Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 9 July 2023

dibnlib said:

RUSTY We do actually live only 6 miles from Inverness airport but for some reason Viking don't use them. We could of course pay for our own flights from Inv but wouldn't get a reduction on the holiday cost. We checked this out and financially we are better of going from Abdn!!

That's completely mad.  Surely holiday companies should be making it easier for people to travel economically?

Dibnlib - I can relate to that. Some holiday companies don’t use Manchester either and we have to pay to get to Heathrow or Gatwick. We used to do it, but now choose holidays where you can fly from Manchester or Liverpool. It’s very annoying isn’t it? On that subject, in August, my friend and I will be flying from Manchester to Inverness prior to a holiday in the Hebrides. I will wave at you. Lol!!!
Today I am going to a local nature reserve with my Flora and Fauna group. We had hoped to look for butterflies but it is breezy and damp so they won’t be about. There will be plenty of wild flowers and we should see some nice birds too.

Off to Brodie today to meet up with a friend. Will make a mad dash into Hardmuir farm for strawberries hoping I don't drown as we have pretty torrential rain.

Sorry- forgot to come on here! Mixed weather here today- my laundry got wet twice as I didn't dash out to save it from the downpours quickly enough!

Clare : My brother was very dismissive of most of the groups of the day. He was a huge Elvis fan, and played his records a lot, which of course made me be anti Elvis at the time, just to be a rebel. Only later, in my middle age, I discovered that I love Elvis, especially his romantic and gospel phases. I did laugh at your comment about The Beatles: the record executive who was not impressed by them must have given himself a big kick, later!!

My OH picked wild mushrooms this morning, on his dog walk. Then after his golf, he sautéed them & ate them on toast :-) (none for me as wild ones give me indigestion).

He went into the town at lunchime to arrange a money transfer with our bank: it might be the last time he goes into there as our bank which is now the only one remaining in the town is closing at the end of the month. There used to be at least 6 banks and a myriad of building societies and they all seemed fairly prosperous, but the Internet seems to have killed them all off. Local people are incandescent. But no amount of annoyance will change things.

Lindy - I live in between 2 smallish towns. All the banks have closed in one and Barclays is closing in the other in the summer. I fear it is only a matter of time before the others follow suit. There has been a great deal of incandescence around here too, but, as you say, it was to no avail. Here in my medium village we have lost our Post Office. A van comes for 2 hours on 2 days a week. One person at a time and if it is raining you are queuing out in the rain,
Your OH was brave to eat the wild mushrooms. He obviously knows what he is picking.
Dibnlib - I hope you had a good trip to Brodie and hoping you got the strawberries in the dry. I assume it is pick your own?
We had a very heavy shower just after we arrived at the nature reserve this morning so we sheltered in the visitors centre until it stopped. After that we had a good 3 hours. We heard more birds than we saw and the Merlin App was really useful. The botanists poured over the plants and referred to their books. Quite honestly, I am happy to recognise that a plant is - say - a speedwell. I don’t really need to know if it is Germander or Opposite Leaf!!!! We did see some butterflies. Meadow brown, gatekeeper, comma, small white, green veined white and ringlet. The site is well known for the dingy skipper!!! Oh yes!!! 2 were spotted but not by me!! One of our group members is a bit of a butterfly expert hence how I know what I saw!!

Lindybird said:

I did laugh at your comment about The Beatles: the record executive who was not impressed by them must have given himself a big kick, later!!

The full story is here.

RUSTY I will watch out for you in August. Have a lovely trip to the Hebrides.
Wester Hardmuir is pick yoru own or there is a shop. I did it the dry way. They do sell straws and rasps at Brodie Country fare but I didn't want to risk them having sold out.

Good morning, all! Wish me luck - I'm about to call NHS 111 to see if a dentist can be found to see Limpy, who has a wicked toothache. He hasn't been registered with a dentist for years - and my NHS dentist announced earlier this year that they were stopping all NHS work. There is now no dentist in this part of the world doing NHS treatment on adults. How on earth did we get here?