We decided to spend the last Bank holiday
weekend of 2011 with close friends, Simon, Fiona and their wee kiddies, Ben and
Ella. After a packed train ride up to Glasgow, we were met by Simon, who drove
us to their home in Prestwick. They had carried out some extensions to their
home since we were last there, so it was great to see the finished product and
catch up before all hitting the hay.
The next morning we woke to meet Ben
(4years) and Ella (2 years) playing in the back yard with their toys. Not shy,
they promptly came into the kitchen to greet us, which started a series of
miscommunications with the kids not understanding our accent, and ditto for us
at times! After a great Scottish breakfast of a roll with potato tattie and
bacon, Simon, Fiona, James and I headed for a day out together, with Fiona’s
niece kindly agreeing to babysit.
We headed for a Whiskey Distillery, called
Auchentoshan, where we took a guided tour of the distillery and even got to go
into the cellar and drink a sample straight from the cask. This was our first
Whiskey distillery tour and it was a very interesting and we had a great tour
guide. We attempted to convince
James to buy a bottle ‘as an investment piece’ but decided against this in the
end. We all had another sample of whiskey at the bar before heading into
Glasgow.
At Glasgow we had a yummy lunch of Spanish
tapas, with a Scottish twist of Black Pudding with apple chutney that was
delish. After lunch we literally walked around a movie set, as the town square
was cordoned off for the filming of World War Z-a zombie movie Brad Pitt is
starring in. Unfortunately no sightings of Brad himself, however it was really
strange to see all the set, including American signposts and crashed cars all
around us. We headed for home
after a great day out, to settle the kids to bed before dining on a dinner of
our choice-deep fried pizza with fish, chips and potato fritters (it had to be
done). We were hoping to have a deep fried Mars bar too, but alas, we could not
find one (probably best as we couldn’t finish the main!). We finished the
evening with a game of Trivial Pursuit, which Simon won (much to James’
frustration!).
Sunday morning was spent relaxing at home,
before the boys took the kids to Kidsplay and Fiona and I stayed home as Fiona
had a Pampered Chef party (similar to a tuppaware party). It was great for me, as I got to meet
Fiona’s friends and workmates. We had a cooking demonstration ( a yummy
Mediterranean vegetable ring and lemon curd shortbread with strawberries) and
people purchased some of their products (I refrained given our upcoming van
trip and the need to minimize things to store!). It was a lovely afternoon followed by a very chilled out
evening.
Monday morning we woke and after the kids
were at preschool headed for breakfast in town. James and I had a full Scottish
breakfast, which included bacon, eggs, sausages, potato tatties, haggis and
black pudding. It was scrummy and confirmed for both James and I that we do
like Haggis! Interestingly, Haggis does not have liver or kidney in it, which
are James and my recollection of ‘offal’. We then headed to the train station,
after Fiona stocked us up with more Haggis to take back to London. It was a
great weekend away with good friends and it was lovely to have a slice of
family life too!
