Day out

Had a nice sleep last night, woke at 5.30 and went back to sleep. I only mention it because I've been sleeping very badly for weeks now. Even three gins the other night did not help.

Another beautiful sunny, calm day. What a very unusual - but welcome - winter we're having. Elizabeth came to take Archie out, so JR and I thought we'd go for a wee drive. Last week's beautiful sunny day was actually spent having lunch inside a wee dark candle lit restaurant, so we didn't want to waste the sunshine again.

Off we went, south. JR likes driving without Archie in the car - she can whizz round corners and over bumps, not worrying about him feeling sick. We visited the Secret Garden, but I think it's best to go in the spring/summer, when everything doesn't look dead.

JR had a vague idea that there was a paper mill, near Penicuik or Auchendinny, that she went to years ago, but is now a restaurant. She couldn't quite remember where it was, but we had a nice wee drive around wee country lanes. When we came home we checked up. For three hundred years Penicuik was called the Papermaking Town. In its heyday, there were ten mills on the River Esk, the last one, the one JR visited, closed in 2004. It's quite an interesting website - I had no idea that paper was once made from old clothes and rags!

There was a lovely light, but I couldn't find a good vantage point. We came past the fields with the Highland Cattle basking in the evening sunlight. But by the time we'd parked and I'd walked along a path to get near the beasties, the sun had gone from them. The coos are in extras.