Leaving St Andrews

On Friday, we leave St Andrews to head down South (in stages), before returning to Australia. We have an overnight stay in a small village south of Edinburgh, and then drive to Windermere on Saturday.

A Last Look at the Garden

Judi & Car

The weather this week has returned to summer, so we decided to take some photos of the car and the garden. During the past few weeks the gardener has been working very hard on the flower beds and they are starting to look very pretty.



This week has been distinguished by the inclusion of all the graduation ceremonies for the University of St Andrews. The ceremonies themselves (8 in all, two a day from Tuesday to Friday) take place in the building opposite our house and we get a bird's eye view of it all. What we didn't realise though was that, at the end of the proceedings, everyone parades down North Street with a bagpiper at the front and rear of the procession.

Front of Graduation Procession

The Procession Grows

Yesterday we heard the piper start up, but, by the time we realised what was about to happen, we missed the chance to take pictures. This morning, Lloyd visited the library, and as he came into the house, he annouced that there was a piper in full regalia opposite. We rushed out just in time to witness the whole procession. The pictures below give some idea of what it was like.

...and Grows

...and Grows

Rear Guard Piper

An Afternoon Trip to Crail and Anstruther

Crail Harbour

Although the weather was alternating between sunhine and cloud this morning, we decided to take another trip down to the fishing villages of Crail and Anstruther. On our last visit we walked down to Pittenweem harbour, but ran out of steam before visiting the other two. The remainder of this post will describe itself in pictures.


Crail Coastline

May Island from Crail

Anstruther Harbour

Anstruther Front & Harbour

Beach at Anstruther

Judi Anstruther Harbour

Lloyd Anstruther Harbour

Olympic Torch Relay St Andrews

Very early this morning, there was much excitement in North Street, as the Olympic Torch Relay hit town.

In fact, yesterday we were held up on our way back from a day trip we made to Stirling, so that the torch could travel ahead of us through all the villages along the A91 - the only road into St Andrews. The relay route for yesterday was officially from Aberdeen to Dundee, but it had taken a rather roundabout route to take in these smaller villages. Apparently, the aim is to have the torch be accessible to over 98% of the total population of the British Isles. A few days ago the flame was flown up to the Orkney and Shetland Islands. Once on the ground, various people ran with it up there.

It finished in Dundee last night, and arrived in St Andrews at 6.00am this morning. There was a 'tickets only' event in St Salvator's College quad before the relay came past our house. However, I read online that the St Andrews Pipe Band would be entering the quad to mark the official lighting of the first torch, so I headed down there at 6.15am.

Some of the Official Escort for the Torch

The first sign of activity is masses of police cars and motor cycles all with flashing lights. These are followed by buses containing the runners and other paraphernalia that gets deposited along the route; and finally a bus arrives containing the flame itself. There is quite a bit of discussion about the flame travelling by bus rather than the ancient tradition of running it everywhere. Lloyd says that there is a parallel relay doing it properly, but I didn't see any sign of it this morning.

Bus Containing Olympic Flame

At 6.45am, right on cue, the unmistakable sounds of bagpipes warming up could be heard, the drummers started and round the corner the band all came. The precision of drumming in Scottish pipe bands is amazing, and for me there is nothing like the sound of bagpipes.

The band was followed by the dignatories of the University of St Andrews all in their full regalia. These were the very same people with whole we had enjoyed lunch last week.

St Andrews Pipe Band

St Andrews Pipe Band

Once the band was safely installed into the quad and I had heard the rest of their playing, I dashed back to the house to see the torch pass the house.

First Runner in North Street

At 7.00am, the church bells of St Salvator's College Chapel rang out and the first runner left the college to run up North Street in front of our house. As the lounge is on the third floor, I got an excellent view as it went past.

Olympic Torch Passes 40 North Street

A minor incovenience of the torch relay though, is that we missed the fact that our garbage collection was a day earlier than usual. Our bin is normally picked up on a Wednesday morning, and when we were putting it out as usual last night, a neighbour told us that the collectors had visited on Tuesday morning to allow for the street to be completely closed for the relay. I'm not sure how we were to have found this out; but we didn't know unfortunately.

Carnegie Centenary Lecture

Lloyd has now delivered his final presentation for his visit to the University of St Andrews. He presented the Carnegie Centenary Lecture at the Conference on Foundations of Logical Consequence. This was quite a big deal and some of the people from yesterday's lunch were in the audience. The glossy posters for the conference itself and the Carnegie Centenary Lecture are included below.

