Grey Mare's Tail and Moffat!

Last week I went for a drive to Moffat and stopped off at Grey Mare's Tail on the way. It's a nice drive scenery wise although the narrow roads with a drop on one side and embankment on the other make for some scary situations with trucks! Thankfully I managed not to get run off the road this time!

Grey Mare's Tail is a waterfall (for those of you wondering why I was going to see a horse’s tail!). It was raining so I rugged up to keep warm and wore my lovely hat to keep my ears warm (have you worn yours lately Chinner??) so please don't laugh at it! There were lots of sheep on the hills surrounding the waterfall and they were my only company as everyone else had the common sense to stay indoors in the sunny Scottish weather! Once I'd seen the waterfall I headed back to the car and continued on to Moffat.

On the way I noticed a sign with a sheep on it wondering why they were telling me there were sheep in the area I soon realised it was because they were on the side of the road and not behind a fence! Thankfully they weren't on the road but it did make me think of all those cliché movies where the sheep block the road and that there might be some truth to it!

Moffat is a cute little town with lots of little shops along its main street. I had a wander around before heading to the Moffat Toffee Shop for some Moffat Toffees. Yum! They are a bit strange flavour wise but very nice. After stocking up on some toffees I headed back to Selkirk - carefully avoiding the sheep!

Last weekend I went to Glasgow with my Aunt and Uncle. It's a strange city and not nearly as nice as Edinburgh. My Aunt and I went shopping along the famous Sauchiehall Street in the afternoon before heading back to the hotel for some dinner. My Aunt had gotten tickets to see Strictly Come Dancing the live show (which is like Dancing with the Stars for those in OZ) so we headed off to that after dinner. It was a great night with some interesting dances including the only Scottish performer Kenny Logan (a previous player of Rugby for Scotland) dancing the Waltz to Scotland the Brave and then dancing the paso doble in a kilt. Needless to say he won the dancer of the night as the crowd voted for him not for his dancing ability but for the fact he was a Scot. On the Sunday we came back through Edinburgh and visited the Scottish National Museum which was very interesting. The top of the museum gave great views of the city including the castle. We had a late lunch with my cousins before heading home. All in all a good weekend.

This week I visited Jedburgh Abbey (yes they have a lot of Abbey's in Scotland!) which was good. It's one of the more intact Abbey's in the borders and the remains of many of the buildings attached to the Abbey are still visible.

I travelled up to Edinburgh on Friday to spend the day shopping on Princes St with my cousin's girlfriend. Had a few drinks with some of their friends on the Friday night. I came back to Selkirk on Saturday to watch my cousin play Rugby, they lost in the last minute of the game due to the umpire being useless and giving away penalties against us (yes, I might be slightly biased!). Today we took my Granny for a walk along the river and then stopped for a cup of coffee. We met my cousin and went for lunch at the Woll which was lovely.

Car!

I picked up my new (second hand) car today, much to my excitement.

It's a 3 door, purple/blue(although it looks blue in the pics)97 Ford Focus with electric windows and central locking, which is very exciting as my car back home doesn't even have these luxuries!

So have spent the day driving around trying to get used to driving a new car on much narrower roads!

Now I have a car I'm looking forward to being able to travel a bit further afield and explore some new places, previously un-reachable.

I'm off to Glasgow on the weekend so will post with some more details next week.

SNOW!

It snowed on yesterday (Monday) which as you can imagine made my day! My Uncle made me clear the front step of snow, which as you can imagine was a real chore!!!
I then spent the majority of the day out playing in the snow to the disgust of the locals who hate the snow! I'm sure the neighbours think I'm nuts!!

The snow was too "dry" to quote my uncle to build a snowman so I had to settle for snow angels (much colder than they look!) and jumping into drifts of snow!

Today the snow was starting to melt :( much to my disgust, but on the upside the snow was just right for building a snowman which I did!! It may not be the greatest snowman ever but I think for my first snowman it was pretty good :)

Hoping for more snow on Thursday!

Melrose Abbey and the Rugby

On Friday I went for a walk around Melrose Abbey, it was absolutely freezing but otherwise a lovely Abbey. It's a bit more intact than Kelso Abbey. Melrose Abbey is the burial place of Robert the Bruce's heart. It is held in a flask like object and is marked on top of the ground with a carved stone plaque. The Abbey also has an internal spiral staircase that allows you to walk to the top of the Abbey, from which you get a great view. Friday night my cousin Callum came down from Edinburgh for dinner and to stay the night as he was playing Rugby the next day.

On Saturday we (my cousin Iain, his girlfriend Donna and my Aunt and Uncle)went to the Rugby supporters lunch at the Rugby club, where I was introduced to several of Dad's old rugby friends. Lunch was lovely (Roast Beef with veg and gravy for those interested!) and once finished we went out into the stand to watch Callum play. Selkirk did quite well, however didn't quite manage to win and drew 14 all against the West of Scotland team. It was a great introduction to the sport (yes Dad I know you've been trying for years to get me interested, but that's just how it goes!) and although I don't claim to understand the sport at all it was good fun attempting to understand what on earth they were doing! (They could learn a lot from AFL!!)

Saturday night we had a party for my Auntie Pat as it was her Birthday on Thursday. It was a good night with everyone behaving themselves! It was good fun spending some time with my cousins and Aunt's and Uncle's as well as some of their friends.

Kelso, Edinburgh and Burns Suppers!

On Wednesday I visited Kelso which is a small borders town. It has an Abbey which was originally in Selkirk (the town I am living in) and was later moved to Kelso brick by brick. I also went for a walk along the Tweed River and saw a salmon leap, which was fantastic.

On Friday my cousin came down from Edinburgh and I went out for dinner with some of his friends and ended up at the Towns Arms which is an old Pub in Selkirk that my Dad used to frequent!
Saturday I went to see a game of Rugby with my cousin and his girlfriend before going on to Edinburgh for my first Burns Supper with some of their friends. It is the 250th year since the birth of Robert Burns a famous Scottish poet who wrote the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne. So to celebrate people all around the world but especially in Scotland hold a Burns Supper which consists of Haggis, Tatties (potatoes) and Neeps (turnips). The dinner was fantastic and we finished the night with a few glasses of wine and a couple of games of Guitar Hero!

Today (Sunday) we were joined by my other cousin and we headed up to Blackford Hill for a fantastic view of Edinburgh. After a slippery walk up the hill we made it to the top. Thank goodness as I really didn't fancy sliding to the bottom! It was a nice day - even if it was a bit cold - which gave us fantastic views of the city including the castle and Arthur's Seat. After sliding our way back down the hill I was spoilt by a quick sightseeing tour of the city by car before catching the bus back to Selkirk.

Once back in Selkirk I was treated to my second Burns Supper with my Aunt and Uncle. The tradition calls for a 'Toast to the haggis' which is a Burns poem consisting of several verses. My Uncle announced I was to recite the 'Toast to a haggis' which would have been interesting considering I can't pronounce half the words and the other half would have sounded ridiculous in an Australian accent we settled on my reciting the Selkirk Grace which Burns also wrote but is much shorter! I've included the words below:
Selkirk Grace
Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;
But we hae meat, and we can eat,
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

I've arrived!

Well I've arrived in sunny Scotland after 2 days of travelling! I was met by my Aunt and Uncle at the airport and then met their two sons for dinner at a good old Scottish Pub, which was lovely!

Today it's snowing which is very exciting although it's not lying which is a shame!

Very excited about getting to visit some family and friends in the next few days.