So what did I do on Saturday, my first day off in 13 days? Did I sleep until lunch and spend the rest of the day with my feet up in front of the TV? Nope, I jumped out of bed, straight into the car and began the 120 mile journey to Kirkcaldy to attend Partick Thistles opening league match of the season.
Initially the idea didn't seem too foolhardy. I met Colin in Stonehaven and we travelled down the road with the windows open, allowing the glorious weather to give us that cliched "white van man one arm tan" look. We stopped in Perth (surely the most picturesque town in Scotland) for a bite and a pint in an almost postcard perfect old style pub. Even Kirkcaldy was unnaturally pleasant, and we took our seats attired only in t-shirts - an exceptionally rare occurrence at any open air event in Scotland, no matter the time of the year.
It was only now things began to fall apart. Our opponents (Raith Rovers - the team Gordon Brown supports) took the lead early on, taking advantage of our goalkeepers decision simply to fall down rather than actually dive toward the ball. Further goals followed, each more farcical than the last. See picture below for a photo I took during one of the rare moments when the ball wasn't flying into our net. It finished 4 - 0.
Surely I took it easy on Sunday then? Nope. Carole left early to head up the hills with pals and mutts, leaving me with the tiny terror. What to do? Should we stay home and play with his toys together on the living room carpet (honestly, those Transformers toys are Luca's, not mine....) or head out for a "skenk" (local colloquialism). A skenk it was, so we drove into Aberdeen and started the morning at the cinema's 10am Kids Club. Today it was "How To Train Your Dragon", and again I was pleased with how consistently excellent so many big budget cartoon movies of the past few years have been. This one was no exception, and the toddler and I sat enthralled throughout.
Following this we took a stroll around Aberdeen, mainly in an attempt to use up some of the gift vouchers I received for my birthday. However, I often forget how little Luca's legs are, and eventually he grabbed the bottom of my t-shirt and said "Phew, this is not easy for Luca!". An adjournment for a chocolate ice cram was called for, which added remarkable (albeit predictable) vim to his energy levels.
We grabbed some lunch shortly after, and had a picnic in a park by the beach. However, foolishly I allowed Luca to choose our spot, and we sat within 30 yards of a busy road, as seen in the pictures below. Egg sandwiches and exhaust fumes, mmmm yum.
Swimming was next, so due to our current proximity I took him to Aberdeen's (in)famous Beach Leisure Pool. This particular pool is awash (no pun intended) with a huge variety of water slides. How many did Luca go on? That's right, not one....
He did love it there to be fair, and his squeals as he rode on my back while the pools wave current machine shot us in circles around an island were likely heard by his Aunt Kelly in Australia.
It was great to spend time with the wee man again, and proved to be a real spirit lifter after the trials of last week. On our return home Carole mentioned how difficult and challenging he's been this past week or so while I've been absent. It was surmised the likely reason was that he was playing up because he missed his Dad. A nice feeling if true, and much his behaviour today adds credence to the theory. Particularly, peculiarly in the cinema he kept turning round (he always sits on my knee) and cuddling me without saying a word - perhaps this was his way of demonstrating the fact?
As a final aside, I cut my toenails tonight. Fascinating eh? I'm leading to a point, bear with me. Due to the crazy hours I've worked of late, I've paid little, if any attention to my appearance. Indeed, Saturday was the first time in a week I'd even had a shave. So it should have been little surprise to realise this evening that I had a toenail missing! During football on Tuesday night I made a strong block tackle that hurt, but I didn't pay too much heed to it. However, it transpires it was tougher than thought, and my toe is badly bruised as well as "sans" toenail. I intend in future never to be so busy that I don't notice the absence of an entire toenail until five days later......
**Useless fact of the day - Fingernails take 3 to 6 months to regrow completely, while toenails require around 12 to 18 months to grow back fully**
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