Well, it's Christmas Day and, miracle on 23 East Road, it's snowing. For any of my friends back in the UK, that refers to the white stuff that falls from the sky that isn't rain, but so rarely on any important December days.

It's a thin layer to be sure (so far), just enough give a light covering on what was awaiting me when I arrived. Still, it's the first time in umpteen years I've had a white christmas, so despite everything it'll more than suffice.

It's nice to know that whatever shitty things happens in life, there are other things which still seem kinda cool... rather than merely below freezing.

* No giddy nostalgia was hurt in the making of this blog post.

Not had a lot of access to the Net in the last few days as Holly doesn't have a landline yet. However I have picked up an ocassional wi-fi bleed which must be coming from a nearby property. Actually, I'm probably hijacking the signal from the church next door. Thoughts that I may be going to hell for this are tempered by the fact that every Christian I know says it is better to give than receive, so at this time of year, I hope they practise what they literally preach ;)

So. Off I go. Technically this is the first day of my excellent ADVENTure ( see what I did there?) and things have gotten off to an okay if not quite exact start. I was supposed to be staying at the Yotel at Heathrow Airport (in one of those pods/cabins that everyone is talking about) but now it appears that everyone is talking about them not opening on time, so I'll be shuttled off by shuttle to a nearby hotel at Yotel's expense. Bad PR, but good response, I guess.

Last weekend was the Dublin City Comic Con. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy in... No wait. That was Mos Eisley... easy mistake to make.

So. The Vancouver trip went well... then it was on to Denver by way of LAX... good job I like flying (or at least getting to new places eventually).

Denver was warmer than I thought it would be in October and though not quite as hot as LA it was in the late 70s most of the three days I was there (It seems I bring good weather with me whenever I go somewhere, so ya boo sucks to the naysayers ;) )

Holly picked me up from the airport late on the Wednesday and we went to her new house which, like a tardis, is humble on the outside but is much bigger on the inside. There's a lot of work to do, but it's already looking fine. A brief chat and a beer and then Holly headed to bed as she had to be up in the morning to speechify to up-and-coming journos at the college (My advice to them: 'Don't bother! the pay is lousy, the hours are terrible and, frankly, I don't need the competition!' I stayed up a bit, unwound and then went to sleep watching TV shows on my laptop.

Thursday and the aforementioned speech apparently went well and I got to meet more of Holly's editorial team on the now famous (nay infamous) Collegian - for which she acts as official advisor and which has had its time in the national (US) spotlight recently when their editor ran the following headline "Tazer This. Fuck Bush!" (*Holly - as advisor - ironically not being forewarned of such before it happened)

Holly had the rest of the days I was there off, so they were spent exploring the local scenery - that even Holly was new to - and chilling out. I rode her new horse Mariah (a lovely animal and very tolerant of me) and we had a few drinks with friends Kit and Ariel who swung by to see the new place. Kit especially helped with the removal and remodelling of one of the bedroom doors. My favourite line of the Friday evening was when we met several of Holly's friends in a bar and, upon meeting Kit and Ariel, one said matter-of-factly: 'A stuntman married to a ballerina... boy, your sex life must SO not suck!' Priceless.

After too short a stay I was back on a plane to LAX and then the UK ( good job I...see above etc etc). Made it home late Sunday and slept for ten hours straight.

Dammit. No space left to mention the Minature Sicilian Guard Donkeys or the Dogs of Unusual Shaving. Well, apparently, just enough.

Check out a wider range of pix at: http://s135.photobucket.com/albums/q146/JohnMosby/Americana%20and%20Canadicana/

Well, in the way that trips often do, time has flown and I'm only a few hours away from leaving Vancouver. This past weekend I was eMCeeing the HLWW8 event here. Eighteen months of planning and much like Christmas it's ages of anticpation and then it's all over again so quickly.

Being the eMCee is something of both a fun and thankless task. Fun in the sense that you get a completely unique insight into the event both before and after and thankless because... well, really the same reason - you aren't there as a paying fan nor a guest, so you have to balance deftly between the two. However according to most people I talked to, I did a decent job. My only moments of frustration were the od times when the panels didn't flow too well into each other and that was often only because the guests were stull en route to the backstage area - such is the way of cons and the fact that we ran almost to time every day except Sunday (when we lost the final panel to accomodate leaving guests and thus got back on schedule) is somethign to be proud of.

