Today is officially a holiday for me – I wake at 5:40 and listen to my Jukebox for half an hour or so – then it’s up and I do some post production on Ian’s recordings from yesterday, update our progress grid and the tracklisting of all the discs we’ve recorded on thus far. Then I burn him a CD and set off for what I hope will be the final repair to the dashboard of our car.
I get a courtesy car as agreed and, as I drive along to drop Ian’s CD through his door at 8:15 I’m reminded of what an enjoyable drive I could have in our car if it wasn’t for the incompetence of the service team at the garage who are completely unable to find and correct the fault.
I am conscious I didn’t point out to them again that the fans are all wrongly connected after their last cack-handed attempt at fixing the dash…but I am resigned to discovering, on collecting it back from them tomorrow night, that it will not be fixed…
Back home we have breakfast and then set off for Ocean Terminal to see Star Wars Episode III. It’s a gorgeous sunny day and it’s with some reluctance that we go ahead with the visit to the cinema. But it turns out it’s worth it, as only 6 people are in the auditorium – and none of them is a popcorn munching, mobile phone using, sweetie wrapper rustling, giggling idiot – which is good.
The film is also pretty good and certainly spectacular. The plotline is a bit weak but driven by the need to set everything up for Episode IV from 1977. I can’t believe Annakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) would be quite so gullible. A load of tosh really but entertaining nonetheless – better than Hitch-Hikers’ Guide…
We emerge into the sunshine at lunchtime and grab sandwiches and crisps from Marks & Spencer (great crisps) and head for the riverfront at Silverknowes. Anne used to come here on her bike when she was wee – before you had to wear stupid hats just to ride a bike…
We promise ourselves a Mr Whippy ice cream but by the time we walk back to the spot where we'd seen the van, it’s disappeared.
Next up we drive out to Ikea to pick up some light shades (riveting stuff this) – I love Ikea. My big fault though is I never measure any parts of the house before going there so I’m never confident enough to buy anything on spec for fear it won’t fit…
Pentland Plants is next on the agenda – Anne wants to get some plants for her pots in the back garden. She’s a great gardener but always denies this. The garden looks great all year round.
Then it’s out to Penicuik to drop off a birthday card for brother-in-law, Andrew. There’s no one in, but the dogs, Smudge and Ben actually open the back door for us and let us in – they don’t bark or anything – we could have taken what we wanted. We left the card on top of the TV.
Since we were in the vicinity, we popped in to see my mum in Loanhead for a quick visit – it turns out both she and my sister have been ill since we saw them last Tuesday. Mum’s heading back out into the world tonight though…
Back home, Anne pots her three new plants – the garden is alive with colour and Meg the Black Cat lies in a sunny patch on the path as we sit drinking wine and chatting whilst the sound of Mozart’s String Quartets drifts out from the kitchen window…
For the third night in a row I have curry for tea – this time I try making one myself from scratch with veggie mince – it’s not bad but, like all my attempts at cooking, not a patch on Anne’s.
Then it’s a blog update and a net-surf to round off a reasonably relaxing day.
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