Tuesday, April 26, 2011


We had a grand time.

It’s no use trying to take pictures of happiness, though. It gets away.



Here are a lot of us, on Good Friday in the evening. I’ll explain in a moment why we had unanimously decided that Lent was already over. That's Hellie's boyfriend Matt, Hellie herself, Thomas-the-Elder, his brother Joe, standing behind Lizzie, and Rachel, having a little something to drink.

Here are Matt, Rachel’s husband Ed, and Joe, I think, skipping stones on Loch Fyne during our Easter Sunday walk.



My husband and Alexander, same occasion.




We were in the one part of Great Britain that didn't have blazing sunshine on Easter Sunday. It didn't matter. It didn't rain, and the year was at its moment of greatest beauty, as I think you can sort of see.



The way you get to Alexander’s house is to drive up the west side of Loch Lomond until you get to Tarbet, and then turn left through Arrochar and over Rest and be Thankful to Loch Fyne. When we got to Tarbet we found a police road block. Rest and be Thankful was closed. This often happens – in the winter because of snow drifts or mudslides; in the summer it’s fatal road accidents.

We were dispatched on a 50-mile detour, on up to the very top of Loch Lomond, across country skirting Rannoch Moor, down to Inverary on the far side of Loch Fyne, 12 or 15 miles beyond Alexander’s house. There we found another police road block. That was a bad moment. But they cheerfully let us through when we said we only wanted to go around to see Alexander and Ketki, not on to Rest and be Thankful.

Fortunately I had my largely-unused mobile telephone along, fully charged and accessible. I had armed it with Alexander’s land line number only that morning. So I could phone Ketki and let her know we would be late, and she – who until then didn’t know the road was closed – could phone Alexander and Rachel’s party in Glasgow and divert them. They took the ferry to Dunoon, not super-speedy but better than our detour.

So that was exciting.

I got lots of sock-knitting done, more than I had set myself to accomplish. The diabetic appt next week should add another inch or two. Then I’ll just have to take some time out of the larger schedule. I got Joe to try on the first sock, and it fits fine.



Matt wasn’t wearing his. I hope that doesn’t mean they have let me down in the wash – the yarn was the usual 75-25 blend of wool and acrylic, but it was an unfamiliar brand.

Helen phoned from Pelion on Easter Sunday in the morning, so I was able to say -- I had it in Greek in Word, but it hasn't come through here to Blogger. “Christ is risen” “He is risen indeed”, is what it amounted to. That is what Greeks say to each other on Easter Sunday.


The drive home yesterday was uneventful -- fraught with holiday traffic, but it kept moving.

5 comments:

  1. My sister married into a family of Greek-Cypriot migrants...there was soup at midnight on Saturday for some reason. We all got hardboiled eggs dyed red on Sunday. I managed to say the right Greek words but I need to look them up each year!

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  2. Anonymous1:03 PM

    My heavens... an ordinary, run-of-the-mill detour is one thing, but a fifty-mile detour is quite another! I think I'd have wanted something stronger than cider at the end of that! But it looks like all was well with your family and a good time was had by all.

    We had a quiet Easter here in New Hampshire, as all our children spend this holiday with the other in-laws, so it was my husband, me, our dog and the "grand-dog" we were babysitting! Nice and relaxing for us, as we just returned from Australia and have not quite yet made the leap to NH time zone!

    Barbara M.

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  3. I love the name Rest and Be Thankful. I'm not sure if it designates a road or a village, but I guess you can be "thankful" you weren't going there since the road was closed. It sounds like you had a lovely Easter weekend. Glad to see you made it home safely.

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  4. Did you ever find out why the road was closed? I am always thankful that I am merely spending a few hours on a detour when I find out there was a traffic fatality, but never have had a 50 mile detour.

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  5. Anonymous5:55 PM

    Matt, being a boyfriend and not (yet) an actual family member, may not realize that etiquette requires the wearing of hand-knit socks when the hand-knitter will be in attendance.

    Beverly in NJ

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