The Jim Byrnes concert and guest cabaret were quite amazing. Though I had the outline of a new skit - as discussed with Carmel - David A had been persuaded to write a new Duncan/Amanda scene and so that was used instead (no problem... I'd rather see David's work over mine anyday!). Equally, as carmel wanted to introduce some of the acts herself, I relinguished the role of eMCee for a few hours and enjoyed the event as a nomral con-goer. Rick Faraci and partner Sharon joined us for the evening show and as mentioned, it went down really well.

It as strange doing a 3-day event and I felt totally drained (in a good way) by the time it was all done. There were moment sof drama when Adrian's sword slipped from his hands and caught Sue's camera, but the fluke accident wasn't as bad as some people initially reported - still it was a wake-up call as to how dangerous swords can be.

There won't be another HLWW con for a long while now. That may be no bad thing as this event set a new standard that it would be hard to surpass in content and number/quality of guests. Give it a couple of years and we'll all be refreshed. Hopefully the mutually fun and reciporocal relationship between HLWW and me will continue and I'll be back to eMCee whenever that is...

Now staying at actor/stuntman/really big guy Rick Faraci's house, I'll be off on a plane in around 12hrs and on to Denver via LAX...
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

(Above photo courtesy of Sharon Smyth)

I never knew it was so hard sending things throughthe post. To save suitcase space I decided to send some clothes back to the UK -being greener than the Hulk on environmental issues, I decided to use the same box that John Bierly had sent me some stuff from Indiana in the day before.

But noooooooo.

Seems while the industrial tape he secured it with was okay from Indiana, the LA post office didn't like it one bit. So had to get a whole new box and send this morning. Except.... they didn't like where I'd put my return adddress, so had to write it out again. And fill inanew form. All this to send MYSELF someting.

*sigh*

Now typing this atLAX en route to Vancouver. Hope I don't have similar problems to my parcel!

Yes, I'm off again. I'm on one of those jaunts that leads the uninitiated to muse 'If he gets paid so little, how can he afford all these trips???' I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Fair to say that it's totally legitimate, that I earn my keep and the closest I get to espionage is to watch a special sneak preview of the upcoming series of 'Spooks'. In all seriousness, I don't know how I do it either. I think having a very small, but wonderful set of friends who I can pay back in kind if not always in $s, working my ass off and praying to St Christopher all probably helps a little...

I'm only in LA for a few days this time. On Wednesday I continue the trip up to Vancouver for official duties at the HLWW con, so this particular leg is the less work-intensive. In fact Saturday night saw Kerry and myself invited to one of those beach/bonfire parties that would be ridiculously impractical in England but are just lovely in California. There was beach, bonfires, guitars a moon and the ocassional VERY low-flying jumbo-sets which were so close I'm pretty sure I saw someone waving. Nothing quite like singing 'Free-Falling' in chorus as the marshmallows burn slowly (actually quite spontaneously) on the fire.

Sunday was a day or rest. 'Day of rest...' meaning I got up late and then we headed down to the Robin Hood pub near Sherman Oaks. Mark Ryan had kindly sorted out a couple of mates to join us for Sunday Lunch (Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Beef, peas....yum!). These mates were (drum-roll, please) Ray Winstone (currently filming Indiana Jones) and Jason Connery. Cult TV fans will know they all starred in Robin of Sherwood together many moons ago and they've remained firm friends. The resulting chat, covering bears, rhinoseroses (rhinosceri?), CGI, stage-school, Doncaster, pink shirts and Yorkshire Puddings was absolutely ysterical and was taped for posterity... and will feature in an upcoming issue of Impact. All great stuff.

Next couple of days should be fairly relaxing. No major interviews planned for LA, hopefully some may work out for Vancouver.

LA. I am SO meant to live here.

It's hard to describe the headaches (metaphorical and, oh, so very actual) that come from your computer going down at the exact point you need it to be performing at its peak. With less than a month to go before my US/Canada 'tour' (ha!) and tons of work to do... well, the last few days minus power-cable have been...annoying. More annoying than Alien 3 even. However a replacement cable arrived this morning and now the t-shirt designs are off to the printers, the brochure is nearer done than not and now I only have to balance Impact, Verbatim and UPS stuff. *sigh*

Tonight, after two hours spent carefully designing an ad, my laptop suddenly turned itself off - result: all work lost as I was just about to save it but hadn't. As the laptop works with battery power, I'm busy saving files to a disc just in case. It's not the fuse, so I can only presume the charger overheated or somesuch. Not sure if temporary or permanent.

Anyway, if e-mails don't get answered etc, this will be why. Normal service will be resumed, probably just after the nick of time if this is anything to go by...

