I came up to Scotland via the train and the car and arrived at my cousin’s house. My cousin comes from the rich side of the Roberts family (i.e. not ours), and they have a pretty impressively large house. My sister-in-law has an extremely good way of getting us free accomodation. The below is an approximation of a telephone conversation:

Monika: Oh, Polly, we were just thinking how it would be nice to come up and see you.

Polly: Yes, sure, we’d love to see you.

Monika: Actually, we were coming up to Scotland this weekend.

Polly: OK, you’ll have to come and see us.

Monika: Great! Um… Would it be possible if we could stay the night?

Polly: Sure, no problem.

Monika: We’re bringing some friends, would it be alright if they stayed too?

Polly: How many friends?

Monika: 3…

Well, you get the idea. Along the same line as her “A Manly beard, not like yours Jonney” comment, this is something that will probably turn up in conversation for a few months/years/generations to come.

They were very kind, but I think Paul (Polly’s husband) was a bit confused as to why a load of people he didn’t know were staying in his house. Ah well, she gave us some amazing brownies, which can only be a good sign. We should probably wait a few years to see them again though…

We then of course went to see Ally. It was good to see that Ally had a NES in his house, and we had a good meal too. We walked around random famous landmarks in St. Andrews, which was fun. We didn’t see Jim Cronin though, so I didn’t get to say hi to him for Becky, but I’m sure she says hi to him plenty already.