On my next day off I went to explore Glasgow, as I usually just go there to do my banking. I enjoyed the Peoples palace, a park dedicated to all the people of Glasgow very much. It was amazing, as they had a wee house where we sat while the bombs fell, of course imitated, and then we had to run and clambered into the bunker, while the noise of the bombs shook the earth, and the small lightbulb rattled and flickered. Scary to think what the people had to go through. I will today just post a wee poster that I got on that day.

The drive back was without much incident, and I was reasonably comfortable, draped from head to toe in the old duvet, the cloth tied around my nose and all, as Benny was quite calm, having been force fed with the pulped fresh ginger again. I must say, I was not convinced that it would work on a dog, but it did, and the poor mite was I think very much relieved that his woes were a little less.
It might not have been the most comfortable, or enjoyable two and a half days of their stay, but I think it would be remembered and laughed about for years to come, and Irma were going to find the teasing because of her disgust with the sleeping arrangements quite taxing, I thought.
That night the girls were staying with me at the hotel, where we would play pool and board games till Irma came back from her date with Ally. She was all spruced up, looking very pretty with her hair all shiny and her lippy on When I first came to Scotland I found it a strange saying, the lippy, and I thought that it only meant lipstick, but with time I found out that it means the whole kaboedel, from the moisturiser to the rouge. And of course the lipstick.
Irma had a lovely time with Ally, who took her on a deer hunt, and all the mystery and romance of such an experience showed on her face when they came back. I could see that she was much taken with her beau, who met all the standards that she had set for a mate, and that is bushy brows, nice big, strong hands, a decent pair of feet, as she hated small delicate feet on a man, and a good height.
Ally, the spitting image of Charlie Sheen, was also looking very happy, and they made a lovely couple, as he was one very handsome laddie. The only problem with this was that Irma and the girls were leaving in two days time, and chances that a relationship would develop was extremely thin, as I did not think that Irma could afford to come again.
I had to work the next day, but Ally came to pick the mum and kids up and took them on a tour of the fish farm where he worked, which they all enjoyed, and later they went into Crieff for a meal.
all good things have to end, and it was four very quiet beings in the wee Panda when I drove them to the Stirling train station the next day. For me it was absolutely wonderful to show all my best and treasured spots to my family, who had now all been to visit, and as I stood waving at the disappearing train, the tears spilled uncontrolably!

We were very thankful for the people's kindness, and were like a swarm of bees, packing up stuff and getting ready to go to the caravan. Irma had miraculously changed from a hunched-up and scowling personality, to the most industrious of us all, loading the stuff with so much vigour that it looked as if we were all standing still. Kiana, taking after her mother much more than she would ever acknowledge, had also undergone a metamorphosis and for the first time that evening I could detect some enthusiasm in her demeanor.
The caravan was huge and luxurious, with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a beautiful, if artificial fire in the sittingroom, and after the man had left we all stormed the fireplace, where we just lazed around until our blood had defrosted!
The girls had decided that the best place to sleep was on the bunks in the sitting room, as it was nice and warm, and that suited us fine. I just thanked the Lord that I wouldn't have to sleep with Liz and Benny in the same room, as another night of their snorting, and wheezing, and sawing, not forgetting Benny's breath, was just too horrible to even think about.
But after we had thawed out nicely, we decided to take stock of the premises, as according to the owner there was all kinds of things to do, like table tennis, and darts, and also a lot of board games, and all this in a beautifully heated room. We spent quite a nice evening playing all the games, and later, over a cuppa, sat laughing at Irma's horror and disgust earlier, and I realized for the hundredth time that although she is adamant that she was an outdoor girl, she was far from being that!
We woke up to a fresh and sunny day, and I wondered at the workings of the universe that gave us such a hard time the previous day, but now that we were actually going back, the sun shines down like a loving father at his kiddies!
We were taking another road back from the way we came, taking in Tarbert, a seemingly pretty waterside village where we would have a late breakfast before taking the long road home.

We sat looking at the rain pouring down for close on two hours before it slowed down enough to go out without drowning, and I was one worried woman, as I just couldn't imagine us putting up the tent in the still howling wind. But I had to stay cheerful, and told the lot that it was not that bad at all, at which all but Liz looked at me as if I had just escaped from some madhouse, but I put a cheerful smile on my face, and asked Liz for the keys to get the tent out.
Liz was without a care in the world by now, the red having done it's magic, and she came to help without any trouble, but as she was a wee bitty soled by now, I wasn't sure of how much help she would be. the other three stood under the lean-to, looking on with big eyes, as the effort it took just to keep the bally tent flat on the ground in order to put in the supports was one mammoth job, and i was scowling badly at the others watching us. Kristani then came to give a hand, but Irma, the city slicker refused, stating flatly that if I thought she was going to be smothered underneath that tent, I had please to think again! I must say, my cheerfulness had by this time evaporated quite badly, and I was worried, as Liz had consumed a lot of red, and I wasn't licensed to drive her car.
Irma was adamant that the best was for us to go home, stating that if it comes to that, she was prepared to drive, but Liz was still sober enough to know the consequences if something happened on the road, and that was just too much for the poor Irma, who sulked like a three year old. we decided to leave the tent for a while to see if the wind would lie down later, and started on dinner.
It was nice and dry in the lean-to, although the wind danced through it, making a noise like a piper without a clue of how to play the pipes.
The wind did not die down, and by now we were all quite damp, and decided that the best would be to sleep in the small kitchen. At this Irma flounced off to the bathroom, and came back a while later announcing that she was sleeping in the shower, as it was cosy and dry. that was a brilliant idea, and we all decided to remove there after we had washed up, but lady luck was on our side, as the owner of the caravan park came to tell us that if we had our own bedding we could use the big caravan that was open for the night.

