Fathers Day trip to Scotland

We had a long trip away for Father's Day this year. As my Grandfather has just moved into a care home, we went up to see how he was settling in (and to see how my grandmother was coping with not having him around the house).

Mum and Dad came over on the Thursday afternoon and stopped the night with us. Dad and I watched England scramble a win against Trinidad & Tobago and shared a couple of drinks. Friday morning saw us on the road at about 7.30 a.m. I did the first stint driving. Dad and I swapped over every few hours. The weather was dry and sunny until we hit Dundee when it started raining. Got to the Water Wheel Inn in Milltimber about 6.30 p.m. After a quick freshening up unpacking, we were joined in the bar by Dad's cousin Jean for a drink and a chat.

Saturday dawned overcast in Aberdeenshire (no change there, then). We did a bit of shopping and went to seen Jean's new decking by her summer house. Worked out how many you could get on the dance floor over tea and cake. We then drove up Deeside towards Tarland, stopping off at the Lochnagar distillery to get a few samples on the way. We had a wander around Tarland, with me showing Sonia the shop where used to get my sweets from Dolly, and Dad showing us the house next door where he used to live. We popped into the Commercial Hotel across the road for lunch. Dad explained that this was where Dod used to come for his lunch every day. We also walked around the "old" and "new" cemetaries, looking up family gravestones, with Dad explaining who was who and how they were related.

Granddad is in Alastrean House, Tarland. It was formerly the home of Lady MacRobert, who lost 3 sons in the RAF (one in Iraq in 1938 and two in 1941 in the war). She set up the house as a RAF care home. The management recently passed from the RAF Benevolent Fund to a private organisation, but RAFBF still has rooms in the home. As a retired Squadron Leader, Granddad had been there before for short respite breaks, so he knows his way around the place. We saw him for afternoon tea with Grandma. His memory was good as he remembered that Mum and Dad had been out to see Michael in Australia, and when Dad mentioned that they had also been over to New Zealand, Granddad said that his father was planning to move there but that his mother wanted to go to Australia instead and that nothing came of it in the end. This possible emigration (in the 1920s?) was news to Dad. We shared a cup of tea and some cake. It was noticeable that many of the staff were young Polish women mixed in with a few locals. They chatted to Granddad using his first name and knew that he liked coffee rather than tea, and he was very happy with their help and support. He jokingly told us that his big expedition of the day is getting up to go to the loo in the morning. We left him after a while to give him some rest as he had a disturbed night's sleep and promised to come back on Sunday for tea.

Sunday morning was spent in Duthie Park, wandering around the greenhouses and admiring the floral displays. We also popped in to Curry's to get a new camera bag for Dad's digital camera - my father's day present for him. We split up int he afternoon. Mum and Sonia went off to a garden centre with Jean, while Dad and I went back to Tarland. The aim was to have fewer visitors to tire Granddad on Father's Day. Again we met him and Grandma for afternoon tea. He was a bit more chatty, having had a better night's sleep. His main concern was that he couldn't lift both his legs at once and that meant he wouldn't be able to drive. We had a chat about the types of car Dad and I were driving, and he told us that he's never driven a car with power steering. But, as he pointed out, he's 94 at the end of July so he's not going to be doing much driving! He also chatted about what he keeps in the box on his walking frame - his paper, his hat and most important: his tobacco and pipe. These days, he joked, he smokes lighters rather than his pipe (trying to keep it alight). We left him after tea and a piece of birthday cake (as it was one of the other resident's birthday) as he was heading off to the smoking room. He was able to get around with his walking frame quite well, the only difficulty being his getting out of the chair.

After leaving Alastrean house, we wandered into the "old" cemetary again for Dad to look for a headstone that Jean had mentioned, before heading back to her's for our evening meal. Jean had laid on a great spread of roast chicken, baked potatoes and salad. I set her up on www.Flickr.com so that she could see Dad's photos once he had downloaded them and we eventually headed back to the hotel.

Monday was spent driving back to Nottingham. The rain stopped round about Edinburgh as I drove over the Forth bridge. Apart from an hour sat in traffic looking at the Metro Centre in Newcastle, the drive back was straightforward and we made it back to Nottingham in time for tea. Mum and Dad headed off back to Norfolk first thing on Tuesday morning.

It was a long weekend, driving over 900 miles to Aberdeen and back, but I felt it was important to help my Dad see his Dad on Father's Day.

Flickr photos go live

I've just got into Flickr and have been posting some of my old holiday snaps. At the moment, my favourites on public view are from our holiday in 2004 in NW Scotland. Here's the view that greeted us as we walked down to Balnakeil beach on a warm August afternoon.

Balnakeil Beach 01
Originally uploaded by Bob Watt

If you click on the picture you get redirected to a larger version on my Flickr pages where you can see more photos.