Scotland, Mexico, and Best Wishes for 2019

To celebrate Gail's return from her Mexico holiday, I took her yesterday for a walk through farmland near the Deeside Gliding Club.

It was a excellent opportunity to remind her why she should be pleased to be home in Scotland. 

In case they're not obvious, let me list some of the reasons:

• Walks are more fun with your favourite WFT for company.
• The air in the North of Scotland is clean and free of pollution. 
• The ground is soft beneath the paws/feet.
• There is no danger of dehydration.
• Pale and freckly skinned humans can venture outdoors without slathering themselves in Factor 50 sunblock.
• We have 'right to roam' laws throughout our beautiful and uncrowded land.
• There will be a nearby café selling tea made in a proper teapot, and you don't have to ask for milk.
• Your WFT will bounce up on your lap for a nice cuddle when you put your feet up at the end of the walk.

Oh yes, and finally, you can go for dip in the river Dee without fear of encountering any of these guys...

Wishing all my lovely readers a Happy, Peaceful (and crocodile-free) New Year! 

Spanish lessons

I suspected something was up when I noticed how much time Gail was spending staring as some app on her phone called Duolingo, and leafing through an ancient Spanish dictionary.

Finally today she confessed to me that she will soon be going away on a Christmas holiday to Mexico, abandoning me to spend a week at neighbour Yvonne's (OK) and then a week in 'camp' (the horror....)

Now I will say I am at least relieved Gail is making some attempt to master a few phrases in Spanish, as I suspect a combination of schoolgirl French, German learnt as an adult, some long forgotten bits of Latin and the ability to speak English loudly and slowly, might not be much help when trying to negotiate her way round Mexico City and environs with her American friend Marse.

However, I fear that Duolingo is not quite coming up to the mark in some important areas, so I have been doing some research on Google Translate, and respectfully suggest that Gail might commit to memory the following text:

 Or what about?

Or best of all?

Perhaps my friends could suggest some more useful phrases Gail might learn. She is not leaving for another week so there is time...