tent opslaan

After our breakfast we had to take down the tent, as we were sleeping at another camping spot along the road to Muasdale that night. The morning started off well, with a nice and friendly, if a bitty shy sun shining down on us, and with everybody helping it wasn't long before we took to the road.
Irma of course was sitting very comfy in the front, as she proclaimed that she was already feeling naucious just thinking about the small winding roads that we had to drive on. I knew of course that she really suffers driving in the back, but darn it, so did I, although not from car sickness!
I had one of the teacloths sprayed with Kristani's underarm spray knotted tightly around my face, with just my eyes peeping out, and of course again covered in an old duvet cover, as it was again my lot to take care of Benny. I suggested we look for a shop where we would be able to buy some fresh ginger to stop Benny from wretching all the time, poor mite, and of course poor me, having to sit and bear the breath from hell, as I of course had nowhere to run. By mid morning the day was not too good any more, but I was able to look upon this as a small mishap, as we did find some ginger for Irma and Benny. Liz chewed the stuff to a pulp, and with me holding open the squirming wee dog's mouth the stuff was force fed to him, while Irma, very glad for some relieve from her car sickness waschewing away with gusto! I think I was by far the most thankfull for the ginger, as miraculously, Benny stopped wretching so badly after a while, and I sent up a small prayer when he at last stopped scratching the front seat's back, and lay down. Irma also lost a bit of her pasty colour, and so we had quite a nice day, driving from village to village, visiting some more beaches, with a lovely light lunch at a cozy wee cafe at Glenbarr. Then, after buying some meat and salad stuff for dinner, we proceeded to Muasdale to look for our camping spot.
The rain was by now coming down in buckets, and the wind was howling like a thing gone crazy, sending the seawater from the waves high up into the sky racing like mad along the beach, blowing the meagre vegetation flat as pancakes on the wet sand.
It did not look good, and Liz, after giving the scene a quick gaze, poured herself a big red, and sat down in the little open lean-to that served as a kitchenette, where cooking could also be done, as usually it is just for washing up. We put the kettle on, an had a nice and warm cuppa, then we all huddled into the small space from where we watched the elements doing some pretty awesome things, and our spirits just sagged and sagged! Liz had her second cup of red, and looked the happiest of us all!

After really trying for ages to sleep, I got up and got the small gas cooker going to make some tea, and it wasn't long before I was joined by a disgruntled Irma, and we sat talking untill the early hours before things calmed down a bit with Vesuvius that has stopped erupting so badly, and we made our way quietly back to the tent. All was now stable, with just an occasional kind of a gurgly bark from Liz, and Benny had stopped snoring altogether.
I thankfully closed my eyes, and was just drifting off nicely, when all hell broke loose on the other side, as the two snorers must have turned, and by doing so, because they were not in their comfy beds, came out of their snoreless state, and when they suddenly let rip quite simultaniously, both Irma and self groaned lustily, and I knew that this was the end of any sleep, unless we went to sleep somewhere else.
So out we went again, after I tried to locate Liz's car keys, as we have decided to sleep in the car. The keys were nowhere to be found, and as Liz made some strange and weird noises when I went into her side to try and find the key, I hastily left without, as it was nowhere to be found in the dark, and I dared not lite a match in case she woke up.
But sleeping in the car was out of the question, as when we got there, and found the doors unlocked, we were elated only for a very short while, as both the front and back seats were already taken by the two girls, who refused to leave their cosy nest to make way for Mum and Gran.we were now quite anxious, as it looked like dawn was already breaking, so we took our sleeping bags to the small kind of kitchen and washing up space, and tried to get some sleep on the hard cement floor. Of course it seemed almost impossible, but I think we were so tired by now, that both of us actually fell asleep, sleeping the sleep of the utterly exhausted!
We were woken by a very puzzled Liz, who stood looking like she had a hundred year long beauty sleep, and this lady was very much upset to see that all of us had jumped ship, and she denied vehemently our accusations that her snoring kept us all awake. She lit a cigarette with heavily trembling fingers, and walked away disgustedly to the ablution block, but when she came back after quite some time, and got her breakfast plate loaded with bacon, beans, fried bananas and tomatoes, and also some fried bread a coffee, she thawed a wee bitty, and it wasn't long before we were all friends again!
We were going to drive around the Mull of Kentyre, visit the beaches on the way, and make our way to Muasdale where we were sleeping that night, again in the tent. Heaven help us!

