Mars

It was pretty quiet up the top of the town today. I felt sorry for the few sorry looking tourists in their shiny kagools that had ventured out in the constant rain to find out something interesting about Stirling from the man in tartan trousers. They mostly looked like they'd rather be anywhere else than here today.

We'd only went in to buy shoes yet again for Euan, who seems to be going up a size every month, but ended up taking a up the hill to the Castle for our lunch. I'm glad we were walking too as most of the roads up near the castle are being modernised and updated (tarmac replaced with cobbles) and it must be a nightmare to drive around all the detours when there's any amount of traffic about. Scotland's visiting tourists must think the whole of the country's still under construction at the moment.

This was the only place I dared to take the big camera out today without the risk of it being soaked, under the shelter of Mars Wark. There's not a lot left of the large town house from the 16th century now, other than a crumbling facade and a few walls that feed back on to the cemetery as shown here. So there you are, photographic evidence that there is no Life on Mars.