Donaldson's

On the drive into town from the airport yesterday, this amazing building caught our eye. Amazing it is on the road from the airport and that it is so close to our guest house in Coates Gardens. I did a Google search about the building and you can read more here.

Lovely to have a clear sky, sunny day and so glad I took my camera with me when we went to fetch the hire car from where we left it overnight. The guest house I booked is lovely. They gave us a family room on the ground floor right next to the breakfast room. Ha!

We were on our way by 10:30, driving through Edinburgh to get the pictures I wasn't able to yesterday because of the rain. The destination was Kelso, to see our friend Sheila whom I haven't seen since 2009. She treated us to a meal at the Smokery, which has an amazing gift shop.

We were on our way again just before sunset. G wanted to see the sea, but by the time we go to the A1, it was too late. It was amazing driving through wide open spaces though.

We got back to the airport and made it to the gate with minutes to spare. The flight was full, so my bag had to go down in the hold. Interesting announcements as we approached Gatwick. A lax evening at Heathrow meant the trip was cut short by fifteen minutes. (They allowed us to fly over their airspace). We landed twenty-five minutes early, and what a relief we did. We were the last flight in before the decision was made to suspend all flights due to drone sightings!

As I am blipping this a day late, I can't believe that the airport is still closed causing disruption to thousands of passengers. I can't believe pranksters can get away with things like this and wreak so much havoc just before Christmas, and to top it all, travellers are being told that the airlines are not liable to compensate passengers for activity like this!

We came back to a freezing cold Lodge. The central heating tripped and didn't give the welcome we were contemplating. I had to call the 24-hour helpline to help relieve the pressure. Cold and damp as it felt, we were both so thankful that we landed and got home within the hour.

(I'll have to come back to post an extra of wide open spaces on the Borders). Now done! :)