This day dawned rainless with bright, partly overcast skies but blue showing through. A low fog is dotting several areas of the valley, hanging only a few feet above the ground. On the hillsides, the clouds are hanging down from the sky like normal fog almost to ground level. It is amazingly beautiful looking out our windows over the calm fields of wheat. I am enjoying this – a lot.

We have arrived back from our trip today to the Kingdom of Fife. Allan took the controls and drove our Skoda to St. Andrews. He has driven on the “wrong” side of the road when living in Japan. He though the idea of a manual transmission was a cruel joke though. Shifting with the left hand is just plain odd. I was truly impressed; Allan did a superior job. If driving did not take so much attention away from sightseeing, I would have him drive all the time. To keep it all in the family, when I drive Ann navigates in the shotgun position. When Allan drives, Marian navigates. If we do not do it this way, I would be divorcing Marian, and Allan would be divorcing Ann. That is just wrong. You cannot divorce your sibling can you, Laurel?

We walked through the Old Course at St. Andrews, St. Andrews Cathedral ruins, and St. Andrews Castle ruins. The weather was brilliant blue skies, drenching rain, brilliant blue skies, drizzle, and grey overcast, beautiful white fluffy clouds. As the weatherman said today, “We will have a diversity of autumn weather.” Amazingly, this was a correct weather diagnosis for once!

After St. Andrews, we drove down to the East Neuk of Fife to four quaint fishing villages along the coast on the Firth of Forth: Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem and St. Monans. I have a new most hated village ever in the East Neuk of Fife: St. Monans. As I was driving up the steep hill from the harbor, I met a nice woman driving DOWN the single-track road toward me in a huge Land Rover. Stalemate. I drove into a parking area so she could pass me. Of course, SHE wanted to drive into the same parking area but I was blocking her. I began to back up down the hill. But the idiot behind me decided to pass me (Remember, this is a single-track road) at the exact moment I began backing up to get out of the parking area. I almost hit him. However, he continued to pass me (I have no idea how) and drove into the SAME parking area I was in and the downhill lady wished to get into. After seeing this, the downhill lady began backing up the hill laughing at me the whole way, to a point where I could pass her. Unfortunately, this road led into a dead end requiring a turnabout: The ultimate insult.

At home, it was a dinner of fresh pasta and sauce cooked by the ladies with a green salad, baguette and a Spanish Rioja for drinking. This was a great meal well within our budget!