So. The new passport arrived. It took a week and £72, so not too bad, I guess. This time the accompanying photograph means I don't look like a softly-spoken, writer-not-a-fighter, but more like a ninja-trained, internationally-wanted spy with amnesia problems international man of paperwork with a wry sense of humour. Which is nice.

I've been reading about proposed changes to the ID systems in the UK and US and I have to admit that getting a new passport now was as much about non-conforming to the threat of a new, useless ID card for at least ten years as much as replacing my old one (with eighteen months left to run on it) which was getting a bit crumpled and torn.

Rudolph Giuliani, (Mr. 9/11) is talking about introducing even tighter restrictions for tourists, with special ID cards issued when they enter the country. Sounds more like political flag-waving than any coherent policy as I carry my passport with me at all times when in the US and that should be more than enough. (I also ticked the 'No' box on the form that asks me if I intend to sabotage anything or commit criminal acts...). Equally I place my finger in that control at US Customs and look a camera in the eye, so that's yet another database I'm on. No major problem with that - or with the idea that a passport should have a fingerprint on it as well - but I can't help noticing that while it's S-O-P at US airports, neither the UK or US administrations like the idea of finger-printing Americans on their arrival here. Is it a case of 'do as we say, not do as we do?' or just as likely that tourists here already put off by the £1=$2 exchange rate when visiting our shores wouldn't take too kindly to longer queues?

Either way, I'm off to LA and Vancouver in just over a month. Once flights are booked. Which I should go and check up on now.

Do I have anything to declare? Just my genius.

My social life has been sadly lacking recently - largely due to the workload between HLWW, Impact, Verbatim and the fact that as I get slightly older I seem to have less but infinitely better friends but who don't live on my doorstep (which would admittedly not be comfortable for them).

However this week was a Mozapalooza. On Friday met up with a friend in Leeds who was travelling through the area for a job interview. I promised drinks and merriment (a reckless promise this being Leeds) and managed to just about deliver. The rain held off, the food was tasty (Iguana, by the Corn Exchange gets the Moz recommendation of *****) and the company good. But apart from the Cinema Days events and the ocassional sojourn to London, this mind and body is a little out of practise for the whole hitting the city thang and the apparent ten year olds that wander around seemingly hitting the city back just sometimes make me feel old.

Saturday came and went and the evening saw me heading across to the other side of Leeds to watch TV pilots, eat pizza and drink beer with the Millarworld Mob. EastEnders' Michelle Ryan IS the Bionic Woman! Angelina's ex Jonny Lee Miller IS an hallucinating lawyer. Wii consoles ARE addictive! No bigger joy than watching good tv, trashing bad tv and finally making up your own subtitles for an eastern film involving scarf-weilding ninjas, cackling villains and and bad guys that can only apparently be stopped by pre-menstrual blood. Hollywood has SO much to learn. Big thanks to Steve for the invite and to Carlos, James and Sanjay for the company.

Right now I ache, feel about 50, my sleep-cycle's dangerously off-kilter and I'm behind on my deadlines. Must be a Tuesday.

America and Britian may be two countries separated by a common language, but I never really realised how much until the recent trip to the States and a chat with Mark Ryan (of Transformers/Robin of Sherwood fame.) I was telling someone today about how difficult it was for both Mark and myself (both proud Yorkshiremen) to describe a Yorkshire Pudding to the colonials in a way that made any sense and conveyed it's regional and global superiority as edible delight.

Oh, sure. It's not too difficult to explain the ingredients, the egg, the rising in the oven etc. But just try describing it in more aesthetic ways without the aid of a picture. It's not a biscuit, it's not a pancake, it's not bread, it's not soft and it's not a 'dessert' in the pudding sense. It can be crisp, it can be small part of a meal, or if large enough, almost the container for a whole gravy-sodden sunday lunch. It's the hole for the toad in 'Toad in the Hole', but it's, oh so much more.

Until today I was under the impression that I'd have to actually make one when Stateside just to prove it existed in three dimensions. However I've been informed that the Americans MAY have something similar and it could be known as a Pop-Over.

If you are what you eat, I think that means we're all in trouble.

* for those still wondering, they are - in this form at least - the golden food at the bottom of the plate in the picture.

The last week's been a busy one and not just coping with the sunburn. I've gone from hugely appealing to hugely a'peeling... but maybe TMI.

There's no such things as 'average' weekends.

