Went on a mission on Saturday to look for some angelica, an ingredient required for the Bishop’s cake…along with the cherries and the green angelica, the cake, when sliced is supposed to resemble a stained glass window. Last time I made it I couldn’t find it anywhere. But…Jinti has told me where, so John and I went on a hasty pursuit…only to find that the store was out of stock …grrrrowl. I had no idea people still used it, it’s an ingredient reminiscent of Victorian times…and I was surprised when I googled it, to find out it’s almost a weed. The plant, which is related to parsley and celery, is very energetic, “pushing up to 6 or 8 feet and has bright green toothy leaves on ribbed, hollow stems that are purple at the base and turn light green towards the top”. I had no idea. It was always just a sticky green thing that sat along side cherries on trifles or cakes.

So with our plan thwarted, we decided to go on a magical mystery tour and went to the bus station and jumped on the first bus leaving…it was off to Galashiels, a small market town in the Scottish borders.

We drove through rolling hills, masses of snow drops, bedraggled looking sheep and finally reached our destination. We had tea in a tea shop, bought books in a charity shop and pear drops and chocolate limes.

Lately, on our little mellow adventures I seem to be rediscovering all the sweets of my youth…have a dreadful memory of smelling ‘poppers’ in the hall of Glenelg. The police had gathered all the parents together to show them the evil drugs that were circulating around the schools at the time…and in our ignorance I remember myself and a friend sitting next to me just sniffed the ‘danger bottle’ that the officer handed us and that our youngsters were never allowed to sniff (at all costs) and said, ‘Mmmm, smells like pear drops!’ I later learned (much later), that daughter number one had done the same thing and had ended up in the headmaster’s office about to be expelled for ever and ever. Anyway I thought of all that as I sucked on my pear drop and watched the men, up to their armpits in river, casting their lines as we hurtled pass on the bus.

Yesterday we did a fabulous hike down the Water of Leith from Balerno, up near the foothills of the Pentland Hills.

Again the artists were in evidence…making us laugh as we tramped along. I do love their take on things,

 and although we didn’t see one otter, roe deer, kingfisher or heron that was promised on the nature information board…we did see some wonderful ‘arty’ mushrooms

and tree roots that were obviously the home of a whole village of fairies.

I am very proud to announce that I went back (with fluttering heart) to the ballet class…..and actually stayed, and even tried some of the praying mantis moves that I was so afraid of last time. The others looked very good, and light and bright… and Vincent (the teacher) was very gracious and left me alone (most of the time) and occasionally gave me a little smile, when I balanced on tippy toes with my leg crossed at the knee and my arms ‘in fifth’ and didn’t fall over. Amazingly this time I don’t ache as much, so it’s all positive.  The secret is not to look at the mirror, and just listen to the gentle piano music and remember each sequence is not too long. I also met another newcomer, so that was good for my morale.  Neither of us ran away. (Please note I have NO photographs to illustrate the above activity HA HA!)

Otherwise we are still in limbo…an awful place to be, but as wonderful Mr Diamond, the Buddhist teacher we met in Rangoon, said: ‘Enjoy each day,’ and so we try. Daydreams are good too….Ah well, another week and what will it bring?  In the meantime it’s back to Sweden, for the second Steig Larson book!