Pausing for breath

I hope you have enjoyed the last six days without any unwelcome intrusions from this blog. There simply wasn’t much time for me to sit on my backside and bash away at this keyboard.


Since my last post, I became a year older, took Mark, a new pupil, out for his first (very promising) lesson, then took Erin out for the first three hours of her Pass Plus course, dealing with dual-carriageways, town road systems, winding rural roads and the theory of motorways (no motorways for over 100 miles from here), then, after a quick cup of tea, Jane and I loaded our dogs in the back of Jane’s Nissan Navarra and drove for three hours down to Edinburgh (thank heavens for our sat-nav) to see The Specials, who were even better than I could possibly have hoped and had everyone (me included) feeling like we were 16 years-old and dancing away as though we were Jedward. A pleasant stay at a B&B then we spent the day driving around the Fife coast, with it’s charming fishing villages - Elie, St Monans, Pittenweem and, our favourite, Crail, where we sat outside (in mid-November!) on a tiny tearoom terrace, overlooking the sea, enjoying the sun and a cappuccino - and walking the dogs on the beaches before heading to Perth for a tasty Italian (Tagliatelle with wild goose) and to see the amazing Ladysmith Black Mambazo in concert (a birthday present from Mum. Thanks Mum) before the two and a half hour drive home over the Cairngorms, then five hours sleep and I was back on the road, this time to Hopeman, to give Ian a lesson, before heading west for the two hour drive to Ullapool for a couple of lessons, including a new pupil, Ryan, who was celebrating his 17th birthday, then I followed a very hesitant Renault, with blacked-out windows and “Wicked” sprayed across each side of the car (so it was a slight surprise to see an elderly couple getting out of it), before walking around Ullapool, in the rain, trying to find a B&B that was open out of season, with single rooms for a reasonable price. Creagan B&B was a real find, with Four-poster bed, huge bath, lots of goodies on the hospitality tray and a perfect full-Scottish breakfast, all for £30. Then a very busy day, with lessons for Sam, Catriona, Andy, Connie and Kirsty before the two hour drive home, passing the elderly couple in the ’Wicked’, blacked-out Renault on the way, for a wee dram of Laphroaig and a chance to finally switch off.

If that all sounded a bit hectic, you wait until tomorrow. My schedule for Wednesday is as follows:

5.50am - Wake up, wash, shave, dress, mug of tea, toast, kiss Jane.
6.00am - Drive to Ullapool.
8.30am - Sam’s lesson.
9.37am - Sam’s driving test.
10.30am - Connie’s lesson.
11.41am - Connie’s driving test.
12.30pm - Catriona’s lesson.
1.33pm - Andy’s driving test.
2.30pm - Catriona’s driving test.
3.30pm - drive back to Inverness.
5.30pm - Jamie’s lesson.
8.15pm - Home (…hopefully)
(For those of you not familiar with the DSA's 'unusual' test times, those times are genuine)

In addition, Kirsty, who had a lesson on Sunday, is also taking her test at 10.44, but in her own car. So, it promises to be an action-packed day, full of drama. I’m having trouble getting Sky to agree to live satellite coverage of the day - and I can’t get my mobile broadband dongle thingy to work in Ullapool - so I may not be able to bring you ‘as it happens’ commentary, but I’ll work something out.