The rain had mercifully stopped by about one, and that put a stop to the moaning youngsters, who announced that they would be deadly sick by nightfall with their lungs, both from the wet and cold air, and Benny's breath that they had to breath in all the time. I felt the same, but refrained to throw my penny into the armbeurs (something like a purse for the poor), and just sat rigid and cold, trying to breathe as little as possible.
We had to stop a lot for the dogs to run a bit, so we were taking hours to get to Cambletown, the place where we would camp the first night, but we first went into the small Tesco's to try and find some fresh ginger, as there was non to be found on the road.
Once poor old Benny realized that we would not get back into the car immediately, he perked up wondrously, and became his old frisky self, trying to pick fights with every other dog! He was a good pet, but Liz could never take off his leash when there were a probability of other dogs, as this fighting instinct he had was born and bred into him, like a lot of the Yorkies. Stouty was also a Yorkie, but he was the most amiable little soul you could find, but when Benny attacked, he would feel the old instincts waking up, where upon he would join his sibling for the kill! Benny always reminded me of his owner, who was also a nervous wreck all the time, trying to protect her privacy, and very proper, but oh boy, after a few glasses of red she became one snarling, fight lusting inferno!
Late afternoon we went looking for the camping park where we were to put up the huge borrowed tent for the night. That gave up a big struggle, as none of us had ever put up such a large and strange tent before, but we were all in good spirits, even Irma who did not like camping in a tent at all. So after we had a nice old barby, with desert in the form of some wonderful apple pie that we had bought in the town, we sat talking deep into the night with Liz's bottle of red between us.
The tent had two bedrooms on each side of a big middle chamber, I suppose the sitting room, with a small part in front to use as a kitchen. Lovely and big.
The two youngsters were to sleep in one room with Liz, and Irma and self in the other room, but if any one of us had so much as forty winks that night, I would indeed be very surprised! While still sitting talking, we could hear Benny snore away like an old tractor, and the girls's angry voices trying to make him shut up! But if we thought that the poor Benny would be keeping us from our slumbers, we were very wrong!
It started off quite reasonably, but as she fell into a deeper sleep, the soft rumblings that escaped from Liz's throat became ominous, like Vesuvius erupting, and no matter how hard I tried to sleep, the rumblings from the other room, where it seemed like a competition between madam and dog, was just too much!

Irma and Ally got along so well, and she had a lovely time with him, and when the two of them went out over the week-end, the girls stayed with me, sitting in the pub lounge playing scrabble, and when there were no men playing, they played pool.
For my next two days off, we were going to the Mull of Kintyre, where we would be camping at a campsight near Campbletown, and from there do our touristy thing. Lizzy was driving us, and, even though she always struggled against going into the wilds with me, and vowed never to camp with me again after the night the midges almost devoured us in glen Lyon, she was always going with me. I think secretly she was loving it almost as much as I did myself!
As usual it was quite a struggle to get Liz up and going, as she loved sleeping till about eleven, and from the time of her getting up, it took two more hours to get ready. But I think because of the kids that couldn't wait to go, she was up at about eight, and from my window at Irene's I could see that her kitchen light was on, and her curtains opened. A very good sign indeed!
I went to fetch the kids, and after we had packed all our foodies, and bags, and the dogs were watered and walked, the car wouldn't start. Poor Liz was a nervous wreck, and her hands that were usually a bitty shaky was just about rattling as she tried and tried to get the engin going! But then we got help from a guy named Chalky who lived across from Lizzy, and he pronounced with a wry grin that there was no petrol in the tank! Liz went white, and her big brown eyes almost popped out, and then she collapsed into a small bundle behind the wheel. She had clean forgotten to fill the car up the previous day when she went to Callender.
So into the Panda with self and Irma, while Lizzy and the youngsters went into the house with the dogs to await our return with the petrol. Luckily Chalky had an empty five liter can, and that would be enough to take us into Lix Toll to fill up!
So again we made an effort to get going, Irma, who got car sick when sitting in the back, nicely in front with Liz, and the girls, me and the dogs in the back. I was draped in an old piece of bedspread, as Benny, the Yorkie who was a bad passenger as he got terribly car-sick, had to sit on my lap, while Stouty, the other Yorkie, was shared by the girls. We haven't even started when self began to feel my tummy turn, as the smell of Benny's breath was like something out of a horror story, and quite indescribable, and he insisted to stand with his paws on the front seat!
It was better once we got going, as I opened the window completely, although it was quite a wet morning, but the droplets blowing in was my salvation, as it kind of revived me every time I wanted to swoon when Benny's breath attacked me!
The poor darling was kind of okay until we got to the pass between Strathyre and Lix Toll, when the tight little bends in the road made him wretch  uncontrolably, and I sat like a bally zombi, waiting for him to deposit his breakfast on my lap, so I just made sure that I was covered from head to feet in the bedspread!
I just couldn't understand why Liz could not leave the dogs in the care of the many friends who always offered to look after them, as poor old Benny just wasn't a good traveller at all!
Irma, who have been quiet all the time, maybe feeling a bitty bad about her mum struggling with the dog, then made a proposal to get some fresh ginger, both for herself who was looking a bit washed out also, and for the dog, as apparently that helped a lot in combatting car sickness.
But the first place with a supermarket or a grocers shop would be maybe at The Green Wellie, so in the meantime it was bellows to mend at the back, as the two girls were also affected by Benny's breath, and announced that if we did not stop on the double, they were going to vomit all over the car, and I fully agreed.
So we stopped at a small stream, where the dogs could run for a bit, and poor old Benny almost bursted out of his skin he was so elated to be out of the car.I was taking huge gulps of fresh air into my lungs, and then scratched around in my bag for something to tie over my nose, as I was feeling quite sick just thinking of getting into that car again with the panting and saliva dripping dog on my lap again.