All in all the lecture seems to have gone well and represents the final of 15 different talks Lloyd was contracted to deliver during his appointment to the University of St Andrews. Given that Lloyd does not like to present 'old' material, but always works up something new for each talk, this has been quite a feat.

The conference itself continues for the next two days over the weekend, and there are still other seminars Lloyd will be attending during the remaining two weeks here before we head off to the Lake District and London.

Lunch in Honour of Carnegie Centenary Professorship

This week has generally been devoted to Judi working on University of Melbourne administration, and Lloyd both presenting his final seminar on Monday June 4 and preparing to deliver the Carnegie Centenary Lecture at the Conference on the Foundations of Logical Consequence (FLC) this weekend (starting today - Friday). Lloyd's visit to St Andrews was principally organised so that he could participate in, and contribute to, the AHRC-funded FLC project.

However, yesterday (Thursday) we both took a break from our work to attend a lunch at which Lloyd (in his capacity as Carnegie Centenary Professor) was the guest of honour. We were to meet Professor Peter Clark from the 'Principal's Office' at 12.15pm to be walked over to the Regent's Room in St Salvator's College at 12.30pm for lunch. It turns out that the Principal is in fact the Vice Chancellor of the University of St Andrews. Lloyd found himself sitting next to the Principal - Professor Louise Richardson. I was seated opposite Lloyd, and was flanked by the Deputy Principal (Professor Chris Hawkesworth) and the Chairman of the Carnegie Trust - Professor Sir David Edward.

There were a total of 18 guests at the lunch and we sat at an enormous long wooden table alongside a fireplace with Latin inscriptions. Some of the period between courses was spent by us all having a go at translating the inscriptions. The other guests were various dignitaries from around the University; but Lloyd was pleased to see that a number of the graduate and post-doc students he has been interacting with at meetings and at Ardtornish were also invited.

Despite the fact that we were in such esteemed company, the lunch was very enjoyable, and we were both pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to interact with the VC and others. The food was also very good. I cannot give a completely accurate account of what we ate as there was no menu provided. The entree consisted of a sort of cheese soufflé, although Lloyd thought that it might have been a little too dense to be categorised as a soufflé. It was nevertheless tasty and served with watercress and a few slices of mushrooms. I had Scottish salmon for main course and Lloyd had a chicken breast wrapped round some filling and served with a sauce. Dessert was crème brulée served with a small portion of fruit compote and ice cream, followed by coffee. The whole event concluded at 2.00pm after some brief speeches.

I am afraid that there are no photos to attach to this post. It would have been nice if someone had taken a photo of Lloyd and me yesterday as we were all dressed up in our finery for the lunch, but no one did. Never mind.

Back in St Andrews

On Saturday morning we went to the St Andrews Farmers' Market. There is a local Farmers' Market on every Saturday, but the first Saturday in the month is the turn of St Andrews. We walked down to it and immediately became aware of the presence of one of the delicacies Judi intended to sample - Arbroath Smokies. We had been made aware of this dish from a couple of television programs we had watched back in Melbourne. Arbroath smokies are a type of smoked haddock – a speciality of the town of Arbroath which is just beyond Dundee (about 45 minutes away).

The fish are gutted and salted before a smokie pit is prepared. A hole is dug in the ground, and a half whisky barrel is set into it. The base of the barrel is lined with slates to protect it, and a hardwood fire of beech and oak is lit inside. The sticks of fish are then placed over the pit and the hessian cover allows the fire to breathe and maintain the required heat. The number of layers and dampening of the ‘cloots’ depends on the weather, and may be adjusted throughout the smoking to prevent the fish either smoking too quickly and burning, or smoking too slowly and drying out. More details and some pictures can be found at: http://www.arbroathsmokies.net/

Judi bought one of the Arbroath Smokies and some home-baked bread to enjoy for lunch a little later. It was truly delicious and lived up to all expectations.

On Sunday Judi decided to see if she could locate the place that St Andrews Baptist Church meets for their Sunday morning services. The church itself is in South Street, but there is a notice outside to say that the 10.30am Sunday service meets at Madras College. There is a rather complicated map that had deterred Judi in the past, but this week, she decided to investigate. Google maps were particularly helpful, and showed a walking route that took about 15 minutes to complete.

Judi left the house at 10.00am, map in hand, and successfully negotiated the route to the meeting place. It turns out that the church needs to meet at this hall because the congregation no longer fits into the church building in south street. It is rather gratifying in this day and age that there are still churches as active as this one, especially as the Church of England congregations are aging and shrinking.

The service was somewhere between St Jude's and Syndal in style. For example, there were hymns and songs like both St Jude's and Syndal, but we also joined together in the Confession of Sins, the Lord's Prayer and the Grace at the conclusion of the service. None of these more formal parts of Sunday services are included at Syndal, although I am aware that they form part of morning worship at St Jude's.

