Modes of transport

From leaving Tampere station to arriving at Tain station was basically 12 hours (10am Eastern European Time to 8pm BST). Slightly more travel time if you include the walking time from leaving the hotel (with the funky picture of the steam train) to arriving at the house (I declined a lift from the station). It was walk, train, train, walk, aeroplane, walk, aeroplane, wait in slow queue, taxi, sit in a stationary train, train, walk.

I had intended to get a train from Inverness Airport into Inverness Station, and that would have been considerably cheaper, but the flight was quite late (thus reducing the anxieties associated with a short connection in Schiphol), so I arranged for a taxi pick up as I was not certain there would be taxis waiting at the airport. But then since the train then sat in the station for another half an hour, I could practically have walked from Inverness airport.... Perhaps the most annoying aspect of the trip was passport control at Inverness Airport where one of the two border force officers on duty was unable to make his laptop work and so couldn't log on. I had to ask to jump the queue as I was getting anxious about my train (obviously that wouldn't really have mattered as it turned out....I think the train was waiting for a late running train from Edinburgh).

It feels like I've come home to autumn. It's been pretty bad weather all week, and it now feels really dark. We closed the living room curtains this evening for the first time since May, or even April. I doubt I'll be able to get out in the garden tomorrow, given the weather forecast, but I could see when I arrived home that the crocosmia has been making hay whilst I've been away.

Looking forward to a quiet weekend. Today marks exactly one year! We've come a long way.