Beside the Seaside, Beside The Sea in Scottish Meanderings

Monday
I can’t believe I’ve gone all summer and not come down to the beach when it’s only a 20 minute drive away.

And by that I mean the proper beach - on the sand, beside the sea - because sure I’ve been along the Esplanade for walks several times or sat in the car looking out to sea occasionally and we’re down here every Thursday for Lily’s swimming lessons - but that’s not the same thing. So when I came out of table tennis this afternoon, I realised with the sun out and a moderate breeze, conditions were perfect for a quick hour’s seat-on-the-sand and a spot of diary writing.

I have a special spot I go to right at the end of the beach where there are some rocks and it’s generally quieter. When the tide’s in, there’s usually still a tiny spot of sand there and I always have a notebook and pen with me plus the travel rug in the car - there’s a cushion in the back seat as well and I forgot to take it down with me today - and I can tell you my bum and back are protesting about that right now!

But it was just so nice and relaxing.

To my left -


To my right -


And straight ahead -


I suppose the fact I haven't been down is because of Nikki’s action-packed summer schedule (detailed in my last entry) which we’ve stuck to pretty well plus the weather just hasn’t been good enough to factor in a planned day at the beach any time. Not that I need the kids - I’m quite happy coming down on my own but I’ve had to pace quite a lot on the days when I haven’t been doing something with them plus catch up with my own stuff.

And although it was daunting when Nikki asked me to do stuff with them on Wednesdays as well as the weekends throughout the summer, it’s been useful to see how much it impacted on me healthwise. There have been a couple of times when it did get too much, especially if I did something on both a Saturday and a Sunday but overall it’s let me see that it might be possible to add another thing to the week for maybe an hour or two on a Wednesday or something.

Problem is it’s hard to choose what that something might be - at the moment there are four different things lined up which I’ve been wanting to do for a while now - but I can’t really do anything until I sort out what’s happening with the counselling - which you must be sick of me saying 'cause I’m sick of going on about it! Moves are afoot for the next step though although I was thinking today how easy it would be to walk away from it altogether - the ball’s in my court at the moment - but I don’t think I would ever forgive myself if I didn’t at least try to get back to it. It just seemed grossly unfair to get to a point where I was thoroughly enjoying it for 6 months and then have it all swept away from under me through something which was no fault of my own.

I do have a couple of back-up plans if it doesn’t work out because that's going to be really distressing so it’s important to have something else I can focus on right away to take the sting out so to speak if that does happen.


Saturday
The wee man rolled over for the first time when we were all here at my house last week and every one of us missed it!! He's been trying for quite a while now and we'd got used to him being 'almost there' so I got a shock when, while playing a game of Pairs with the girls with Ruari lying on the floor beside us, I suddenly realised he was on his tummy! Nikki had literally popped up to the loo for 5 minutes!



The girls go back to school on Wednesday. I'll miss them. We had one of our last outings at an aquarium in a seaside village, MacDuff, about 40 miles away on Wednesday - they've been there a couple of times but it's been almost 10 years since I've been there so it was nice to go back.

Here we are at the start - the girls are holding quizzes which Nikki had the foresight to make up for them to do while they were going round. It was impossible to get everyone looking at the camera at the same time!


Being silly.


And one with Granny in, reflected in a mirror on the ceiling - with apologies for my very rude granddaughter!


And my very favourite fish - just cheers me up every time I see one :)


Tomorrow we're hoping for some sun because we're planning the open air swimming pool in Stonehaven - a little seaside village about 20 minutes away. You folks across the pond will realise to brave an open air pool in the north-east of Scotland in August is no mean feat - Ruari and I are playing it safe and spectating instead!


If it's nice we'll sit on the right-hand side of the photo where the yellow bit is - I think that's some kind of seating - and if not we'll be watching the mad people in the building on the left :)

Cross your fingers for sun!🤞