On a roll!

Arran?

Rotten sleep last night. I kept dreaming I was still doing my job, but had retired. I kept telling people I didn't need to be here, I wasn't being paid, just loved to do researh. Odd dreaming of ways to get home, too.

I guess I was waiting for the alarmS to ring. Won't go, I said, No. Not today. 7:04 the second alarm. I get up, make coffee. Check email after kicking my laptop. Ok, not kicking, just popping the battery pack out again - cussing until the count of 10 then putting it back. Nothing important except a sunscreen warning from Matt. Heeded.

Shower, dress, What the heck, I might as well go. So on to the train to Ardrossan Harbor. Had a really unPC breakfast on the CalMac ferry to Arran - 2 fried eggs, toast and bacon (English style), coffee. Lots of blue sky, some clouds but the temps were in the high 50-low 60 range. I was wearing the Bubble Gum Barbie jacket and blue fleece socks, so okay there.

The train went past gentle rolling hills, sheep in fields and my first glimpse of a wind power farm. They look like Tripods*.

Arran: beautiful island in the Firth of Clyde. More prosperous than 2 years ago, and light years from my first visit in 1987. More building projects, more industries - Arran Aromatics, Arran Breweries, many hotels refurbished. The mussels that had covered the rocks in 2005 seem to have gone - leaving the rocks exposed. I saw a beautiful piece of pink quartz embedded in the sandstone. It wasn't ready to 'pop' out leaving a moon crater yet.

Walked along the shore, went to the Burnside Gallery and admired the art - no dates. Continued to the Auchrannie Hotel, asked for a brochure, wandered the gift shop, and headed for the toilets. Nothing like knowing the territory (I was there for a week in 2005). I then walked back to the ferry terminal, stopping in all the gift shops and the COOP where I bought some 'Rocket' (arugula). In the past 20 years the COOP has 'continentalized', where you can buy whole selections of Polish products even!

I got some funky socks, cotton, in case it gets warmer (besides, they go with my jacket), and some cortisone cream for a strange rash I've gotten on my face.

Ferry ride and train uneventful. As soon as I got back I went to Somerfield Supermarket and bought more for dinner.

I was cold, no lunch, so when I got back, I donned the sweatshirt, cranked up the heat and ate. After all that, I fixed the DVD player, watched a Doctor Who episode, called Velma, and am now about to sign off and go to bed,

Happy Trails to you, Until we meet again!


*Tripods are aliens which play a big part in a trilogy for Young Adults. Author is John Christopher. Books are great!