Weather is a factor

Weather is always a factor  

Occasionally we have some sun and everyone is outside. It’s great fun to see all the wee ones taking advantage of it playing in the water.

Below is an ideal night for a celebration in Stonehaven for New Years. We watched the video in the museum there. As you can see, they had nice weather for the parade. The wands are made of wood. A ball of wax and paper to create the fire. Participants swung them around carefully to avoid igniting themselves and spectators as they marched to the harbor. There they each make a final high arching toss to throw it into the water. It would be great to be there but since that is impossible, we have a plan to watch it on the live link to watch it live on the web. 

Click on the picture to go to the video.

It pretty much rains most days. It just depends on how much. There are dry and sunny days 

We are getting used to the fact that the weather forecast is not reliable for more than the current day and the accuracy diminishes substantially as the day and week progresses.

We are learning to expect anything and usually go ahead with our plans as the guess for conditions is  seldom as bad as predicted.  Mostly we have fun outings no matter what comes our way. 

I read the news each morning with breakfast out of habit.  I read it for here, there and Germany and do a lot of eye rolling at all the comedy, chaos and inhouse fighting. Each day I promise myself that I will give it a miss, but headlines pop up on my screen and I end up falling down the deep dark messy sewer hole. Here is a typical headline from Sky news about our politics and their impact on their politics

We’re getting settled and still love being here. The people are wonderful.

The outings (hikes, walks, shopping and eating out) are fun and not too expensive.

We are now both registered to vote in Scotland and because I am a citizen, I can vote in UK elections as well.

National Health Service is interesting.  We haven’t had to use it for anything serious but we get letters in the post telling us we have appointments. So far, Susi got one for her yearly female check up and one for a Flu shot. I got one for a the pneumonia vaccine and another for the  Covid and Flu jabs (both on the same day). The appointments for immunizations are all in Perth. We go to the vaccination center, check in for our given time and are done and out within 15 or 20 minutes. 

For grocery shopping and other things we ride our bikes to Kinross, a 4 mile round trip. We stop at Sainsbury’s for most of our grocery needs. Then we hit the small shops for other things. The King showed up one morning and the town was abuzz! He was here to present an award to the person who came up with and organized a program called “ Broke but not Broken”, setting up bins in supermarkets for food donations to be given to those in need.

There is now a refillery shop in Kinross, which we visit for anything we can get there to avoid unnecessary packaging. Often we stop at a very small pet supply store to get food for Flynn and talk with the lady who runs it. She takes good care of Flynn for us when we are away for more than a night. That involves coming in twice a day to feed him and play with him. She also checks our mail and puts out whatever trash bin is being collected while we are gone. All for  that  for just 12 pounds a day ( currently $14.50) She even vacuums around his litter box as needed.

Then we stroll over to Unorthodox Roasters where we enjoy a beverage and sometimes have lunch. My usual peanut butter and jelly is peanut butter and Marmalade there. Every couple of weeks, we also get freshly ground coffee as needed. It is absolutely the best coffee we have ever had and worth the extra money.

Sometimes we go to the small Yarn shop for Susi’s crocheting need followed by a visit to the Iron Mongers for hardware, printing services and photos.   They took our photos there for the renewal of our passports. We posted the forms to the London Embassy and got them back in three weeks.   Our last stop is at  the thrift shop where mostly we get books for Susi and small treasures for the house. It’s terrific visiting the local merchants here in our small town of Kinross.

I think I have said enough for this blog.  I have a lot more to share. So I promise not to be delinquent in doing my next one.

Peanut and jelly lunch as usual.