Judi very much enjoyed the service, which included familiar hymns and songs. There was a pianist, saxophonist and singer providing the music, and there was an advert in the newsletter for people to join the music team. If Judi had been staying longer, she would have offered her services. Also like St Jude's and Syndal, Judi was made very welcome and several people approached her - one even suggesting a coffee catch-up in the week. This was in stark contrast to Judi's experience of the local Episcopalian church on Palm Sunday. She will definitely making the journey to return for next week's service.

Botanical Gardens

In the afternoon, we both went walking to the Botanical Gardens. These are quite extensive and very beautiful. Lloyd had visited them while Judi was back in Melbourne, but the weather had been cold and rather unpleasant. Today in contrast it was bright and sunny.

Botanical Gardens

 One interesting aspect of St Andrews Botanical Gardens is that there are a number of greenhouses, each of which has a different climate and vegetation. It is possible to walk between them without going outside at all. The Alpine one for example was cool and arid, but the tropical ones were exceptionally hot and humid. One of the hothouses caused Lloyd's glasses to completely mist over, and he could not see anything!

On the way to the gardens, we passed a street party for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee which is being celebrated this weekend. Unlike London where it poured with rain for the celebrations, St Andrews had lovely weather for their festivities.

A Walk in the Grounds of Ardtornish

Ardtornish Gardens

On Thursday, the conference program was pretty continuous, but there was an hour or so after the official lunch break during which we went for a walk in the Ardtornish gardens/grounds themselves. The grounds are vast and extend right along the side of Loch Aline (seen from our loungeroom window) to the village of Lochaline. There are a number of cottages for rent in the grounds of the main house, one of which was called Rose Cottage (pictured).

Rose Cottage

There is also an extensive grid of rivers and brooks, the most impressive of which (Gear Abhain) runs alongside Kinlochaline castle. The castle is a strange looking structure, rather higher than it is wide.

Gear Abhain

Kinlochaline Castle

Trip to the Isle of Mull

The conference program for Wednesday, May 30 included free time from after lunch for the remainder of the day. This was particularly convenient as Lloyd had his presentation before lunch, so he did not need to any more spend time thinking about what he intended to say.

Car Ferry Lochaline to Mull

We decided to take advantage of this block of spare time to make a trip on the car ferry to the Isle of Mull. Our original plan had been to drive down to the sounthernmost tip of the island to see the Isle of Iona, and then drive back to Tobermory (the capital) before returning to the ferry which comes into a small village called Fishnish.

Leaving Lochaline

Arriving Fishnish

Luckily, we had been warned that driving on the island was extremely slow, as the roads are only wide enough for one car. This was exactly the same sort of road that led into Ardtornish. We had driven 12 miles on it on Monday, and alhtough there are passing places, it is very tiring driving estimating whether one can get to the next passing place to give way to the oncoming traffic, or whether they are going to stop to allow us to come through.

The trip down to see the Isle of Iona (we would not have been able to actually go to the island as it was another car ferry and there would have not been sufficient time) was about 28 miles, so we quickly decided to just visit Tobermory.

The Sound of Mull

Lloyd and the Sound of Mull

The road took us along the side of the Sound of Mull, which was particularly pretty.







Even this trip took much longer than we expected, and in the end, just looking around the harbour at Tobermory took up all the time we had before needing to return to catch the second last ferry of the day. We didn't want to aim for the last ferry of the day in case things went wrong.

Tobermory Harbour

Judi at Tobermory

Tobermory is a very pretty harbour town, a little reminiscent of Cornwall. What was particularly striking was that all the shops and houses along the water were different (and very bright colours).

Tobermory

Visit to Ardtornish House

On Monday morning, we set off for Ardtornish House. The journey was predicted to take about 4 and a half hours, with a stop at the two-hour mark in Tyndrum. Tyndrum, on the edge of Loch Lomond and the Trussocks National Park is the last view of civilisation before heading into the highlands. The views en route were spectacular. The road often cut along a valley between craggy peaks on both sides, and then we would be running along the edge of a loch with mountain peaks (covered with snow) in the distance.

We arrived at Tyndrum after 2 hours and 15 minutes of driving, and took a welcome break of a little over an hour. There was a shop and gift shop, as well as a restaurant, all called 'The Green Welly'. In fact they stocked a large range of wellington boots (including green ones), and extensive set of waterproof garments of one sort and another. We had been warned that this area of the world is very cold and wet pretty much all year round. However, it was hot and sunny at the time, and in fact the temperature was about 29 degrees.

