Another day, and yet another museum. It's funny how this trip back to Scotland really involved the cultural aspects as well as just the usual catching up with people. But it's about keeping William entertained throughout the day and there's only so many cups of tea with relatives and mates that he can endure. So, on Tuesday, we went to the Summerlee Heritage Museum in Coatbridge. It was actually a really interesting place to visit; really hands on for kids and, of course, with tram rides, William was won over. Iain also managed to get the sourest of super sour gobstoppers in eternity out of the retro sweet shop. I thought his face was going to turn inside out and the staff even stopped what they were doing to watch him eat it. ;-)
It's a bit of reality check when the "historical houses" bring back clear memories from your own childhood:
On Wednesday, the Catster came through from the East and we managed a lunchtime Mate Date, just the two of us, in the Merchant City. It was bloody brilliant to get some time to catch up in peace!
My Lady-About-Town continued after I went back to Pollokshields, as Iain and I managed a wee late afternoon / early evening date night round Strathbungo. We started in Zinfandel, a trendy gastropub that Iain had been in the week before with Rosco and Speckie, then went across the road to the Titwood bar which felt like visiting an old friend: a proper Glasgow boozer. We then went to the Allison Arms, an old man pub which has been very much gentrified, complete with a full fridge of GF beer. Incredible. Three pubs in, and certainly more than three drinks deep, our (my) confidence was now somewhat heightened and on our way back round to the Bungo for dinner, I suggested we should have a drink at The Regent. It looks a bit ruff from the outside, as you can see here, but when we stepped inside, we were greeted with bar leaners and barely a stool, a stark bar and royal blue everywhere. The barmaid told us that they only accepted cash which was probably code for I can tell you're a catholic, you should probably leave. Still not as bad as that night we ended up in the Marksman at the bottom of Leith Walk though. 😅
As mentioned above, we went to the Bungo for dinner. Such a joy to have a GF specific menu, but the service was awful (to the point, we didn't get charged for our drinks) and my food wasn't really that good. You win some, you lose some.
Gregor had managed to get tickets for the Rangers v Bayer Leverkusen Europa League match at Ibrox on the Thursday night for him, Ronnie and Iain so I headed over to Jinty's with William and stayed the night. It worked out really well as Alan, Clare and Joe came over and we got a curry for dinner. Clare and Joe gave William some Lego, so you can imagine his excitement levels.
Before we knew it, we were getting organised for both Brian and Mel's wedding and leaving for France on the Sunday morning. I packed on the Friday night, knowing that Saturday was going to be too busy with wedding stuff and that we needed everything pretty much done so that we could just get home from the wedding, throw our fancy gear into the cases and get up and go on the Sunday morning. All the while we were checking the news reports as to what was happening with coronavirus in France, and how likely it was that our flight would go.
Anyway, we got up on Saturday morning and Heather came over to get William - he would be spending his whole day with his auntie and his cousins, and he was absolutely amped. It meant that Iain and I had all the time we needed to get ready for, and head to the wedding. Sheena had gotten me an appointment to get my hair done (hurrah!) and once I got home from the salon, it was full steam ahead. I'd made a call in France that my toe/foot injury from Christmas still wasn't healed enough to endure a full day of stilettos so hadn't even packed them. I reckon it was a good call and despite being in my flats, I was still happy with my outfit. My hat had been a bit of a online-purchase-gamble, but it had paid off and definitely added that extra that I love having for a wedding. I'm a big believer in hats at weddings now, and I'm getting braver with my efforts! Ronnie dropped us over in the West End, and suddenly, we were in party mode!
Brian looked pretty nervous while he was waiting for Mel to arrive, but he seemed to settled into his usual self once she was by his side. And then that was that: the new Mr & Mrs. Martin! I'm absolutely delighted for him and it was just great to be able to get home for this. Getting to important events like this is exactly once of the reasons we left NZ. As you'd imagine, as the day flowed, so did the drinks and we kept one eye on the french news, half hoping that the borders would close and our flights would be cancelled. Macron did suddenly announce that all the cafes, bars and restaurants had to close at midnight, but nothing else and we kept drinking and partying like we didn't need to travel the next day which seemed like a good idea at the time. Iain found an incredible jacket in the cloakroom which goes to show the kind of night it spiralled into. Special mention to the band who were just brilliant, and even indulged my final request of the night: Bits 'n' Pieces. Proper Glasgow Wedding 😂 By the time we got home and I'd packed the wedding gear away, it was almost 2am. Christ. No wonder I was an absolute shambles on the trip back to France.
So that was our trip back to Scotland. And little did we know what we were heading home to....
Lorna :-|
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