Minimal red

From the excess of red robes and colour of yesterday's celebrations - mercifully held in peaceful, sunny weather - a distinctly grey day with, in this photo, only the tiniest sliver of red in the hull of the Western Ferries vessel going in the opposite direction to the one we were on this afternoon. The great swathes of rain in the Holy Loch (left) and Loch Long (right) have the effect on the smaller version of this photo on my phone of making the focus appear blurred as the layers of hillside vanish like echoes in the grey.

But it's not grey chez nous - the granddaughters have arrived for a brief visit. I can't call it babysitting any more, or even childminding - they have settled down with their books to wait for dinner; they helped make their own beds and the younger one set the table and plumped up every cushion in the house.

Fair puts me to shame ...