Late Thursday night the boiler at the house went into overdrive for no apparent reason and we noticed that it was getting very hot very quickly just before midnight. Thankfully we managed to shut it down and a repairman gave it a safety-check so that it was possible to use it again. Part of me is tempted to think this was a last metaphysical joke on Roy's behalf.

On Friday it was my grandfather's funeral and it was good that we didn't get the requisite stormy skies and bleak weather... in fact it was relatively sunny and pleasant which I like to think is the much better way to experience a celebration of someone's life. It was interesting to see some old faces that I hadn't seen in years and meet new ones and I think the food and drink afterwards gave everyone a chance to toast in style. The Order of Service booklet I designed seemed to go down well so that makes it all worthwhile.

A much-needed break on Saturday/Sunday with a BBQ over in Kippax. I've known Karen (above, left) for years (we dated as teenagers....oh toooooo many years ago) and though life has some times been a bit turbulent, life has usually buffeted us back into each other's orbits as friends before too long to compare stories of deep woe, huge hilarity or just bitch about life in general. This was my first chance to catch up with her since her 39th+1 surprise birthday in February so it was good to shoot the breeze and meet some of the people in her life now. The BBQ was a birthday bash for one at her friends, Beth, and though I didn't know anyone else there to begin with, we were all eventually setting the world to rights (and then breaking it into small shrill pieces again) until around 3:00am.

I fell asleep the minute my head touched the pillow and though I woke early I decided to doze until I knew Karen was up and about or at least tapping away at the keyboard in her attic room. Sat out in Karen's garden for much of the morning (hangovers, what hangovers?) as it was glorious sunshine - the breeze disguised how hot it was actually getting and now my arms look like someone's painted them bright red. I can only hope that it fades from burnt umber to a healthy tan.

Tomorrow the weather will be back to basics. I may still be a lobster.

*Edit: Yes, it's morning and my face looks and feels like I got 'botox by proxy' *sigh*

My grandfather, Gordon 'Roy' Shearing, died today. It's weird to type those words, even when you know they're coming. He was my last surviving grandparent and at the age of 87, with rapidly failing health, it was expected - though I remember the words Joss Whedon used in one of the finest hours on television on the subject, that death is ALWAYS sudden too.


He lived a life less ordinary, living in places as different as Leeds, The Bahamas and Southamption, before spending most of of the latter half of his life in Coventry. His son - my mum's brother, David Shearing - was a respected leader writer for several UK papers and certainly one of the reasons I segued into that business myself.

He was a complex person, but he was also a character - as delightful, benevolent and flawed as anyone you'd care to meet. And it's hard for me to imagine no longer picking up the phone to one of his frequent phone calls, though I think he'll already be wondering if he can get call-coverage up there.

Sleep well, you've earned it.

Within forty-eight hours of getting back from America, I was headlong into my brother's wedding. Headlong is an apt description as though I'd spent much of that forty-eight hours trying to adjust my body-clock, I was still feeling a bit off balance - and that was before any of the alcohol.

Yes, the final leg of the trip was New York, a place I'd always wanted to visit but never had the opportunity to before. Thanks to a very good price on an arrive-LAX & depart-JFK flight and the fact that my HLWW associate Camille (and her husband Steve) had graciously offered to let me stay with them in New Jersey, the opportunity was now here - even though it was a small window of opportunity.

I arrived at La Guardia later than originally planned on Monday afternoon and was scheduled to fly out back to the UK on the Wednesday evening. I caught a bus/shuttle from the airport to Grand Central Station (remember Terry Gilliam's Fisher King commuter-dancers?). Making contact with Camille and Steve, they arranged to pick me up just south of Times Square, so suitcase in hand - and arm almost out of socket - I trundled along doing the first part of my sight-seeing. With luggage deposited in boot/trunk, we headed to Little Italy and delicious food (ravioli with the piping hot sauce actually proving NOT to blow my ears out in hysterical cartoon fashion and proving VERY tasty!)

The following day Steve dropped me in Manhattan around 9:00 as he headed off for business appointments and we arranged to meet again around 5:00pm or so. So I made the most of the day and started off at the Empire State Building. After standing in line for about an hour I made it to the top and the legendary spectacular views of the city. I bought Big Apple souvenirs there and smiled at the irony that I couldn't get a cell-phone signal. Then I headed down broadway and back up, taking in SoHo, The Village, Ground Zero, Union Station and many shops.

I was tempted to also visit the Statue of Liberty, but the queues just to get to the Statten Island Ferry looked to be several hours wait and so that was pencilled in for another time.

