So when Gail announced on Wednesday that we were going on a "climate-friendly" beach walk that afternoon, I naturally assumed she meant we'd be heading to a coastal location with a friendly climate.
You know, like somewhere in the Mediterranean, Southern California, Australia or maybe even the Seychelles?
(I did, I admit, wonder how she was going to conjure up the necessary Covid tests and pet passport in time, but I decided to put trust in my owner's resourcefulness. Or maybe she just meant Cornwall.)
But anyway it turns out I had totally misunderstood. What Gail had in mind was an outing to our Aberdeen City beach, a sandy stretch of North Sea coast where the weather can be called by many names - e.g. "bracing", "haar bound", "windswept", "pure Baltic". But never ever "friendly".
No, the "climate-friendly" aspect to this walk was that, in keeping with the move towards reducing fossil fuel use and thus CO2 emissions, we would leave the car at home and cover the mile and a half to the beach on foot.
Of course, the distance would hardly trouble a roughty-toughty terrier like me, even in our decidedly unsettled November weather. However, it is true that the shortest route goes through the business end of the harbour and would never qualify as one of Scotland's most scenic hikes (which is why we usually take the car).
When we finally arrived at the beach, it was high tide so I didn't even get to run on the sand. But at least we had the broad promenade almost to ourselves, and were even treated to a rainbow over the sea.
Happy Nature Friday friends! Did you do anything this week to reduce your carbon footprint?
