Here's to 2006
Hope Santa spoiled you, and that the holiday festivities haven’t sent you running from the bathroom scales.
We had a quiet but nice Christmas, there was no snow to be seen on Christmas day itself, in fact we had some much needed sunshine, even if there wasn’t much warmth in it.
We linked up with both sets of families by webcam, so we could send Christmas greetings and the grandparents could watch a bit of pressie opening this end, and later joined Mark's aunt and uncle in Tewin.
English Christmas in Tewin
On the 27th December we packed up the car and headed north to Scotland. The weather forecast was pretty gloomy all round, and indicated that there might be snow in SE England, but not northwards, so we thought we were destined to miss out on any holiday snow.
About an hour into our trip, just after we realised we’d left the road map at home, and missed the most important motorway turnoff, we noticed the fields had a very light dusting of snow, and that the funny ‘rain’ coming towards us was the real stuff. Excitedly we stopped at the next set of services to let the kids have a quick romp (and buy a map!)
Missing the junction that would take us to the M6 cost us dearly, although we calculated it only added another 6 miles to our journey, we had added nearly 1 ½ hours to the already long drive to Glasgow.
Our first night in Glasgow was more action packed than any we experienced in Asia… not only was there a lap dancing club right outside the hotel’s front door, but we were evacuated from the hotel at 4.00 am when the fire alarm went off. Jumping out of bed, we grabbed our coats and headed for the stairs (we were on the 9th floor). It was only when we got down to the lobby that we realised we had no shoes on! The kind hotel staff gave us a mat from reception and we had to stand out in the freezing cold in central Glasgow, shoeless, in pyjamas and winter coats, for nearly an hour whilst the fire brigade did their business. All our fellow guests were fully clothed… talk about spot the kiwis!
We took a sightseeing tour the next day on a topless double decker bus. We lasted a full 15 minutes on the top deck before making a hasty retreat to the marginally warmer lower deck.
Glasgow sightseeing - even the seat was frozen
Such wonderful buildings and architecture around Glasgow, Mark had a hard job keeping his mouth closed :-) We also had trouble keeping away from the shops, as huge post Christmas sales were everywhere, and the children had Christmas money burning holes in their pockets.
Inside Glasgow City Hall - spot Brannan reading a Pokemon mag!!
On our third day we journeyed up to Inverness, taking our time and stopping whenever something piqued our interest. By now the snow had definitely set in and the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.
We paid a visit to the Loch Ness exhibition centre to learn all about Nessie, and the mysteries of the loch…quite amazing the lengths they’ve gone to try and establish the monster’s presence.
Looking for a monster
Our last two days were spent near Edinburgh, and the kids finally got to make their snowman, I think Mark did most the hard work there, whilst Bran and Pet just pelted each other silly with snowballs. 
The long awaited snowman
We also caught up with an old New Zealand friend, Andrew Wolfe, who lives in Dundee. We spent a whole day with him and his children gossiping and reminiscing – was wonderful to see them… even if his kids do sound funny (just kidding Andy!!)
The Moles meet the Wolfes in Dundee
New year’s eve was spent in Edinburgh city, where an amazing street party was taking place in the old city centre. Unfortunately party tickets were sold out and so we could only view the festivities from the other side of police check points, but we had plenty of fun walking around the perimeter seeing the sights and making our way right up to the castle overlooking the city.
New Year's Eve in Edinburgh - part I
By 9.30pm the kids were tired and cold so we returned to our hotel and watched the famous Edinburgh hogmanay fireworks on the telly… so close and yet so far :-)
New Year's Eve in Edinburgh - part II
On New Years Day we took the long trip home to London. We clocked up 1350 miles (2160 kms) in 6 days during our whistlestop tour of Scotland. It was the complete opposite to our Asian/UAE journey earlier in 2005:
- We had our own transport
- we had pre-booked all accommodation
- we spoke the language
- and the weather at times was 52 degrees cooler (47 degrees in Sharjah cf -5 degrees in Glasgow
The family is firmly divided on which type of climate is better to travel in, with the boys maintaining its better to be cold than hot, whilst Pet and I were wishing we were back in Dubai :-)
Now its back to work again, and time to plan our next excursion.
Take care everyone
Hayls
x
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