My heatwave powers were still operating at full-force and it was interesting to see how different a sunny New York looked from the shades of grey I'd expected from watching far too many Law & Order spin-offs. It was a relatively clean city, fast-paced but pretty friendly. I felt safe and welcomed and would recommend a visit to anyone.

I met up with Steve and a couple of his friends around 6:00 and then we both headed back to New Jersey for another meal out with Camille and her brother too. It was great to be treated to their fantastic Italian-style hospitality and it was just a shame I didn't have longer. The following morning (with temperatures up from mid 80s to mid 90s!) Steve dropped me at the local station and I headed back into Manhattan. Annoyingly the suitcase wheel (which admittedly had weathered a lot) developed a wobble and so I probably pulled a few more muscles in my arm as I went to meet the shuttle to the airport. However I made it intact, checked in with relative ease and gladly settled back to wait for the boarding call. I collapsed into my seat on the plane and drifted off for a few minutes of the six hour flight...and before I knew it was back in the UK.

Peh.

After the Rockies there were still plenty of treats, a professional massage as a birthday treat - everyone should have those regularly: verrrrrry relaaaaaaxing - food with Holly's friends and then back to Kit and Ariel's so that I could be close to the airport for an early start to my next port of call. I took off from Denver at about 7:30am and flying thru Dallas Fort Worth up and across to Columbus (which meant changing my watch twice in two, er, three hours). But oh me-o, oh-my-o, Columbus Ohio was warm (even at night, see apic above). Heatwave: 80 degress +. I'm obviously a lightning rod for... well, lack of lightning.

Leg two of my trip took me to Denver. Heatwave: 80 degrees. My friend Kit (whose wedding I attended in Biarritz last year) was getting ready to graduate from law school. As I'd promised/threatened to visit them - and Kit's cousin Holly - on my next viable trip, it seemed that this was the best opportunity and though it was mainly a family gathering, I was made to feel welcome (and, after all, I had met most of the family last year!). Holly and I were drafted in to help set up the picnic in the park and by the time everyone arrived we'd comandeered some more helpful hands and the afternoon went well. Where else in the world can you get lawyers, hot-dogs and blow-up monkeys? (On second thoughts, don't answer that question). Given the weather, it was my idea to grab some water-pistols to entertain the kids. As usually happens, it was the adults that had the most fun with those!

Kit and Ariel headed off to Vegas for a few days celebration, so Holly had arranged to show me the sights, sounds, smells and skyline of Denver. She did a great job. Downtown Denver reminds me of Manchester could be like if it was clean, tidy, more welcoming and hotter. The restaurants are full or great aromas and friendly service. Come Monday and it was off to the Rocky Mountains - about an hour's drive. Holly had told me we'd be going camping, but while tents would have been an experience, I was happy to know we'd have the use of a Nash camping van. The camping ground, near Red Feather Lake was just... amazing. The landscape was breath-taking and the wildlife were out in force. ( "Ooooh, look a bear!" - "That's a chipmunk, John..." - "It's a bloody large chipmunk!" ).

At night we lit a campfire and I pretended to be a hunter / gatherer with all the mustering that a writer / ditherer could muster. Living in a city, you tend to forget how quiet the rural areas are and this was a welcome break from the traffic, smog and rat-race. It was wonderful to listen to the silence that you just don't get with the ambient noise of a city. Later, with 'Somewhere over the Rainbow...' playing quietly on the music system, the moon rising through the sky and a only-slight chill to the higher altitude weather, it was a perfect ending to a perfect day.

There's something that's both very vain and very voyeuristic about blogging. Unlike a diary you have to be aware (even hope) that someone else is reading what you write. On one hand it has to be personal and on the other there are still personal limits that you can choose to impose or not.

Every so often when the mood takes me (and deadlines don't) I hit that button at the top of the blog page that says 'Next Blog' and it takes to me to random pages. It's a great exercise in life and it takes you to places and people that you'd probably never visit by everyday choice. Most you flick past, some you don't. In the last year I've witnessed the musings of people in tens of different countries and sometimes in languages that I barely understand. There's been everyday stories of a family's life, the diary of a New York photogrpaher, pages advertising stocks and shares, the chroniciling of an international couple's illicit affair (note to self: don't have affair and certainly don't create a permenant dialogue on-line). A few months back I saw a picture of a beautiful asian face and decided to save it to my drive for art reference whenever I got around to painting or illustrating again. The site was run by a blogger called Lisa, an openly gay writer who explained to her readers that after a wild and crazy life she's apparently just fallen in love with a girl named Ayumi. This week, cycling back to the page, I glanced at the latest entries and saw, in Ayumi's broken English, the news that Lisa had gone missing, been found mugged and had been in hospital with severe brain injuries for several weeks. She died a few days ago.

