Photo's? Pah, who needs them?

A photo-less blog today. No, it's ok, please come back. I promise to keep this brief, and you can skim over the boring bits. By using this method I finished the last Dan Brown novel in 37 seconds.

I wish I'd had my camera with me this morning however. With the weather slowly clearing I drove through to picturesque Scolty Hill this morning with Yoda to run the hill and surrounding forest walks. Despite the excess of snow still covering the higher sections we had a great time, with Yoda's little legs (on only her 2nd ever run) keeping pace admirably.

An hour in, however, we noticed a manically waving hand in the distance. Edging closer we quickly realised who it belonged to - Dad! It transpires he'd had a similar inclination to visit the hill for a hike. With it being my first visit in years, and Dad's first visit of 2013 the coincidental nature of our decision to visit the same place on the same day, at almost the same time quite uncanny.

We spent the next couple of hours exploring the forest walks together and somehow briefly getting hopelessly lost, but I really enjoyed the time together. Despite my knees (in running shorts remember now at walking pace) turning a little blue toward the end.

Following an après walk coffee at Ross' former workplace (Tease), I drove Dad home, passing Mum as she approached the street having come from coffee with the girls. Following another coffee at Arbor Court I realised this was the first time I'd seen Mum without Luca's presence in memory. Having a conversation with her without continual interruption was my second unique experience of the day.

Did you skip over the past few paragraphs? Should I avoid mentioning football to avoid you skipping this one too? Only after I mention Aberdeen's terrific victory yesterday and Partick Thistle going 4 points clear at the top of the First Division. 'Mon the Jags!

Luca and Carole arrived home from the timeshare in Grantham on Thursday night, where they'd spent much of the last week with Liz and (latterly) Jane and Max too. A 5 star luxury retreat by all accounts, which of course it was going to be when I wasn't able to get the time off work. Hey, wait a minute, Carole sent me photo's of it. Here's Luca in the jacuzzi:-





What did I do all week while they were gone? As Depeche Mode famously declared, "Enjoy The Silence". Aside from running the Garioch 10k (it was soooooo cold) all I did was work, clean and walk the dogs. It was marvellous. Isis and I even made up. Our love/hate relationship has swung slightly toward the former for now.

I'm rambling now, of course, so I'll finish up now and put Luca to bed. But only after we share one last Easter Egg. Of course.

**Useless fact of the day - The UK has the seventh highest consumption of chocolate in the world**