It was good to feel a bit more refreshed before setting off on the second leg. The distances were not equal, and the latter part of the journey was on very narrow roads. The final hour involved a car ferry and then a single track road with occasional passing places. Unfortunately for us, they were surfacing the road at one spot and we were held up for 20 minutes while they did a section and arrived at the next passing place. It was a lovely feeling to finally arrive at Ardtornish House. The flat we rented is much bigger than we imagined and there is a long hall between the bedrooms and the bathroom. In addition there is a huge kitchen and very cosy lounge with open fire, complete with a view of Loch Aline. I will leave the rest of this post to speak for itself.

Ardtornish House

Main Staircase

Nursery Flat Two Dormer Windows on Second Floor

 

View from Lounge

Window Seat in Lounge

Judi back at St Andrews

Saturday and Sunday

Today Judi arrived back in St Andrews after 5 weeks in Australia. The weather had been fine and sunny for a few days prior to the weekend, but on Saturday it was 27 degrees.

All the travel arrangements for the return to St Andrews had gone perfectly according to plan in terms of car pick-ups, takeoffs, landings etc, and Judi was back at our house half an hour before what she thought could be the earliest time for her arrival. The plane had landed at Glasgow on schedule,  passport control had been very quick, and the cases were some of the first to appear.


Judi proceeded through Customs and was in the car heading to St Andrews within 40 minutes of landing. Lloyd was lying in the garden in the sun (it was 25 degrees here), so was ready to greet her as she came through the gate.

St Andrews Harbour

 We decided to take advantage of the sunshine to walk down to the harbour and along East Sands beach before any unpacking was undertaken. Once home, we enjoyed afternoon tea together on the patio in the sunshine.

East Sands Beach

East Sands Beach

On Sunday, we had to assemble things (packing again!!) to head off to the Ardtornish Estate on Monday morning. The website link for this house (in particular, the Nursery Flat that we are renting) is: http://www.ardtornish.co.uk/Pages/NURSERY_FLAT.asp

Edgecliffe Building Front

In the afternoon, we walked again - this time to West Sands beach. On the way we passed Edgecliffe, the building that houses the Philosophy department, and where Lloyd has been delivering his weekly seminar.

Edgecliffe Building Rear

West Sands

West Sands

A Few Days In Birkenhead

Wednesday

Today, Judi left St Andrews for a few weeks. Before returning to Australia, she will spend a few days with her Uncle Jack in Birkenhead, and then some days with Joy and Roger in Chelmsford.

The train to Edinburgh from Leuchars came in on time at 10.45 am, and arrived on time in Edinburgh Waverley. The journey went right along the edge of the sea for quite a distance. It was very pretty with the sea to the left and snow-capped hills on the right. It crossed the Firth of Forth on the rail bridge that we had seen when we went over the Forth Road Bridge on our way to Edinburgh the previous week. In fact, there was a very good view of the road bridge across the Firth of Forth.

On arrival at Edinburgh Waverley,the man who was checking tickets helpfully said ‘You will need Platform 14’. Essentially, it was only about 10 feet from where the Leuchars train had come in, so there was no problem finding the next train at all.

The Manchester Airport train was incredibly packed with people, and it was pretty squashy. There are no longer buffet cars on the train, but a lady came down the aisle to take snack and drink orders. It would have been useful to know what was on the menu; however, a coffee and some shortbread fingers was available. It was surprisingly pleasant coffee, and with the biscuits only cost £2.90, which was not too bad at all.

Once at Manchester Airport, Judi made her way to the Car Rentals, which had been moved from the terminal building to the 14th floor of the carpark. After several attempts to find a desk, it seemed that the carpark was definitely the place to go. There they all were in a cabin on the roof. Very weird!  Anyway, they had the booking. The girl asked if Judi was able to drive an automatic as they had a brand new Kia Ceed that had just arrived, but was automatic. She was naturally fine with it. It is diesel, which is great, and seems like a very nice car to drive.

After a very pleasant meal at the Carnarvon Castle pub, an early night at the per-booked Premier Inn was a necessity after all the travelling of the day.

Thursday

Chester Gate

On Thursday morning, Judi drove to Chester and took the Park-and-Ride into the city centre. This was considerably more successful than the Edinburgh experience (although the Edinburgh council did respond to our email complaining about what had happened when Lloyd and Judi had attempted to take the Park-and Ride there).

Chester is very beautiful with city walls that you can walk around. After getting off the bus, to enter the city centre itself, you go through the Chester Gate. There is also a Cathedral, that Judi visited. The Maundy Thursday service was in session, and it was fascinating to see so many clergy all the same place.

