251.
My body clock seems to be all out of whack just now. I have been going to bed before 10pm - which is very early for me - and getting up at around 8am. I don't know what's going on with me. I got up this morning while everyone was still asleep, and I came downstairs and made some toast spread with olive oil and rubbed with fresh garlic followed by two rounds of french toast and some scrambled eggs and a pot of fresh coffee. Now, nine hours later, Linda tells me that my breath is still stinking of garlic! The rest of the household surfaced at around 11am, then proceeded to have breakfast without asking me if I wanted anything... I was quite annoyed, so I breathed on them to teach them a lesson. Our plans for today were thrown into turmoil by the weather. For a few days now we have had beautiful clear weather, and yesterday, the skies were blue and the Sidlaws were covered in snow. We were going to go up Auchterhouse yesterday, but we decided to go to the sales and buy new kitchen/dining chairs instead, and save Auchterhouse for today. Today, however, and the hills have all but disappeared in the mist, and the snow has completely disappeared with the rain. Quite bluntly, it has been a horrible, dull, overcast, wet, grey misery of a day, and certainly not the kind of weather for climbing up hills (even small ones like the Sidlaws). With a day in the country no longer on the cards, I had to content myself with walking to the supermarket with Linda. As we crossed the footbridge over the Kingsway, we were almost blown onto our backs. We did manage a wistful glance at Auchterhouse Hill through the smir, and congratulated ourselves on our decision to postpone: if we were being blown backwards on a footbridge over a road, just imagine what it would be like on top of a hill. We will be going tomorrow, weather permitting - although the forecast is not looking good at the moment, and, anyway, all the snow has gone, and the snow was the main reason we wanted to go up. Anyway, back to the madness. We walked to the supermarket this afternoon, and thank goodness we did. The cars were queuing up on the dual carraigeway at the entrance to the retail park, and no cars were moving in the car park - there was just two big lines of stationary traffic and no way for people to leave or enter. Utter chaos. Inside the supermarket was little better, with people pushing trolleys full of alcohol, in preparation for Hogmanay. Goodness knows where they get the money! Still, I suppose it's only once a year.

For Bruce B


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