Happy New Year!

We had a good old fashioned family get-together for brunch.  We used to enjoy stovies for lunch in The Stable Bar by Mortonhall, but after that all changed ownership we've gone elsewhere.  Today we met at Ratho, and caught up on our news over scrambled eggs, veggie sausages, baked beans, toast, and even a bit of smoked salmon which Boy Wonder enjoyed.

Afterwards, we three Flums pottered around the canal at Ratho for a bit and said hello to the swans, and then visited "The Mound" at Edinburgh Airport which is where you take your camping chair and your biggest telephoto lens if you want a good viewpoint for watching the planes taking off.  When I were young, we'd go to the main terminal, up the stairs and walk out onto the wee balcony thing they had, but y'know, changed days.

The Mound isn't on the OS maps, but it's semi-official and you can find it on OpenStreetMap.  It seems to be a spoil heap whose main ingredient is shale, garnished with pieces of brick and concrete and drizzled with a grass and rainwater jus.  It being New Year's Day – and happy 2024 everyone! – I guess the pilots and ground crew and gateline staff were all on double time today.

Once we'd had our fill of Easyjet and Ryanair departures we repaired to my house to warm up with a brew.