I never met Lisa. I'll never meet Ayumi. The international affair couple seem to have broken up and gone their separate ways. Someone is still advertising stocks in some vague profit scheme.

It occurs to me that we touch each other's lives in brief and distant ways, often softly colliding without noticing or brushing past against shared moments, never knowing what meetings or people will be the important firsts, lasts or forevers until later, if at all. Perhaps if we paid more attention we'd know how much they affect both the people we meet everyday and those who simply, briefly skirt the edges. Perhaps we'd take a moment to realise that, even a little distance off, they can matter.

I was determined to go for some artistic shots while I was up in Scotland - not just the obvious touristy snaps. It was a cold, wet, freezing day but I struggled up some slippery banking to get a close-up and longer-exposure shot of this swollen stream. Took a couple of attempts, but eventually I got the effect I wanted...


I was VERY lucky with this shot. This stag deemed to virtually pose for me in front of the car (in the pouring rain, no less). 15mins later my camera card malfunctioned and appeared to wipe off all the shots from that day. Grrrrrr. However I managed to download some recovery software and lo and behold I got the shot back (along with some others I thought lost...)


Glenfinnan Church is a small, but beautiful building - still used for services - and in 2007 Highlander WorldWide will be actively trying to help with its essential repairs restoration. The roof and heating are the first orders of the day. Hiding from the rain, Nancye and Carmel practise their subtle marketing techniques for raising cash...


Finally, for now, a stunning view of Ben and Glen Nevis that Sue Viney and I caught on the way back to England. With its fantastic views, lovely people, a New Year's Eve without much light thanks to a power cut (but with ideal atmospheric candle-light), the enigmatic Father Roddy and more than a few good bevvies and songs, this was a great way to start 2007.

Thursday December 28th:
I'm up for breakfast, which for anyone who knows me, is a major feat... especially when the sun has not yet risen. Frankly if the big ball of light at the centre of the universe can't be bothered, why should my heavenly body, either? The early sleep has made me bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by 7:00am. That's great if you're a squirrel, but Mosbys are less cute under such conditions. Yes, this is deepest (and currently darkest) Scotland and as I tuck into some corn flakes and toast, it's only just starting to get light outside. As it was already getting dark when we arrived yesterday, it's my first chance to see the landscape near the hotel. Through the damp weather and clouds it's possible to see the nearby hills, cloaked in mist. It's very picturesque, so the camera is quickly produced. This is a country that doesn't skimp on the scenery.

With Carmel and Nancye not due until various times after lunch, today is really a 'make plans' kind of day. The Australian contingent will be with us soon enough (probably) so Sue and I take a drive around the local area, not going too far, but allowing Sue to show me some of the nearer places she wants to show the others in the coming days. Within in a few minutes we're within about thirty foot of a pair of deer and there's quite the feeling of excitement. Urban boy that I am, I feel like I'm in the wild, depsite the fact I'm a few feet from the road. Later there's more sedate wildlife when we stop to photograph some completely unimpressed cows (yes, probably peach-flavoured if you're reading this, Shaleah). There's also an impressive view of the Glenfinnan monument and the local church, both of which we'll be returning to later.

We're back in plenty of time to the hotel, but misjudge Carmel's arrival. I'm standing outside the hotel and halfway across the road when I see her and her son Calum walkign up form the train station (about five minutes walk away). For what it's worth, I'm later told they see my puzzled reaction from a distance and just think I'm a drunk Scot standing in the middle of the road. I help get their luggage to the rooms and we sit down in the bar where we talk to owners Keiran and Ina. With a few hours to go until Nancye arrives we head down the road to the edges of Fort William (about 20 minutes drive) where Carmel and Calum buy some clothes to be going on with. There's no sign of their luggage arriving today and we can only cross our fingers it will arrive soon. Cpats and wooly jumpers are on sale at very reasonable prices and I make a mental note to spend some £ before I leave next week.

Nancye arrives, tired and flustered but ever optimistic, heavy suitcase traling behind her at around 5:00pm. It's already dark and so we all decide not to do anything too dramatic. We eat in the bar again...Keiran's award-winning food proving to fill us all up. Then it's off to bed with Veronica again, after I download the pix I've taken so far to my laptop. Tomorrow is another day... Friday if my memory isn't totally frazzled.