What a difference a friend makes...

.... Especially one bearing an apple core.

Yes finally we are allowed to meet up for walk and picnics with our friends again. Hooray! Here I am on Friday just past, enjoying warm sunshine in Durris Forest with our lovely neighbours Neil and Yvonne.

Since Gail was far too busy nattering with her dear pals, she neglected to take any more photos of this most agreeable six mile walk around the edges of an irregular patchwork of ancient woodland and conifer plantations. Well anyway, the phone camera would have failed to capture the calm green tranquility of the views across the Lower Deeside hills, the slight buzz of excitement felt at the sight of remnant patches of snow on the distant Cairngorm plateau, the heady coconut smell of gorse mingled with the sweet pine scents nearby, the fresh colours of wildflower abundant meadows, and the lively birdsong soundtrack still relatively undisturbed by road and air traffic...

Life feels better!

A historical misunderstanding

En route yesterday to visit a very special friend in Dunoon, Gail and I stopped for a break in the wee town of Aberfeldy. We went for a stroll down to the handsome old bridge, where Gail asked me to "pose nicely please Bertie" (in exchange for a venison nibble) and said something about a wade.

It was a horribly hot day. At least I think 26°C is hot, even if my more southerly located friends would disagree. So I needed no second invitation to wade into the clean and cooling waters of the River Tay.

Can you believe that when I clambered back onto the bank I was berated for being a "historical ignoramus"?

Apparently Gail had been trying to tell me that the bridge was built by General Wade, and had not at all intended that I go for a paddle.

If any of my readers want to know a bit more about this Wade chappie and his bridge and road building exploits  in the 1700's, you can click here.

Meanwhile, I am looking forward to a few days of being spoiled by my favourite Aunty.

Heat and Pressure…

Bertie? I hope you are working on analysing the entries for the Darwin-lite Award contest. Remember, you promised to announce the winner tomorrow. I fear you are falling behind on your schedule.

But Gail, it is impossible to do anything in this extreme heat. It was 24ºC in Aberdeen this afternoon! Now let's think, ((24x(9/5))+32. Wow. 75ºF! No-one can be expected to work in those temperatures, surely?

Bertie dear lad, I think I can hear the guffaws of your readers from distant lands. And even those from England. And I'm not hearing about your compatriot Andy Murray going on strike at Wimbledon just because of a few rays of warm sunshine.

Well OK Gail, I admit I am behind with my analysis. You see the Darwin-lite entries were of such a high standard (and one or two were, frankly, painful to read), so it is going to be VERY DIFFICULT to choose which one gets the prize. In fact I am quite exhausted with the stress.

Dear little Bertie, you are tired after all. Now I'll tell you what. We are travelling down to Nottingham tomorrow to spend a few days with Human Granny. It is a long train journey. Seven hours, and that's if everything goes smoothly. So we will have plenty of time to review thoroughly the stories from your friends and decide which of them best illustrates the failure of natural selection in the human species. 

Hmmm. I suppose we can do that. But what if we get distracted by other passengers telling us the life stories of all the dogs they ever owned? You know that happens quite often when we travel together on the train.

Bertie, we will just have to frown intently at the MacBook and state that we have important scientific data to analyse. I'm sure they'll move on pretty quickly…

Er, I guess so.

THE RESULTS OF THE DARWIN-LITE AWARD WILL BE ANNOUNCED TOMORROW OR FRIDAY AT THE LATEST. PROMISE!