Urban Charm

Last night's book group meeting went with a swing. The discussion of 'The Lacuna' by Barbara Kingsolver did in fact alter my opinion of the book. Everyone agreed that it took a little getting into and that there was a large uninteresting portion in the middle, but the ladies persuaded me to read to the end as it would be worth my while. And so I shall.

The cake of dubious centre was mostly ok and everyone was too polite to mention if they did detect a certain moistness. More to the point, there have been no phone calls to date indicating any gastric upsets. The understudy banana cake waiting in the wings was not needed.

Today, because it was a lovely morning, I was looking forward to some quality time away from the castle with his Lordship, especially since he is spending all of tomorrow in the hills with his band of merry men.
We decided after breakfast that we would take a flask of coffee with us and have a walk to the resevoirs beyond Currie.

Alas in the end his Lordship found the timing too stressful, and my lack of understanding of his time management led to the mission being aborted. Just don't enquire further.

I took myself off into town and a browse round the back lanes of the city centre. They shed a very different light on the 'Athens of the North' and illuminate an altogether seedy spectacle, with horribly uneven cobbled streets, dirty, run down, uncared for backs to buildings and much building work going on.
A blipper's paradise in other words.