Merry Christmas!

 

25 years and counting

That's how long I've known these laydees (the elf doesn't count):

 And we decided to celebrate at a wintry Loch Lomond:

 

Life through a lens

Muck about once too often with a pair of glasses...

And you may just find them getting their own back:

I need them for my screen-time. I was starting to get headaches whenever I spent too long in front of the computer, and these have some sort of special reduce-reflection coating.

Central and West Coast Magic

West Coast:

 Spreading muck on the fields (the tractor):

 Facing Norn Irn:

 Facing me:

 Central Scotland:

Red Alert

Blanket closures of schools across 11 local authorities, big roof tiles speared into gardens, my gate blown off its latch, and I can now hear which window and door seals need to be replaced. All non-essential travel should be avoided. Is El Puma's flight tomorrow essential? Of course it is.

I've Been Expecting You

December...Scotland...snow should come as no surprise, but it still did. More surprising were the arm and leg movements that the icy pavements forced me to take.

It's been a couple of days of clearing and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning but the essentials (internet, tea) seem to now be in working order. 

Partnership

Something about the leg stance.

Weihnachtsmarkt

Multiple days. Multiple Christmas markets. Throw in some multiple languages too. All aided by multiple upon multiple Glühwein-drinking sessions. Actually, you've got to because it's the only thing that warms the cockles, whatever they are,  but apparently they don't like to be cold. All to be consumed at the same time as German sausage, foamkisses, crêpes, waffles, toffee apples, gingerbread, and all types of other treats that can be obtained from snow-covered chalets in market squares.

Thanks to T. Margret for the following photos!

 Becoming our 'regular' meeting point:

 

Parting Gift

In my line of work, this is the sort of signed parting gift that makes one happy!

A Royal Wave Goodbye

As it was my last weekend in Hamburg, I decided to visit the museums that were left on my list and to walk around the harbour area for the last time and blow some of the cobwebs away.

Turns out those cobwebs were hunted down, bound and gagged and hurled into the North Sea, just about taking my insides with them, it was that windy. The wind whips up the corridor created by the River, slams into the nearest near-vertical thing (me), spins you around, leaves some dust in your eyes, takes a few hairs from your head plus your breath, and for good measure gives you a kick in the back as it leaves and you wait for the next onslaught.

Haven't experienced anything like it since St Andrews.

It was so windy it kept trying to snatch the camera out of my hand, but I did manage to get a blurred image of the Queen Mary 2 in her dry dock in Hamburg harbour.

On the first day of Christmas...

Advent is here! And that also means only 1 more week until I am back home.