Safely reunited

So Gail arrived back from St Petersburg just before midnight on Monday, and wanted to know all about how I had got on with Neil over the weekend.

Well I simply told her that I had enjoyed a lovely time at Neil's 'eco-home' retreat near Inverness, but we had agreed between us, he and I, that "what goes on at Kiltarlity stays at Kiltarlity".

And anyway, I think Gail wants to tell our blog friends about her trip (if that is not breaking the terms and conditions of this blog).

Nevsky Prospekt - morning of 3 April 2017

Gail here: 

First of all I want to thank all of you who heard about Monday's terrorist attack in St Petersburg and expressed concern for my safety and that of my friend Yvonne. Please be aware we are both fine.

Secondly, I want say that my thoughts are with all the victims of the attack and their families, as they come to terms with this terrible event.

Usually in these circumstances, one can simply reassure friends that of course we were miles away from the atrocity, and it didn't really affect us at all. 

However...

Although we were not directly involved in the terrorist attack, we were in fact far, far too close for comfort. My friend Yvonne and I were in the Nevsky Prospect metro station, trying to board a train heading in the direction of the airport, when the bomb went off one stop down the line. So for about 15 minutes no one knew why all the trains had stopped, then fragments of news filtered through, the station was evacuated and the whole metro system closed down. On the streets outside it was chaos with the place swarming with emergency vehicles and sirens going off everywhere. Thankfully, guided by a lovely young Russian man who spoke quite good English, we managed to get to the airport by bus (actually 3 buses) arriving just in time for our flight to Frankfurt. 

At one point our very crowded bus was diverted onto a side street as the main thoroughfare had been closed, and we got stuck between parked vehicles for 20 minutes - the photo below is of the bus being guided along the road, inch by painful inch!

On Sunday afternoon I took this photo of Yvonne at the pristine Tekhnologichesky Institut metro station and emailed it to my mother:

And this (from the BBC website) was the scene 24 hours later:

So sad that such terrible events keep happening.

But I must add that,  despite the unnerving ending, Yvonne and I had an absolutely fascinating time exploring this magnificent city, and neither of us would hesitate to go to St Petersburg again.

Safe and sound. And a reminder...

So Gail flew to Amsterdam for work last week. She was gone A WHOLE DAY AND A NIGHT!

I stayed again with neighbours Yvonne and Neil. These days, what with all the terrorism stuff on the news, I do tend to fret about Gail’s safety when she travels outside of Scotland. But I think I managed to hide my worries. I even sent her a reassuring text message and picture. It read:

“Well Gail, I decided since I’m guest of honour here I would sneak into Yvonne’s lounge & sleep on my favourite chair! Bertie, 3 am this morning …..”

Oh but I was blithe as a midge on a damp still day in the Highlands when Gail returned home all safe and sound. I even forgave her buying a big chunk of Gouda cheese for Yvonne and failing, once again, to bring home a gift for me.

PS There is still time to enter my Blogville Pawlympics event. I've already received loads of splendid entries, but for sure there are yet more of you who would secretly love to climb a Scottish mountain, and this is your golden opportunity! For full details, click here. The deadline is 31st July.

Not the real Stade de France?

So when Gail told me she was a bit worried 'cos her brother Max is going to a football game at the Stade de France in a couple of week's time, I was, frankly, puzzled.

But Gail, I said, we pass by the Stade de France every Friday on our extended 'day off' morning walk. Surely there is nothing to be concerned about, except possibly your brother's sanity in wanting to come to Aberdeen to watch a bunch of overweight amateurs play five-a-side football on an artificial pitch?

Imagine how put out I was to learn that the ground pictured above is not the real Stade de France.

It seems that Max will be going to Paris in early July to see a Euro 2016 quarter final, and there are fears about terrorism at the tournament.

I think it would be nice if Max (and his wife Kathy, and their poodles Percy and Coco) came to visit Aberdeen instead and joined Gail and me on our Friday walk.

PS: Thank you to those who took part in the poll to decide whether or not my furs should remain in place. In the end the Outs shaded it by a single vote (a foretaste of the 23 June result, one fears?) No-one will be at all surprised to learn that Gail was attacking me with the stripping implement even before the final vote was cast…

Bertie post strip/trim

PPS: Hi to all our friends who attended the Blogville Awesome Retreat. Oh how we wish we could have been there too.