Just Sliding In At The Last Minute .... in Scottish Meanderings

I wanted to do a short entry so that I wouldn’t break my goal of an entry a month which I set myself last year but then I went and checked and saw that for some reason I'd failed at the first hurdle in January and missed that month entirely! So much for that! I shall reset the goal for 2019 instead and see if I have a bit more success.

I actually had an entry almost finished but it was a bit of a rant which I’d hoped to get out of the way in the early part of the month then the plan was to do a much more positive entry before Christmas. However that never materialised - my health took a beating in the run up to the festivities and then Nikki had to go into hospital on the 20th with a nagging pain in her side which wouldn’t let up.

They kept her in for tests and scans but never got to the bottom of where it came from. Babe was fine though and growing nicely and we got a bonus set of pics in which he looks to me like he’s making a victory fist and telling his mum he’s got this!


I have a theory that he’s realised that he’s going to have to vie for attention when he’s born with two big sisters and a single mum so he’s getting all he can in just now :)

Anyway she ended up being in for 3 days altogether which kind of scuppered me because I was already struggling and desperately trying to get a couple of days where I could pace myself before Christmas Day. On the morning she went in (she had got an appointment with the doctor who had advocated admitting her to hospital to see what was going on), I was too dizzy to drive so she was going to drop Lilah off at mine. She couldn’t get anyone to pick up Lily from school though so I suggested Joel’s mum, Jane. She went in the huff at that and said she’d just take Lilah up to hospital with her then I didn’t hear any more until 4 o’clock when I got a text from her to say Jane was coming up for Lilah and could she pop across to mine to pick up Nikki’s house key?

I was really pleased at this for reasons which will be clear when you read the rant entry (if I ever get it posted!) but Jane never arrived so when Nikki next texted it was to tell me her phone battery was down to 15% and could I pop up with a charger? Jane had apparently decided to just take Lilah home to her house so that was ok. When I asked her if she needed anything else she said a hug! I was feeling better by then so decided I could fulfill all that so off I went and ended up staying for 6 hours! She really appreciated it though and we actually had some really nice chats together - it was nice to get a chance to talk without the usual interruptions.

They decided to keep her in overnight so transferred her to another ward. Because it was one of the mother and baby wards in the Maternity Hospital, family and partners could come and go as they pleased (hence the 6 hours) which was nice on the one hand but worried me in terms of security. You needed to press a buzzer to actually get into the ward but all that meant was that someone inside pressed a panel to let you in - there was no checking to see who you were or who you were there to see. I did find that a little concerning.

Joel and Jane took the girls overnight so we didn’t have to worry about them and they were quite happy to take them on the Saturday night as well when Nikki was kept in another night. I came up armed with 2 board games the following night and to my delight, she chose Scrabble to play. I’ve been trying to get someone to play Scrabble with me for months so I was really chuffed at that although you can’t tell that by my face here - reason being we’d already taken a photo but she wasn’t happy with it so apparently we were doing a Take 2 which I hadn’t fully clocked! (And the words on that board got much better as the evening wore on - she won with an excellent score which impressed both of us).


Anyway we’d another good evening - I definitely saw flashes of the ‘old Nikki’ in the midst of it all which felt quite bizarre because I wasn’t used to it.

She got out the next afternoon - much brighter and with the pain completely gone. She was all set to drive herself home (she’d driven herself there so her car was at the hospital) but I wasn't keen on that. She didn’t get out till 2 p.m. though so I was okay to go up by then but I knew I wasn’t safe to drive her out to Pitmedden. However I was able to sit with her until she was officially discharged then I went with her in her car to Sainsburys where she got the rest of her food shopping and that gave her a chance to gauge how she was feeling having done something. She felt ok to carry on home after that so I tailed her to my street which was on her route then she sailed off on her own but texted me 20 minutes later to say she’d got there safely.

So we still don’t know what that pain was all about but I was grateful for the chance to have what felt like a bit of a shift in our relationship out of it.

It drained me though. I got through Christmas Day ok - I went out to Nikki’s for the meal and lasted till 10 o’clock - it turned out a good day but I struggled after that. My brother Ian and his wife Margaret had come through on the 21st and my sister, 2 nieces and their kids were supposed to be coming down from Inverness on the 27th to meet up with us but Ian phoned them and suggested postponing as neither Nikki or I were feeling well by that time. (Lily had caught a bug before Christmas and generously passed it on to us.)

I went out for tea on Thursday with Ian and Margaret and their family (who stay here) then I think the Inverness contingent are coming this week sometime - hopefully not at the weekend because we’re off to the panto Sleeping Beauty on Saturday afternoon - Nikki managed to bag cheap tickets for a fiver each. It’s in a lovely little theatre which has recently been restored - we were there earlier in the month for another panto (Peter Pan this time) and I was excited to see the restoration. Space was obviously at a premium so they had to economise where they could but I wasn’t prepared for what must be the tiniest sink in Scotland when I went to the loo!


It took me a minute to realise that’s what it was and then to figure out how to use it without getting water everywhere!!

One other positive thing before I go - well two actually - (let’s face it, you didn’t actual believe it when I said I was going to write a short entry did you??) - you remember the parking ticket I got when I was in town seeing Bohemian Rhapsody? Turned out it was just a warning! I’d never seen that before - didn’t even know there were such things in existence - but I was delighted I wouldn’t be £30 poorer nevertheless :)

Then last week I opened an ominous brown envelope from the Tax Office expecting the worst - and realised they were telling me I was in line for a tax refund! Great news - and I just hope it’s genuine - but as I looked at the amount it seemed familiar. Then I realised I was pretty sure it was very near to the amount I’d spent on Christmas presents etc. this year - I was keeping a tally as I was going along but had stopped part of the way through. So - curious - I completed the tally and it seemed like the refund was roughly £80 over. Then it occurred to me I’d forgotten to include my Christmas charity contribution.

Years ago, as the family was expanding at the rate of noughts, I decided it was getting far too much to buy for everyone so told the adults I was going to allocate their present money instead to a charity of my choice and just get presents for the kids in the family. Everyone was fine with this and I tried my best to give £100 each year but as more kids have been born (the 9 ‘kids’ are now adults and have produced another 13 kids between them), that figure has sometimes had to be drastically reduced!

So if I was counting that as well, it seemed the tally was now around £20 over. But then I remembered my particular charity contribution this year was going to be 100 dollars not pounds and that converted to - £78.51. And when I added that to my Christmas tally it came out at exactly the tax rebate. Exactly. So now I’m a bit freaked out! How does the taxman know what I’m spending at Christmas??

I have to admit it made me slightly less guilty for spending a hundred quid back in September on this black velour tub chair for the sitting room though. I'd decided to treat myself but didn't really have a hundred quid to throw around. And I was delighted when I went out to the shed to get the Christmas tree and discovered I’d bought a black one last year which I’d forgotten all about! Because the two went very nicely together.


And with that I will wish you all a very Happy New Year however you celebrate what we call Hogmanay over here. And will give you one last chuckle before I go.

Lily has discovered the art of subtlety but needs a little bit more practice I think. The 3 girls were in for a visit yesterday in the late afternoon and Nikki had mentioned they might stay for tea. We were playing several games of Guess Who? and because they hadn’t played before we made 2 teams so that Nikki could help Lilah and I could help Lily. After several games, Lily was slowly grasping the concept of it but must have been getting hungry and around 6 o’clock we were about to start another game when she said “So will I be playing on my own this time then if Granny’s away making the tea?”.

Subtle as a brick!!😂