after their first astonishment the girls found the whole situation very funny, and the three stood at the caravan door laughing their heads off! I decided to try and see whether I could make it to the caravan, and found the water coming up to my knees, so I waded through, and brought some clothes for them to dry ground.
It looked scary from inside the caravan, all the camping chairs, and clothes, and food, and like I saw earlier, even a small fridge, bobbing up and down on the water.
Emma was having a hard time gathering people's stuff, and it looked so strange, the small kajak going up and down between the caravans! We couldn't help a lot, the water being too deep, but, together with Andy, one of the mcGregor boys who lived in a caravan on the sight, we could salvage a few things that was floating in the shallower water.
We had decided to go to Edinburgh for the day, and as the car was standing on the verge of the now busy road, the two youngsters of course stood hiding behind a bush until I had done my thing with the beach umbrella and got the Panda started.
I drove back to Irene's house so that the three girls could change into dry clothes, and then we were off to Stirling where I would park the car, and we would take the bus from.
Edinburgh is to me one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, the Royal mile stretching away from the castle like a street from a story book, and one could almost write one's own fairy tale.I loved to sit in the park between Princess street and the mount on which the castle stood watching over the city, and I sometimes laughed out loud at the antics of the small squirrels, who were a happy bunch, and not at all scared of people.
The only flaw in this wonderful day was Kristani and her new shoes. Irma had warned her to put on an older pair of walking shoes, but na, na, Kristani wouldn't listen! So after walking up the quite strenious road to the castle, Kristani started limping, and moaning! Kristani is a Virgo, and like all Virgo's, my son included, she could MOAN! At first Irma was not very sympathetic, as we had all urged her to wear the older shoes, but after a while we could't ignore the moans anymore!
So, as Kristani wore the same size shoe as myself, we swapped, as I thought that maybe the shoes wouldn't hurt me, but after about five hundred meters my heels were starting to blister and I had to call a halt, and we swapped back! She had bought this pair of funky shoes at Camden Town, and we realized soon enough that it might not have been a good buy, although very trendy!
We then found a shoe shop, where Irma bought a pair of cheapy flip-flops, and it went well for another fifty meters or so, until Kristani started moaning that she now had blisters not only at her heels from the other shoes, but also between her toes where the thong of the flip-flops went through!
By this time all of us had lost the tiny shred of sympathy we still had, and we all three told her shortly to take the bally flip-flops off then, and walk bare-foot, which she promptly did. From then on things were a lot nicer, and we could again fokus on all there was to see, and Kristani's plaintiff moans that her feet were cold fell on deaf ears.

 The art museum in Edinburgh is one of my favourite places, and we spent quite a long time in there!

I stayed with the girls at the caravan until Irma got back, and I was introduced to Ally, who looked everywhere but at me, and I could see that Irma was bursting with laughter.He had a quick coffee with us, all the time having quite a hard time evading eye contact with me, something I just couldn't understand.

When he left, Irma told me that Ally believed that it was me who tried to get one up on Irma, and had phoned him to make the other date. Goodness, we had a merry old laugh at the poor man's expense, and when Irma told me that he almost had an apoplexy when he heard that I was her mother, our mirth did not know any boundaries.

Both of us, and the girls, remembered that he was not alone that day when he brought her the letter in Comrie, as there was another young man behind the wheel of that truck. But it was quite embarrassing to me, knowing that the bally man thought that I would do something like that, even if Irma wasn't my daughter!

We figured out that it must have been his friend , and indeed a few days later we were told that it was indeed, and that his friend had asked some American girl to phone him! What a bally relieve.

That night it rained, and rained , with heavy winds, and I was quite worried about the girls in the caravan. To make my night worse, Jim must have had one big night at the pub, as he came up the stairs, making a terrific racket, and then lay snoring fit to wake even a hundred year old peach pip!

When morning came at last, it was still raining, but the winds had stopped, and I thanked the Lord that I didn't have to work.

I had a leisurely coffee in bed, then lay reading a bit, as the other three would definitely not be awake before seven thirty.

When at last I got the panda going, getting soaking wet in the process, I drove slowly and carefully to the caravan park to see if the lazy birds were up. What met my eyes was a situation so bizarre that I just sat on the verge of the road, looking down at a sea of water where the caravan park was supposed to be! I saw Emma going from caravan to caravan in a kajak, and everywhere people's belongings were floating lazily in the new formed loch, even a small fridge was bobbing merrilly up and down.

I put on my water boots that was always in the car, and walked down to have a talk with Emma, who was looking scared but determent to look after the people, and she assured me that my kids were quite alright, as the caravan was on higher ground, and the water only got up to the door, but didn't flood it.

The three inside was still sleeping through all this, and after some good and raucous yelling, a face appeared at the window, and I saw the eyes grew round, then another face, same thing, and then Irma at last had a look, and I had to laugh at her astonishment!

Luckily, or maybe not so, most of the caravans were empty, as a lot of them were parked in the park right through the year, so there was no casualties, but boy, oh boy, looking at the stuff floating around that poor Emma tried to gather, I think there must have been a lot of damage!

Back in the village we heard that in very rare instances the Balvaig, that flows through Strathyre and into Loch Lubnaig, overflows, and the caravanpark swamped, and this temporary loch has actually a name, and that is Loch Occasional! Very funny!

Irma and kids came to the hotel at twelve when I finished my morning shift, and after a hasty change of clothes we set of for Callender where she was to meet her beau, Ally. The arrangement was that the two girls and self would sit in a cafe across from the road to watch for when this man came, as we were a bitty early, and Irma would stand in the Ediburgh Woollen Mill shop until we gave her the thumbs up that the man had gone into the fish shop where they were to meet, and then go to the pub up the road.
It wasn't long before the tall dark and handsome man got out of a white Isuzu truck that had stopped almost in front of the cafe where we sat, and made his way to the fish shop. We were very excited, and waved like some escaped lunatics at Irma, who then emerged from her hide-out, and made her way shyly to the fish shop!
We saw them shake hands, and then came out and walked down the road, so we knew that we had to entertain ourselves for a while, as Irma would let us know whether they hit it off, and whether she was driving home with us, or with Ally. So we had a light lunch, and made a round of all the shops, and it was about an hour later, when I was getting tired of trying to entertain the bored girls, that she at last sent a message that it was fine, she was driving home with Ally.
We stopped at the Edinburgh Woolen Mills along the road just outside Callender, a huge sister shop of the one in Callender itself, where we had a lot of enjoyment with the highland bull, named Hamish. He is one very clever bull, and will not come to the fence if you didn't hold a camera, or in some instances, a bunch of the veggies that you could buy at the shop.
However, when a bus full of tourists pull into the parking lot, Hamish would rush to the fence, his long hair waving in the rush of wind he made, and stood making the most babylike noices, I was sure to impress the tourists. Hamish of course is known all over the world, as he is a big attraction here in the highlands, and the tourists of course would buy the overprized veggies by the armfull, just to take some photo's, or make a video.
 And of course  mr. Highland Coo knew this, and he would just be the clown, showing off something terrible, and people, including myself, just loved him!
On the way back we stopped at loch Lubnaig, where we sat watching the fisherman. I am sorry, but I have never seen one fish being pulled out along this loch, but the must surely catch something now and then, or they wouldn't come week after week. I knew most of them, as they all have caravans at the Immervioulen park where the kids stayed, and always had a meal with us. Strathyre lies almost on the banks of loch Lubnaig, at the furthest end, some way around the bend.

