Spring in Dunkeld

This was the last of my eight weeks "off work" after the heart attack, so I decided to go up to stay with my father in Dunkeld, especially as my sister Ally was to be there as well.

In the spirit of taking it easy, I checked out the new chain saw I had delivered last November, then continued to clear the elders in the area below the house with the bow saw, and transfer the logs over the deer fence for adding to the fuel store. Ally and I also took a walk up the Deuchary, a 3hr20min walk with an ascent of 400m (around Pentlands size).

However, as a result of Ally's excellent catering, I have definitely put back the weight I was losing!

Deuchary view to east

Snowdrops in Dunkeld garden

Pensioned off wheelbarrow

Meet Mr Gum, my alternative atavar

So this is the character who reminds my younger daughter of me!

Mr Gum was a fierce old man with a red beard and two bloodshot eyes that stared out at you like an octopus curled up in a bad cave. He was a complete horror who hated children, animals, fun and corn on the cob. What he liked was snoozing in bed all day, being lonely and scowling at things.

He slept and scowled and picked his nose and ate it. Most of the townsfolk of Lamonic Bibber avoided him and the children were terrified of him. Their mothers would say, ‘Go to bed when I tell you or Mr Gum will come and shout at your toys and leave slime on your books!’ That usually did the trick.

Mr Gum lived in a great big house in the middle of town. Actually it wasn’t that great, because he had turned it into a disgusting pigsty. The rooms were filled with junk and pizza boxes. Empty milk bottles lay around like wounded soldiers in a war against milk, and there were old newspapers from years and years ago with headlines like VIKINGS INVADE BRITAIN and WORLD’S FIRST NEWSPAPER INVENTED TODAY. Insects lived in the kitchen cupboards, not just small insects but great big ones with faces and names and jobs.

Mr Gum’s bedroom was absolutely grimsters. The wardrobe contained so much mould and old cheese that there was hardly any room for his moth-eaten clothes, and the bed was never made. (I don’t mean that the duvet was never put back on the bed, I mean the bed had never even been MADE. Mr Gum hadn’t gone to the bother of assembling it. He had just chucked all the bits of wood on the floor and dumped a mattress on top.) There was broken glass in the windows and the ancient carpet was the colour of unhappiness and smelt like a toilet. Anyway, I could be here all day going on about Mr Gum’s house but I think you’ve got the idea. Mr Gum was an absolute lazer who couldn’t be bothered with niceness and tidying and brushing his teeth, or anyone else’s for that matter.

Southampton in the snow

It's amazing how much Daniel has grown up since my last visit in October, and he now leaves me in relative peace to build Lego towers.

While I was there, it was very snowy in the south-east, with Kent and Surrey rail services suspended. However, the Crosscountry route up through Oxford and Birmingham was not affected and I had a smooth journey home.

[Edit - here is how Daniel later wrote up the visit in his blog - the grammar suggests he had some help from his mum:]

Grandad in town

It was great to have my Dad come to visit for a few days at the start of February, and to see just how well he is after scaring us at Christmas with an unplanned trip to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary's Coronary Care Unit. Obviously Edinburgh's heart doctors and nurses did a fantastic job. Daniel loved drinking "tea" with his Grandad, and counting satsumas into and out of the bowl, although here he seems to be trying to impersonate one for some reason!