Whew! Alan and I have just experienced the most intense and entertaining weekend we could possibly have imagined! And to think that on Thursday, we were both in bed with the flu. And really with flu, not just being tired and lazy, but honestly ILL!
I thought I had paid my dues illness-wise by having that stupid coughing virus for over 4 weeks and sacrificing my sense of smell. So when Alan was totally felled by this flu (and just so you know - this man does not do "man-flu", he is never noticably ill) I was not overly concerned. Ok, I was concerned, but not about me, and to be honest, not really about him......I was watching the countdown to my cousin,Desiree and her friend, Jane arriving in Glasgow expecting us to collect them for a wondrous weekend on the West Coast of Scotland. Days were going by and Alan was not improving. I even gave him a deadline to get better by.
Not only did he miss this deadline, but on Wednesday night, I woke up with total chills. I was so cold and nothing could help. So I knew I had not been immune after all.
I had the good sense to phone in sick on Thursday and Alan and I divided our territories in the house so we would not disturb each other. I don't think it would have made much difference where I was though - I slept the whole day. No reading, no watching tv, not even checking my messages for work or personal. I was sick! And the clock was ticking away..........
Prior to being felled by Alan's flu, I had generously offered to go collect our visitors in Glasgow on my own. Well, this offer was rescinded and we both struggled on. (ok, there was the obligatory stop at the Guide shop - I needed new uniform shirts since mine are now 2 sizes too big!) Got to the train station, where I found the nearest bench to try to rest a bit and Alan wandered around taking pictures. (he was obviously feeling better!)
And the most wonderful thing happened - I saw Desiree walking toward us and suddenly I forgot I was ill. Her friend, Jane, was right behind her and the weekend had begun!!!
Alan and I were so looking forward to this weekend and had planned to cover alot of ground, which was why we collected them instead of waiting for them to arrive in Ayr by train. We took them to Glasgow Cathedral, drove by Glasgow University and then I called time. We really needed to get to Ayr and see that. At that point in time, Friday afternoon would have been their only chance to see Ayr.
~And this was a whistle stop tour, just drove by the beach, Burns Cottage, and a few other things before going home so Desiree could see Aunt Emmy.
Aunt Emmy and Desiree
Our evening plans were to go out to eat with Whitney and it looked as if they would not meet Corbyn, since he is with his daddy on Fridays, but he was allowed to come with us! And Corbyn was a total gem the whole time. We ended up eating at The Old Loans Inn. Mom and I had eaten there years ago, but it looked completely different, I felt like I had stumbled onto Twilight Zone, not that it was bad, but entering a familiar door and nothing was at all what it had been, including the location of the restaurant! I had to ask how to get out of the building to go back to the car and let everyone know we had a table!Dinner was great, a bit crowded - a 6 person booth with the 7th person (although small, Corbyn has alot of presence) crammed in. Following dinner, Desiree had discovered a playground, this made Corbyn's night and he demonstrated the correct way to go down a slide "on your bum"!
I was just delighted that Whitney and Corbyn got to see Desiree. We have virtually no family over here so family ties are incredibly precious.
Getting home, my body remembered it was not well and it felt as if my batteries had been removed. I did remain downstairs and not comatose, but it was a struggle. Dont' get me wrong, the entertainment value of staying downstairs made any discomfort or exhaustion well worth it. These girls are fun and I enjoyed every second we had together.
We were scheduled to be on the 7am ferry to the Isle of Arran, and I was much more excited about this than I was aware of. Hence, I did not sleep - like the night before going away on vacation....just could not keep my eyes shut in case we missed the ferry. Which we didn't!
Arriving on Arran before anything opened had its advantages - no traffic, no people. But nothing was open either. We meandered around the edge of Arran and it was beautiful, we never got rained on and had sun with us most of the time.
Desiree and me on the ferry to Arran
Ultimately we ended up in Brodick with time to shop and over 3 hours til the last ferry. But the sky was darkening and the ferry was on its way, so we went back early enough to have dinner with Mom. Much better - and I heard later that the storm caused a 3 hour blackout, from 7 - 10 pm. Now I wonder if our planned last ferry would have even run or would we have been stuck on Arran!!
a natural pose for Alan!
On Sunday, I could not face doing another long drive. We had planned on going to visit the Highlands and I feel bad that we did not do this. However, there would have been no quality to the visit if we had not decided to stay home and have an easier day. (don't get me wrong, our Arran visit was as high quality as you could imagine, but we needed a slow day)
Desiree wanted to get some gifts so we went to Dobbies, where they sell absolutely everything and then other shops. Alan realized this was more of a girl thing, so he went home and the three of us went out and explored the local sites of Ayr - ending up parking in Rozelle Park eating Cadbury's chocolate and enjoying every bite!!! What is a visit to the UK, without pigging out on exquisite chocolate!!!
Desiree and Jane on the Brig o Doon
Our Ayr day ended up in a pub crawl, starting at Smiths, where I ordered Haggis so Jane and Desiree could taste it. Good thing I like haggis since they didn't seem to! We peeked into the West Kirk, but there was no life there, on to Billy Bridges - a very traditional pub. The only person drinking was Alan, the rest of us were on water, diet coke or ginger beer! That didn't stop us laughing just like we did the whole visit, and getting evil looks from other customers. I think they thought we had been boozing all afternoon. What a way to end the weekend!
Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein
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