The Amazing Mrs Mc.

Well for once the weather over the weekend has been great, sun, blue skies, no rain and the temperature in double figures! I think the term for describing it is "Summer", but have been mistaken in the past so won't jump to conclusions too soon.

Fingers were all crossed for the conditions to be good as my dear friend Lesley aka Mrs Mc, was running her very first marathon in our lovely home town of Edinburgh.

Along with her support team (Beth and I) we drove into town sharp in order to get parked and walk over to the start on Regent Road. The town was very busy with lycra clad bodies all heading in the same direction. We managed to get to our pink coded starting point with about 10 mins to spare for Lesley to get into "the zone". Beth and I continued down to just after the start line to shout our encouragement.

Getting ready.

Matching nails.

In the pink.

Start.

Go Mrs Mc.

With Lesley safely on her way, we headed back to the car in order to make our way to the finish in Musselburgh. A fairly simple task you would assume, but with a combination of road closures and heavy volumes of traffic due to the marathon itself, football fans leaving Easter Road and a police incident, this took us slightly longer than anticipated. However, we made it in time to see the first of the runners coming through and waited with great excitement to see Lesley make it to the finish.

As she was quite visible in her bright pink tee shirt we spotted her coming and shouted encouragement for the last few yards. The focus on the finish was too much though and she sadly did not see or hear us. A few minutes and a phone call later we were reunited and hugs were had all round. Finishing in a truly amazing time of 3hrs 33mins. It was enough to bring a tear to our eyes, we were all so proud.

Powering through the finish.

Spot the pink.

The end.

Wowser of a time.

Very proud friends and sister.

The medal.

Peace x

 Photographs by Caroline Harvey, Beth Gall and Jim Fordyce

Pedal on Parliament.

Today, me and family Gall, Pedalled on Parliament. This was my first ever experience of participating in any kind of demonstration and I have to say it was a very pleasant one. We met at Harrison Park and then cycled to the main gathering point at the Meadows, where we joined hundreds of others.

I have cycled many miles and many years on Edinburgh roads and have often cursed and bemoaned drivers, the state of our roads and general lack of cycleways, so it was about time that I should lend a hand to the cause.

It was great to cycle from the Meadows to the Parliament without traffic, but it was very apparent on our way home how unsuitable our streets are for cycling in a group with small children.

Good afternoon out and the rain stayed away. Bonus.

Near the front of the line.

Pandas POP.

The back of the line.

Panda Power.

At parliament.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey

A rare and unwanted species.

I don't generally get overly personal on my blog, but I have a fairly large winge coming on. I am not writing this for sympathy or for any "plenty more fish in the sea" comments because although kind, it's not helpful.

Anyone who knows me well is aware that I have been single for quite a while now. There was a brief relationship in there but the less said about that the better really.

Anyway, long story short I joined the internet dating scene as it seemed like the only way to meet new people. This was back in 2011 and have been on and off with it since then. Just for clarification before my winge begins I would just like to state for the record that some people I have met have been "good guys" just not for me or vice versa and this is only my opinion of my experience.

I feel it is fair to say that I have now almost had my fill of the whole internet thing and here are my reasons.

It would seem that women of my age who do not want children are the least wanted species on dating sites. Many men of similar age and older are still looking to have children so usually have an upper age limit of late 30's. Certainly 40 seems to be the magic number that they do not go above, even if they themselves are up to ten years older than that. It starts to become fairly demoralising looking at profile after profile and being discounted on account of age and the fact I don't have a maternal bone in my body. Not having a particularly professional job these days does not fair so well either and seems to render me a bit stupid.

Sadly though, I think many women tell lies on their profiles too, which only makes the few honest men more wary. One chap I had a brief email correspondence with told me he was leaving the site having just unwittingly had an affair with a married women. As if being single wasn't hard enough!

I have quite a few more gripes but will leave it it that for now

 At least some things never fail to make me smile.

Peace x

All photos by Caroline Harvey

Weddings and stuff.

I had the very good fortune to attend one of the most beautiful weddings I think I have ever been to recently. My gorgeous friend Tamsin very bravely decided to have her wedding on a beach in Dumfries and Galloway at the end of April. Considering the continuously cold weather and snow fall that has only just begun to recede, the day in question could not have been any better.

The grey and wet morning gradually blew away and by the afternoon we were left with blue skies, no rain and no wind. Perfect conditions for a small gathering of people on the beach, to witness a fabulous union of two lovely friends. Having met in the Antarctic it was a happy coincidence that they were to wed on World Penguin Day.

White bay, Mossyard.

Idyllic.

Beautiful people.

Continuing in my crafty ways I also made their wedding gift.

Significant places of love!

I also made a picture for my Mum, cos I love her too.

Butterflies.

and rainbows.

Peace x

All photographs by Caroline Harvey