We had a lovely day, and after lunch and a look at the antique linen in Aberfeldy, It was time again for taking out my beach umbrella, and the two youngsters gave one very anxious look around at all the young boys , and made for the safety of the street corner, where they stood trying to look unconcerned and disinterested in the proceedings, until the Panda's engin sprang to life. Both then had another look around, and waited for every boy in the vicinity to be out of sight, before they legged it to the car, jumped in, and lay almost flat on the back seat trying to keep a low profile.
I was thinking back on two years ago, when I had a busdriver beau for a week, and my drive of humiliation through the streets of this same Aberfeldy, when his red rusted car with the shiny mags wouldn't start, and the low flying we did down the narrow and very steep little road to try and get the engin going, and the boombox that was rocking the little car like a boat in a storm at sea.
But how and so ever, we were again on the road, and I decided to take them to Crieff, and Comry, where we could maybe have tea and a cake.
We were sitting in The Granary, a cute little coffee shop in Comrie, eating away and laughing a lot, when suddenly from across the road a very, very handsome man came through the door, and mumbling something about Irma that was beautiful, he gave her a piece of paper with a telephone number, and a message that asked her so nicely to phone him, and that his name was Ally!  The girls were aghast that their mother could pick up a man, and the two of them, all dressed to kill, had only a few very interested looks from the Scottish boys!
We tried to convince her to phone the handsome lad, but she was adamant that she was not cheap, and that she was passed the teenage stage where dates were made like that! We laughed at her, accusing her of being a ninny, and scared of men, and what not, but it was Liz and Hanna who in the end convinced her that she was on holiday in a foreign country, and she might just as well forget all her good and modest ways, and have some fun for a change!
But what we didn't know was that in the meantime Ally's friend had played a horrible trick on him, and got an American friend of him to phone Ally and make a date to meet at a pub in Comry. So after some long and difficult negotiations, and all of us standing around her in case she got cold feet, Irma phoned this guy, and he was absolutely flabbergasted, and told her that the woman he had given the number to, had already phoned him. Now it was Irma's turn to be rattled, and she told him that she had definitely not phoned yet, and put down the phone. But this lad was not to be put off, and as he now had her number, he made a date to meet her the next day at a pub in Callender, where they could have lunch. It was all a mystery at this stage.

I left the three to roam the village, or do some hill walking, as I had to work, but was off the next two days. Liz, who had been to visit me in South Africa, and had met the kids, took pity on them, and the whole bunch went to Stirling for the afternoon. Later they all came to the pub, and when I finished work, I found them happily playing games, the girls at the pool table, and Irma playing scrabble with two of our Dutch guests.
The next morning I was at the caravan early, complete with my throw away barbeque pan, bacon, sausages, bananas, tomatoe, and some rolls to toast, We were having breakfast at Loch Voile, at Christina's cove, as that is still one of my favourite spots in Scotland. If it turned out to be a nice dry day, I was taking them to the devil's cauldron, where a huge waterfall cascaded down the rocks, into a hissing, moaning swirly pond beneath, just like a witches cauldron actually. It was an awesome sight, and I knew that the kids would love that!
From there we would go on to Aberfeldy, where we would walk along the river, and then have lunch at the small Turkish cafe, where the owner was just so amazing, and the food good and quite inexpensive.I wanted to show Irma the beautiful antique linen at an antique shop, as it was absolutely beautiful, and I was puting away money to buy an old bedspread or quilt before I go back this year.
But all was still and very quiet when I got to the park, and it took some loud knocking to wake that lot, and to get them out of bed took patience and THAT I never had a lot of!
I made them coffee, and they slowly awoke, Kiana the first to open her eyes, looking at me as if I had gone stark raving mad, telling me in a small voice that it was only half past six, and had Ouma gone crazy, or what?
Then Irma opened one eye, asking whether I had made coffee, and she at least sat up to take her cup. Kristani was the last to wake up, just sitting against the pillows, looking out of the window, where the sun was warming up the wet earth, and steam rose like fairy dust to the heavens.
I knew only too well how fast the sun could disappear again, and how rain clouds could cover the lovely sun in minutes, as this was Scotland after all, so I urged them to get up so that we could start the day.
It took about half an hour for them to do their ablutions and get ready, and by that time the caravan park was buzzing, everybody coming to the little shop next to the caravan to buy fresh rolls that came in still warm every morning.
Kristani and Kiana opted to stay in the caravan while I opened the bonnet of the wee Panda to poke at it's insides with my beach umbrella, as they just did not see their young ways open for that humiliation. But I was not embarrassed in the least, as I loved the little car, and as Jimmy had assured me that the car would not yet let me down, I was fine with the poking, and would have it done with the next m.o.t., as it was not long now before I would go home.

