day two - three ferries and an island

it was a bit of an early start when we left glasgow, but we had to catch our ferry from ardrossan to the isle of arran. we were *extremely* excited; too excited to eat breakfast. it was quite chilly on the ferry, but a pretty short ride. we drove around arran for a few hours, had a bit of lunch and then made our way up to lochranzra to take our second ferry to clainoig. we barely made that ferry - although they do run every hour - but made it over in time to check out a 13th centry castle and some chapel ruins.

(the first glimpse of the isle of arran)

i still have trouble making myself believe that the buildings i was seeing and walking through were really that old. the castle was quite cool as there was only one other couple there who were braving the pouring rain. by the time we made it back to the car we were absolutely drenched. we drove to kennacraig to wait for our ferry to port ellen, islay and had our first dram of whisky to warm up.(walking on the isle of arran)

the ferry crossing to islay was even *more* exciting especially once we started seeing the distilleries on our approach: lagavulin, ardbeg and laphroaig. as soon as islay was in sight the weather started to clear and the sun came out before it started a very beautiful descent into the sea.

(the sun setting on islay)

our bed and breakfast was on the top of a little hill at the other end of the island, but it was perfectly situated with two brilliant hosts: ronnie and marie. but more on them later ;)

day one - glasgow

(zetty and colin on the dashboard)

after arriving late the night before, we tried to make the most out of our rainy day in glasgow. although the highlight of the road trip was to be islay a day in glasgow was not going to go amiss since it was kind of on the way.

(a piece of grafitti that davoud attributed to banksy)

we started off at the kelvingrove museum, which i'd visited before but it was davoud's first time to the city so an absolute must. it was a rainy miserable day so we had a nice warm lunch at wagamama's before doing a bit of shopping. after a late afternoon stopover at the hotel, we headed out in search of a good bar - on recommendation of a local - called pivo pivo to watch the champions league final liverpool fc vs. ac milan. as an added bonus they had a great beer list that even included mooshead and sleemans!

(action shot of davoud after going down possibly the worst slide in glasgow)

it was basically a rematch of the 2005 champions league, which liverpol won, and i was admittedly gutted not to be in liverpool to watch the game. lfc played extremely well, but couldn't get the ball to the back of the net. we ended up losing 2-1 and i was beyond upset since the ref was an idiot and we truly did deserve to win. i did get over it after a bit of bourbon and proceeded to sing lfc songs in the streets walking back to the hotel. but hey, i was on holiday.

...and we're back

so davoud and i arrived back in liverpool yesterday from our road trip to the isle of islay via glasgow and back through the lake district. i've been agonising for hours as to how best portray the trip in the blog, so the post-trip analysis will be written in daily reports.
the week started off pretty nicely with a wee birthday party for me on monday night with val, harriet, davoud and chris. i opened all of my presents and cards so they did not also have to be stuffed into an already packed oscar - yes, davoud's car does have a name.

...and we're off!

so tonight we had my wee birthday party before we go to scotland. val, harriet and chris came over and davoud delighted us with his culinary skills. i got to open all of my presents - saves taking them up in the tiny car - eat some cake, drink some champagne and generally be merry.

i just finished packing (and it's quite late) so i'll be getting into bed as soon as i have some water and make a few phone calls home.

i'll try and report on the road about the trip, but don't worry there will be lots of photos and tasting notes for whisky ;)

glasgow tomorrow night then the isle of arran then onto the holy grail: the isle of islay.

wow. post #225

huh.

the blog was one of those things that i thought might fade away after i'd been living in the uk for long enough and had established my home away from home, but it doesn't seem to have happened that way.

last night i went for a picnic in frank the van with val and harriet at leasowe lighthouse beside moreton shore. we got into a discussion about blogs and how it's great because all of my friends and family in various parts of the world can always know what's going on in my life. however, this doesn't mean that i know what's going on with them...one of the downsides to not always using e-mail i suppose.

harriet and val asked me if i was going to keep the blog going when i moved back to canada. a year and a half ago i probably would have said 'not a chance.' i think there are now too many people on this side of the pond that would be keen to see it continue...

the countdown to the roadtrip to end all road trips has begun...davoud and i leave on our trip to the isle of islay in 6 days and 19 hours.

welcome to the world amy k

well, it is with excitement in the tips of my fingers as i type that i announce the arrival of my newest niece on the scene...

amy katherine gould
born at 10:56 am (est) on 9 may
7 lbs 3 oz
20 inches long

and a wee dimpled chin like her father and older brother brian. apparently she does look exactly like brian (aka mini-darryl) making for a cute boy i suppose, but *please* let her look more like her mother!

so i'm one proud auntie lo, loo-loo, whatever you want to call me!

is that soil or a massive rock?

the gardening this weekend was somewhat successful. we started on the backyard after a good breakfast on saturday morning, but it became quickly apparent that it was going to take both of us at least a week to simply clear and get the soil ready. so somebody else is going to come and do that ;)

we did, however, get the front garden looking presentable enough that davoud's neighbour even started speaking to him again! this involved the removal of a bush the size of a buick, weedwacking the *lawn* three times over, lots of raking, lots of breaking up dirt, and a little visit to the local garden centre.

i did get to do my favourite thing of all about gardening: planting. it was a struggle to find familiar plants at the centre because they all seemed to have different common names and i forgot the gardening book on the coffee table, but we got there in the end.

so now you can easily get in and out of your car on the driveway, the bin is visible and there are things other than weeds growing in a flower bed.

where did may come from?

may's an odd month. it's exciting because spring is here and it's my birthday month, but it always seems to appear out of nowhere and then evaporate. maybe that's one of the subconscious reasons there is a may day.

only 22 sleeps until my birthday and 18 sleeps until the trip to scotland...too exciting.

off to coventry this weekend to sort out davoud's garden, which i'm have to say - and he'll probably be embarrassed by this - is in an incredibly sorry state after a couple summers of neglect. but nevermind, it will be much cleaner and prettier after this weekend and hopefully the rain will hold off long enough to get some planting done.