Distractions

The hot weather continues, apparently. Just not here on the west side of Scotland. Over and over again we have to listen to the same thing, to hear the BBC weather man banging on about how hot it is going to get in the next few days. It is tiresome. It is sheer rudeness, deliberate perhaps, since as a UK weather man he must know full well that there are people out there who will not be experiencing the heatwave he is so confidently predicting. That's his job, after all.

Then finally it does get warmer but somehow at the same time there is a day of constant drizzle, a fine spray of water that wets everything yet the sun penetrates through this at the same time tempting us outside. Warm rain is an improvement on cold and wet, but only for a limited period; until it penetrates everything and drips off the end of your nose. We need a distraction, and the first one arrives in the form of two small children who we were allowed to take care of for a few days to help out their mum. And wow, it's a distraction! Outdoors is wet so we must find indoor distractions and the telly goes on (these are modern kids so it's endless Minecraft movies) then finally they are bored enough to venture out in the damp so it is football in the park (not really part of my skill set) so I am greatly relieved when two other football playing children appear and are happy to share the experience, for a while.

Fortunately, to follow this we have arranged another appointment, with horses. An opportunity has arisen for a trial ride on a horse, for Annalese, who is 11, and has never ridden before. We arrive at the field where three large beasts await us and they come over to meet us. They belong to Tabitha who has agreed to give tuition, which she proceeds to do, very gently and with immense patience.

It turns out Annalese is a natural and even Max, aged 6 is completely comfortable patting and stroking them, although he will not ride.

Annalese tries riding both with and without a saddle, the latter being a strange experience as the horse's muscular back moving beneath the bottom is an unnerving sensation. Such an opportunity as this coming without any strings attached or expectations is as valuable as it gets. We are so grateful to Tabs for this opportunity.

Our next distraction comes straight after the smallies are delivered back to their mum but it involves a long drive across country into a different world, one where the sun shines all day and the mercury has zoomed up inside the thermometer. The east side of Scotland always surprises us for it is so different from the west. There are less hills, just smooth rounded bumps divided into fields of sheep or growing corn. The roads tend to be straighter, although sudden changes of direction do jump out at you from time to time, and the unfamiliarity of the place names brings an unexpected level of entertainment.  Longformacus is one, Papple is another and we feel sorry for those living in Clappers or at Purves Hall.

Arriving in Berwick brings back fond memories of us sailing into the harbour in our first boat, Noggin the Nog, and hearing our two year old son Ben's voice as he repeated the depth sounder readings Kate was calling out to me as I steered across the shallow harbour bar. Some thirty five years later it is Ben who has prompted us back, this time to hear his band, Blackbeard's Tea Party play some loud music at a festival in nearby Horncliffe. Now there's a distraction!

The music is supremely danceable so once they begin to play the band are hidden behind a forest of gyrating bodies but we sit there entranced, proud parents who will leave late that night with ears ringing but no regrets. All this from a simple harbour entrance. Who'd have thought it.