We had a quick coffee at the station cafe before making our way to the little Panda, who was washed and shone like a brandnew penny in the sun that was out after a few days of rain. Of course I had to first open the bonnet of the car, and poke the solenoid with my beach umbrella that I had won at the village fair, and the teenage girls, like any other teenager at that age, was absolutely stunned, and highly embarrassed! Irma, who in her poor days just after her divorce, had driven an old Volkswagen that most of the time had to be pushed to life, was less embarrassed, and once in the car and on our way, we laughed a lot as we remembered her embarrassment on morning when the Volkswagen again wouldn't start.
Across from her house lived a very prim, very important, and very well known, stockily built little phychiatrist,and as he was driving out from his mansion and noticed Kristani trying to push the Volkswagen, he demeaned himself to a great extent, got out of his car, and offered his help. Irma was shocked, as he usually just nodded stiffly, but also very glad, as Kristani was already late for school, and herself for work!
So, with Irma behind the wheel, the child and the smartly dressed phychiatrist pushed! Up and down the road, and after a while the poor man was exhausted, and asked Irma, as their wasn't even a spark of life, whether she had turned on the engin. She had NOT! So, the little man instucted her seriously to turn the key to on, and the Volkswagen's engin jumped to life after only a few meters, and a very agitated Irma watched the now sweaty and a bitty dishevelled wee man walk stiffly to his monstrous 4x4!

Anyhow, the three were very excited to be there, and we were sprinting along merrily, when we hit the area close to a few pig farms. Now this pig farms are usually okay, but after some heavy rain, and then some strong sunshine, the most hideous smell invades the area around it for about twenty kilometers. All three of them sat wretching, but by now I was an old hand at this, and just sat smiling and talking as if nothing was wrong, although, to be honest, I also felt a wee bitty weak on the stomach, as the smell was absolutely acrid that morning!
We passed Loch Lubnaig, the closest loch to Strathyre, and the girls immediately vowed that they were in for a lot of swimming! I just laughed, remembering my grandson Rene, who was also brave enough to try the water, but who had turned blue within a few minutes!
The caravan park was situated just before reaching Strathyre, and they were very taken with their view of the river Balvaig that flowed lazily down to the loch, and immediately liked Emma and Janet, the two sisters and children of the owners.

When I booked Irma and the kids's train tickets, I never thought that they might have to transfer at some point, as I always used The Great Western Flyer, and it always went straight to Stirling, and then to Glasgow, it's last stop.
I was elbow deep in dough, making scones for Irene, when my phone rang, and a very small voice on the other side informed me that Irma was completely devastated! The train from Kings Cross had run late, causing the three travellers to miss the transfer to the one to Glasgow, and they were now standing at the station, watching the trains come and go, not knowing what to do!I told her to go to the office and find out what could be done, and she said that they were actually now on their way there.
The long and the short was that they now had to wait till late afternoon for the next train, and would only be in Sterling at about ten that evening. But that the train couldn't stop at Stirling, there being a lot of work done on the lines, and would go straight through to Glasgow. But, Irma assured me, not to worry, as there was a bus that would bring them to Stirling, and they would be there at about eleven thirty.
I finished my shift and rushed to Stirling, very excited now, as I would love to spend some time with my kids and show them my special places. The bus from Glasgow came in, and I had my widest smile on, but  there was no sign of the kids! I squinted to see inside the bus, but by now it was empty, and my poor heart started missing a lot of beats, as this was the last bus from Glasgow!
I tried Irma's phone but there was no answer, and I was just about to bally expire from worry, when my phone rang. It was Irma from a pay phone, informing me that it took them such a long time to find the stop where they had to board the bus, that again they just saw it's tail lights disappear by the time they got there.
I was now in a tizz, as with the little Panda overheating when stopping and starting, I couldn't fetch them, and anyway, I would never find the station!
I said that I will drive back to Strathyre and fetch Liz from her bed, but remembered just in time that ten to one she would not be in a condition to drive, so I told Irma to find a hotel for the night, but said if they couldn't find a place to sleep, I will wake the Boys, and maybe one of them could fetch them.
They did find a place, and Kiana couldn't stop talking about the backpackers where they found accomodation, where some guy's underpants was hanging above her head on the bunkbed, to dry. Kristani was just on about the kids on the street the previous night, who were so drunk and unruly, and did a lot of vomiting, and she had actually to step over a lot of this.
The next morning I went to Stirling to fetch them, and was I relieved when the bus came in an I saw three happilly smiling faces peering from the window!