Chester Cathedral

The trip to Chester was mainly a brief shopping and sightseeing trip, but it became rather extended when Judi found some rather nice ear-rings. The process of buying them took rather longer than anticipated, as the ear-rings consisted of glass beads mounted on a figure of eight setting. However, the two beads were rather too different (they are all individually hand made), and so phone calls were made to other stores in the chain to see if any had a better matching bead. The store in Liverpool claimed to have several, and from our description, it looked as though one might be exactly right. Uncle Jack and Judi were going to Liverpool the following day, so one was put aside to be picked up after the Good Friday service at the Cathedral. What is particularly interesting about this is that the shops in England were open on Good Friday!

The remainder of the afternoon was spend back at Uncle Jack's house with Judi returning his laptop back to how it had been set up 2 years ago. Uncle Jack had been advised (by an Apple computer user) that he didn't need to renew his Norton's Internet and Anti-Virus software that Judi initially installed. Naturally, he got a disastrous attack on his system and the computer had been completely reformatted the previous week. There were not any really important files lost, but the programs needed to be returned to familiar settings and desktop icons for Uncle Jack.

In the evening, Uncle Jack took Judi out to a lovely restaurant called The Manor (at Greasby) where they had been on several occasions before. The food is always exceptionally good, and tonight was no exception.

Liverrpool Cathedral

Friday

Uncle Jack and Judi decided to attend the Good Friday service at Liverpool Cathedral this morning. There were no problems finding the cathedral (which is vast and up a hill), or a disabled parking space. Before the service the choir were practising, which provided a lovely backdrop while waiting for the service to start. What we had not accounted for was that the service was 'Stations of the Cross' with different sections of the service taking place in different areas of the church.

High Altar

We started in the main chancel (facing the High Altar), and then, during the first hymn, we all got up and followed the procession of the clergy and choir, into the first of two smaller chapels. At each stop, there was something sung by the choir, a reading and a prayer, before we moved on.


Inside Liverpool Cathedral

Judi's greatest concern about this was that Uncle Jack finds walking quite difficult, and certainly doesn't like to stand for long. There was no need for concern though, as the servers from the Cathedral came up to him every time we were due to move, and directed him to a chair at the new stopping point. 

West Window

The final two stops though were in open areas. Uncle Jack leant against a pillar at the first, and was able to prop himself on the hand rail of some steps at the final stop. It was all extremely moving and the music was exquisite. At the end, the great West Door was opened, and all the congregation left in silence with the clergy and choir lining the entrance. Had we known what was going to happen during the service, we would have been rather hesitant about attending, but, in the event, we were both completely delighted that we had gone. 

We went to John Lewis for coffee after the service, and after the matching bead for the ear-rings had been successfully picked up, went to their restaurant for lunch.

The remainder of the afternoon involved completing the computer set-up for Uncle Jack and the creation of an Excel spreadsheet for Judi's cousin David to maintain his business accounts. Today was the start of the new tax year in the UK.

Saturday

Hoylake Promenade

Today Judi and Uncle Jack decided to go out for a brief car trip. Judi wanted to see the completed renovations to the Kings Gap hotel, where her father had lived the final three years of his life.The hotel has been taken over by the Holiday Inn organisation and is mostly unrecognisable. However, the original building with the entrance we used to use have been retained (although not being used as an entrance any more). Uncle Jack estimated that the windows to Judi's father rooms seem to still be intact, but who knows what is behind the windows now. The remainder is a very new building looking like many motel chains.

Sea View from Hoylake

After looking at the hotel, a visit to the Hoylake promenade was a must. The sun was breaking through and the tide looked high. However, in fact there were another three hours to high tide. At the moment, Hoylake is having the highest spring tides on record, and the promenade would certainly have had the sea completely covering it later that morning.

Rising Sun, Tarporley

Judi and Uncle Jack then drove to a small village called Tarporley for lunch at a lovely pub called The Rising Sun. Tarporley itself is very pretty and the lunch was absolutely superb - seafood pancakes completely packed with scallops, prawns and a white fish. Judi also indulged in a raspberry meringue roulade afterwards, which was equally delicious. To see a bit more of the countryside, a different route was taken back to Birkenhead, past a number of little castles. It is a very pretty part of the country.

Easter Sunday
Judi drove down to Essex today to stay with friends before returning to Australia at the weekend. Unfortunately is pouring with rain, and it seems that rain is forecast now for the remaining days. Lloyd is doing well in St Andrews. He has taken a number of local walks, visited a Farmer's Market and is getting down to some serious academic work.