhaps because it doesn’t have the same heavy expectations that come with Christmas. We celebrated it a bit late because the 25th fell on Monday this year and we’re…
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A year of blunders
The UK has made so many mistakes during the pandemic. We started by following the flu pandemic playbook which meant our goal initially was to slow the spread but not eliminate the virus. Something which is too late to do now and perhaps unfeasible anyway. I also realise that no one expected vaccines to become…
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Shopping by bike and cat photos
Last weekend I cycled to Nature’s Larder to get some supplies. It’s a wonderful whole foods shop on Holburn Street. What I love about cycling is I can park right outside just a couple of metres from the door. You can’t do this with a car as there’s no on-street parking in this part of…
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A dream come true
Today was a good day. It has long been a dream of mine to ice skate outside in a natural environment and today I ticked that off my list. Aberdeen has had several days of sub-zero temperatures, freezing the water in lakes and ponds. We found what is really just a puddle of water on…
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Yoga cat
Sleeping position today.
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Stormtrooper
We just finished watching The Mandalorian with the kids and loved it. Who’d have thought a baby version of Yoda could be so cute. It reminded me of the time Daniel had his photo taken with a Stormtrooper in York back in 2013. I went looking for the photos on my blog but couldn’t find…
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Never was there such slaughter in our islands
I’ve finished reading The Last Kingdom series by Bernard Cornwall. There are 13 books in the series and while they are works of fiction they follow the history of how England came to be, as far as we understand it today. The books start with Alfred the Great and end with his grandson, King Æthelstan,…
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Don’t be an idler competiton
As many of my readers know a pet hate of mine is when motorists sit in their cars with their engines running poisoning us all with their fumes. Last year I contacted the council about the problem to see whether they could help. After all, it is illegal in Scotland to leave your engine idling.…
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Moonwalking on ice
One of the ponds at Duthie Park has frozen, partly defrosted, and then refrozen over the past few days to create a strange effect where it looks like there’s chunks of ice floating in the water but actually the entire surface is frozen solid. On our walk today we saw lots of children walking on…
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The snow gods delivered
The plague is raging through the British population faster than an anti-vaccination conspiracy theory on Facebook. I can’t see lockdown ending at all until a significant proportion of the population has been vaccinated. But it’s not all bad: today the snow gods brought snow to cheer spirits and get people outside into the fresh air.…
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Full lockdown for Scotland
The covid situation in the UK is pretty dire right now with close to 60,000 cases per day. It’s worse than it was back in March at the height of the first peak. I read that hospitals in London are now cancelling vital cancer surgery. This is the reason covid is so deadly. It may…
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Elrick Hill
Being confined to Aberdeen, or within 5 miles of the boundary of Aberdeen due to covid restrictions, has stymied our walks in the countryside quite a bit. But it has forced us to look for hidden gems close to home and Elrick Hill is one such place. I’d never been here before but it was…
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A happy birthday, happy Hogmanay, and Dinner for One
If you’re looking for something funny to watch this New Year’s Eve then might I suggest this 15-minute British comedy sketch filmed in 1963 which will have you laughing out loud. It’s played annually on New Year’s Eve in many European countries and is widely known throughout northern Europe except, oddly, in the UK where…
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The Oxford vaccine, lockdown in Aberdeen, and online games
We woke to some good news today: the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the UK. I had been hoping and expecting this news for a couple of weeks now and was wondering why they were taking so long given the trial results were released at the end of November. They took much…
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The Nightingale Hospitals and snow at Drum Castle
We are in tier 4 covid restrictions here as is most of the UK as the sick in hospital reach record numbers. At the start of the pandemic the government was following its pandemic playbook which had been written in the years/decades leading up to 2020 but specifically for a flu pandemic. The plan included…
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Christmas 2020
Many people saw their Christmas plans scuppered this year thanks to the dreadful plague. We were meant to be in the Highlands today but had to cancel our trip last week. It hasn’t all been bad though. Christmas arrived on Christmas Eve this year with snow in Aberdeen and also a Brexit deal at last.…
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Lebkuchen for lunch
I dreamt last night that it snowed and in my dream I woke up and looked out the window to see Santa skiing down a nearby hill. I got up – still in my dream – and had breakfast but by the time I’d finished eating all the snow had melted. When I really did…
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Aberdeen Art Gallery and the BP Portrait Award
I took the opportunity to visit the Aberdeen Art Gallery today. I still haven’t been since it reopened to the public late last year after 4 years of redevelopment and £34.6 million. It will shut tomorrow afternoon for Christmas and then remain closed for as long as we remain in Tier 4, so I thought…
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My awesome bike and veggie Chinese takeaway
The best thing about these dark days is how awesome my bike looks. If you’re looking for a good Christmas present for someone who likes to eat a lot of plants then I recommend The Veggie Chinese Takeaway Cookbook. Who doesn’t like Chinese takeaway? I made the hoisin sauce today then used it in one…
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Lorry queues, supermarket queues, food production, and Christmas dinner
Victoria helped me wrap some presents today. Actually, she was a right nuisance and ended up tearing the paper. I went to the shops early this morning to beat the rush but still there was a long queue outside the food court at Marks & Spencer. I decided not to go in. I’m not a…
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