Required Footwear

We had a dawdle up the A9 to the Grouse and Claret at Heatheryford near Kinross to have lunch today with the husband of our cycling friend who died in Cuba at the beginning of the year.

Whereas His Lordship would eat glass rather than have a meal with just two women, I was delighted and unfazed by being outnumbered; but it was a very different social affair without Jean. There was a very present absence at the table.

Men converse altogether differently from women and whereas Jean and I would have been chatting about the doings of each other's families and laughing uproariously about inconsequential things, men do none of this social chit chat, only seeming to come alive when talking about politics, law and order and other formal subjects.
Suffice it to say, I missed Jean's presence enormously, but the meal was delicious and it was good to see Jim looking well and seemingly coping with widowhood.

The Grouse and Claret is situated beside some small fishing lochs, and these wellies strategically placed in the railings were either for the fishermen or the owners, to cope with the amount of mud around part of the lochans.
Apart from these ones, wellies have been required footwear for a large percentage of festival goers this last week.

Back home to SUN. How amazing is that; the Fringe and Festival goers might just be drying out.