Irma and kids were on the plain at last, and I was chewing my nails, as the previous times that she had been to visit her brother in Denmark, she was always met at the airport, and this time, with two girls in tow, she had to find her way to Protea House in Hammersmith. They had to sleep over, as their train to Scotland was only the next morning. But that would give them some time to spend in London, if they found their guest house, something I was not too sure of, knowing Irma's direction finding abilities. These were none!
 But I got a text message in good time, telling me that with a little bit of luck, and a lot of the eldest girl, Kristani's mouth, they managed to get to their overnight stop with only a wee bit of trouble.
I was informed that they would first visit Camden Town, as Kristani was adamant to see the Goths walking around there with her own eyes!
According to Irma the girl had a terrible shock on laying her eyes on her first Goth couple! Apparently she had put on a black t-shirt that morning, pronouncing to the world in bold letters that she was a real Goth, and she told her mum that she would show the lot what a real Goth looked like, by then circling her eyes with a black kohl pencil, and smeared her lips with black lipstick that she pulled out from somewhere.
Getting to Camden Town was another mission, but again Kristani, who is one that can open her mouth and ask, got them there, and they were walking around the amazing shopping kind of mall, when there, right in front of this three greenies from Africa, was a couple that took all their breaths away, but Kristani was absolutely thrown.
The boy was dressed completely in black, but it was the girl that had the volatile Kristani standing like a statue, her mouth for once not working overtime. This Goth girl was dressed in a kind of vintage dress, and she had on a pair of black fish net stockings, and on her feet was a pair of  red shoes with soles about a foot thick, making her tower above everybody like a tall black widow spider! Of course her face was made up all in black, and she had rings hanging down from just everywhere on her face.
Kristani was in absolute ecstasy, and grabbed her mother's camera to take a photograph of this wondrous sight, but the girl got very upset, and with her face pulled into an ugly snarl, she told Kristani that if she dared take a photo, she would ruin the camera by bashing it on the ground!
As Irma had a very expensive camera, her doing a lot of photography for the interior decorators she worked for, she grabbed her camera, and the kids, and rushed to the nearest coffee shop to calm down.

The Boys came into the kitchen while we were doing breakfast, had a cuppa and some toast, and said that they were going to buy some new crockery, as ours were really getting desperately low, specially the cups.
I just loved the two, John being this Mohawk with his hair shaven close to his skull on the one side, and the other side was also shortish, but was all standing up like a brush, and that bit was a new colour every day. Brendan was just the opposite, manly and well dressed, with his hair cut short, and what I thought of as a typical gay man's style.They were getting married later in the season, and I thought how far I have come to be working so happily for a gay couple. Back home the Afrikaners like me were but a bitty conservative still, but this last years, with me having worked all over the world, had opened my eyes to other life styles.
While waiting for the guests to come down, Irene and self had to peel a huge pocket of potatoes every morning, and cut them into chips, as the Munro was known for it's hand cut chips. I didn't have to do that, as I had enough work of my own to get done, but Irene had twice as much work as me, as she had to cook and bake a lot of dishes for both the pub lounge and the diningroom, while I had the nice job of making special stuff for the conservatory only. It was only that I was ending my morning shift at twelve, and then on again at six, so my time was a wee bit limited.
The Boys came back with boxes of new stuff, and one of the waitresses, who was Brendan's niece came to wash and unpack the lot. It was nice not to be shouting for plates all the time any more, and the next night when I had to work alone, as Han was off, things went a lot more smoothly.
This young girl, Brendan's niece called Shauna, was a bit of a cowboy when it came to handling the crockery, and I was always worried to death when she took out more than two plates, as she would imitate the more experienced waitresses, and take four plates at once, these balanced precariously on her arms.I sighed deeply every time when she came back and all the plates got to the guests intact, but my poor nerves were taking a bad knock every time.
The crockery coming back was also a big worry to me, as she was a bitty overweight, and a bitty lazy to walk too much, so she would come back laden with crockery stacked so high that she could hardly see where she was going. I spoke to her the next morning when she came back with a lot of cups, and this cups were stacked four, four onto each other, with the saucers inbetween, and I could just imagine  that brandnew cups smashing to the floor, and my heart contracted painfully, making me sound a bit harsh when I told her to rather walk twice to be safe!
She just laughed, and assured me that she knew exactly what she was doing, and how to balance the stuff, so I could stop worrying. I was just finishing off the last of my prep, when on the small step leading up to the kitchen, there was one serious clatter, and a shrill yell, and then a sound like a sack of potatoes being slung down. I left everything and ran, and found Shauna on the floor, her face as white as the hundreds of pieces of what once was our new cups that was scattered all around her!
The boys were in the pub at that moment, and came running, and their faces showed astonishment and incredibility, and rage, and both of them went quite beserk, and their roars could be heard right through the hotel! I made good my escape, as I was finished with my prep!
I was off the next day, and just drove around, enjoying the wonderful places I always managed to find, and of course stopping and having a cuppa was just the best!

I've got to say this, and that is that I had never seen such a calm household as that of Irene and Jim. it was all very interesting to me, as coming from a reasonable middle class family, I wasn't aware that certain people even existed, as in South Aftrica we have a kind of a group stay with group way of living, and you seldom or ever meet characters like the ones I now met coming in for drinks, or just out and about. I was absolutely mesmerized by all this strange and wonderful people who were just who they were, and to heck with the rest.
One thing that was to me very endearing, was that at about ten at night, the men would take their dogs out for their last leg lift, and they all invariably came in for a before bed snort. It was all kinds, and it was strange and new to me when I watched old mr. macWilliams, a retired brain surgeon, sitting sipping his drink, his dog at his feet, talking earnestly to John, who was a gardener for a few of the big estates. Or the mayor of the district, laughing with the guy who drove the garbage truck. But of course in South Africa we don't really have a pub culture like here, and chances that at home I could go and sit quietly in the pub lounge after work, having my dinner and watching all the goings on, was just about zero!
The youngsters working in the hotel were all very nice, except two of the girls who were always making things very difficult for poor Ken and Barbie when the week's roster came out. They would accuse him of being an unfeeling brute, as they always wanted week-end days off to go to parties, but to tell the truth, I thought both of them more in the way than doing much good.
Ken was getting really frustrated, as this two was kind of revving up the other's too, so one day he called them all for a conference, and there was a couple of very sour faces walking around. The problem was that this girls were not really needed during the week when the others living in could easily cope, but week-ends were absolutely hectic, and they were then needed desperately. They had other ideas, and as they were young, all they wanted to do was make some money to spend on going out.
But I was all out of this, and I just did my work and tried to stay out of the politics.
It was now high summer, and the weather was just beautiful, and I went swimming in my pond on most of my days off, and couldn't wait for Irma and the kids to arrive, as I was eager to show them why I loved Scotland so much.
Back at Irene's all was going well, and by now I was fully aquainted with their way of life. It was like this: They would have their dinner, finishing two bottles of white wine with it, then Jim fell promptly asleep. Irene would kind of crawl up to bed at about nine thirty, rock the house on it's foundations she was snoring so loud, but luckily this would decline a bit after a while, until it became a rhythmic and bearable noise. At about three Jim would wake up where he was sleeping in front of the television still, and woke both of us with the noise he made coming up the stairs. Then it was his time to make music, or saw down the rafters, and after Irene had given him a lot of stick every time he started, he fell asleep suddenly, and the house would go quiet.
The walls were so bally thin that every noise they made was known to me, but luckily they had no marital happenings during my stay, or at least when I was home,
as that would have been very embarrassing indeed!

