The gas man cometh...

The boiler man is coming this morning. Not in a Brand New Blue Boiler suit, I imagine…

‘Between 8am and 1pm’… This of course, means, most likely 12.55am…

However, it’s a dreich day, not one for wandering around in, looking at the poor drookit performers in the Royal Mile. I have been busying myself at home doing household tasks looking for an indoor blip. I tried lots of views of these flowers, and quite liked this rather unusual view from above. got a bit desperate. It’s not often you see them like this, because you don’t normally stand on the coffee table. I cloned out my slippered feet, and - oh how I wish it was this easy in real life - used the spot healing brush in Photoshop to remove some red wine stains on the carpet and scratches on the table.

An email arrived this morning asking me to pay €3.10. I was happy to pay it, as it could have been more.

When we drove back from Galway last Sunday, the motorway was full of tolls. In the two hour stretch we paid 4 tolls. Granted, they were only a couple of euros each time… but one was an e-toll, and there were signs up to pay on their website by 8pm next day. Of course, I completely forgot.

But I emailed them a couple of days ago, having remembered in the middle of the night. I gave the excuse that living in Scotland, I was unused to toll roads, let alone e-toll roads, and offered my profuse apologies for having forgotten to pay.

It worked! They said, as a gesture of goodwill, they would not apply the penalty.

Or maybe it was my PS... I added that, although I am Scottish, I always support Ireland in the Six Nations Rugby matches. Unless, of course, they're playing Scotland.

Which is true. My mother was Irish.