Bonnie Scotland

The day and evening in Dublin were fine and the weather was "the usual". That means rain, sun and wind - sometimes one at a time and sometimes all together. It was chilly or fine, depending on the time. It was different every half hour.

I got the phone sorted out. My SIM hadn't been topped up for so long that the number was not seemingly available but when I gently asked if they would look to see if it had been given out again, the clerk obliged. It was available and I'm back in business with the same Irish phone number. 

It was a short bus ride to the shopping centre where the Vodaphone store was located. I'd thought of walking but there's a difference between a short bus ride and a very long walk. 

Back at the hotel I relaxed and read and at dinner time went to the Crowne Plaza next door for a meal. It was outstanding - Onion and Cider Soup followed by a grilled salmon fillet with aubergine puree, lentils, some pretty (unfamiliar flowery) greens and a couple of teeny tiny zucchini buttons. Delicious. Oh yes, and the glass of sauvignon blanc was more than acceptable too.

I slept well - in two stages, broken up by reading the rest of my book and seem to have overcome any jet lag.

The small suitcase was repacked for the few days in Scotland and everything else was crammed into the other one which is now in the "left luggage" room at the Holiday Inn to be collected on my return. 

The experience of using Ryanair was quite satisfactory, other than having to walk out to the plane and up the stairs carrying my little suitcase before wrestling it up and into the overhead bin. I had booked my seat and thus avoided the "non-priority" line of first-on first-seated. The only one unhappy was a toddler whose mode of communication was screeching. He just liked the sound it made. Personally, I did not care for that sound. He liked it so much he did it while waiting in the terminal and while in the air. His mother didn't even look frazzled.

Upon arrival in Glasgow, we didn't even go through any sort of customs or immigration despite Ireland being still in the EU and Scotland, as part of the UK, had recently Brexited. Dorothy and Robert were waiting and soon whisked me off to Troon.

Dorothy and I went for a short walk down to the sea - a few hundred yards away from their home. The recent heavy rains have the streams running very high and the footpath is partly underwater, so we halted our progress. It's still chilly now but quite bearable.

Today we girls are off to Glasgow where Dorothy is going to give me as grand a tour as we can manage in a day. I got a bit of an introduction last night and am looking forward to it. The morning started with rain lashing the window but the skies have cleared and the sun is out - at least for now. Robert is bowling. In accommodation of the climate, their lawn bowling is done indoors in winter. How nice is that!

We'll take the train into the city, the local station being between here and the sea. That will complete the trifecta of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles".

more on the morrow