14 August 2015 - A drookit day in Aberdeenshire

Och aye, the dark skies have poured down rain and drizzle ALL day!  To be honest, I had imagined many days like today on our travels especially in United Kingdom.  The Scots would say it was "drookit", "dreich", or just plain wet but really it was cosy in our lovely spot here in rural Aberdeenshire even if we have heating on the conquer the 13 C temperatures in the middle of summer!  Quite a contrast to yesterday's lovely weather on the beach!

Lovely visit to Jenny and John's - Luke finally settled and played nicely

 We were invited for morning coffee at Jenny and John's place which was not too far down the road, around the corner, past a clump of trees and the last house on the left....some places around here are not actually in named streets!

Luke was fascinated by all of their amazing relics from their travels

 We met Jenny at the Inverurie Community Church last Sunday and she very kindly invited us over.  John has worked abroad over the years in fascinating and dangerous places like Syria, Venezuela and New Guinea and many others.  We clicked immediately and shared our travel stories.  As I say to the children, our year away is part of their life story now and will always be a rich source of conversation material and general knowledge.

...especially the Georgian dagger!

It was also good to get the correct pronunciation of place names around here which we have bastardised somewhat!  Jenny and John are from Berkshire, England and  also had to learn the local lingo when they arrived here some 30 years ago.  Here are some examples:

       Footdee = Fittie - the lovely little fishing village at Aberdeen beach
       Garioch = Geery - a nearby village
       Tough = Toof - another village  (There is also "Lost", the village sign keeps getting stolen!!)
       Bennachie = Bena hee - Mountain range close by.

Jenny showing Luke a pop up cobra.

John and Karl

And as if the names aren't funny enough!  Nearby are Durno and Wartle so we ask: "Wartle we do?" and answer: "Durno"!  It is an old groan inducing joke now!  It is lovely listening to the other shoppers in the supermarket as the accent is so nice!  We probably stand out as really obvious the moment we open our mouths.

We have been here for a week now and it feels like much longer.  The time just flies by and the year will be over before we know it.  The rain continues and the evening has closed in early.  It is driookit outside!  I am really ready for a cosy evening sitting in the lounge room watching BBC!