It was a great aanpassing to suddenly live in other people's house, and I didn't quite know how to handle the situation, Irene was one of the kindest, most good natured people imagibable, and Jim, well, Jim was something on his own.
Every afternoon after her shift, she worked from seven to four, when Han and Hanna took over, Irene would saunter over to the Ben Shaenn Hotel where all her cronies came together for their pre-dinner drinks, and by about five thirty she could be seen making her way quite precariously to her house.
There she would immediately start on cooking their dinner, and sometimes I was amazed that she never once had an accident in her kitchen. She was an excellent cook, and the smells that came from that kitchen made my tummy roar on my days off if I was at home at that time. My evening shift started at six, so I had my dinner at the hotel after I finished, as I couldn't eat so early.

 Anyway, Jim and Keith, the one that I almost killed with too much chilly on his pizza, worked together as builders, and of course, as do all the other men, he would also have a few pre-dinner snorts, usually rum and coke, which had left him with only a few quite rotten teeth in his mouth, and when he thought that it was just about time for his dinner to get to the table, he would make his way slowly, and very deliberately homewards.
Both of this people must have been very striking in their youth, as Irene, who was now fifty and a bit, was still very pretty, with a firm body that many a younger girl would pay many pounds to have. Jim, if you don't look at his teeth, had the most striking and beautiful features.
It was so funny when Irene, who was trying so hard to make me feel at home, asked me to come and watch a program, I just can't remember now which one, on my days off, as I was looking out for a television sets at Comry's cancer charity shop, where the most amazing stuff could be found if you take the trouble to look. I bought myself a pair of brand new Prada pants, with the tags still on, for one pound before, and couldn't believe my luck. Anyway, I would go down, and usually there would already be two empty bottles, and Jim would be snoring away heartily and noisely after his huge dinner, and Irene would talk Non stop, and I would only catch a glimpse of the program now and then.
When the program then came to the end, she would look at me as if I was the one that kept her from watching her most favourite thing on the tv, and said that we are two Ninnies for talking through all of this, and that when I only mmmmed and ahhed.,, while Jim never stirred through all of this.
At the hotel all was going so well, and I only gave a wee thought to the other one, still feeling a bitty sad at Lorna's reaction when I told her that I was leaving, but I hoped that she would just sit down and work out for herself that her treatment of her employees was just not on!
The dancing couple is Jim and Irene.

My room at Irene's were next to theirs, as the other bedroom was choc-a bloc full of clothes to be ironed, old furniture, and many more. But I soon sorted my abode out, and aquainted myself with things like the washing machine, the cooker,the bathroom, and so forth, and thought that I could be happy here for the little while I still had before going back home again.
In the meantime Irma had let me know that she and her girls were coming to visit me in a couple of week's time, and I had a busy time booking their train tickets from Kings Cross to Stirling, where I would pick them up, and getting accomodation, which was not too bad, as the caravan at Immervioulin caravan Park that I got for the other kids were open.I was glad for that as the hotels were too expensive, and at this time in the season all places like wee cottages were fully booked.
I in the meantime was as happy as a Lark, and if I didn't know the effect my 'lovely' voice had on people, I would have gone round that hotel singing all the time. Irene was wonderful to work with, and the Boys were superb! None of the other hotel's uncomfortable and unhappy feel was evident here, as the Boys were used to working with staff, and treated all of us with dignity and respect!
There were an American couple, both very beautiful, and whom the youngsters had baptized Ken and Barbie, who were a delight to work with. They did the bar, waitering, and was also in charge of the youngsters's rosters, and there was quite a lot of squablling over this, as all the youngsters wanted at least one Friday or Saturday off per week, but that was out of the question, and I never even tried anymore to get off over the week-ends. I have learned to live with the fact that I could only go to one of the many parties after work, and mostly only caught the tail-end of the dancing, but the gayities went on till the morning, and sometimes beyond!
My living with Irene and Jim took some getting used to, but, as I was no spring chick anymore, life had taught me to take things in my stride, and as that Greek woman at their Embassy had told me once, everything is better than to die!
As Irene wanted only ten pounds a week for the room, I felt a bitty bad, so decided to give them a bottle of wine with my payment, and they loved that, as between them they finish a couple of bottles during, and after dinner, after which Jim would fall asleep watching television, and Irene would go up and to bed, where the most awesome noises would soon after start drifting to my ears through the thin wall. It was amazing to me that a woman could snore like that, but I got used to it, and if I didn't leave my phone on for my friend to fake astma in order for me to come over, her being of course by that time unable to walk, I slept soundly and well!