The meaning of life.

As the years go on I have become less and less enamoured with birthdays, they seem to come round faster and faster and obviously as each one passes I get older and older. This year was no different and my age changed to the number that is now the same as the one on my front door and according to Douglas Adams is the meaning of life. That is yet to be seen but I definitely had the best birthday I have had in a long time.

The day was very dull as I had to work and it was a particularly boring kind of day but the evening was  wonderful. Scooting away from work on the dot of 5pm, I headed out to see my partner in crime and then onward to Glentress.

Since being introduced to mountain biking a few months ago, it is now one of my new favourite hobbies. So when asked what I would like to do for my birthday, I suggested that it would be great to go and do an evening ride followed by a lovely home cooked dinner, and that is exactly what I got.

The rainy weather that had plagued the whole day even disappeared and the night was clear and crisp with the stars and moon brightly shining in the sky. All geared up with my new birthday biking glasses and waterproof shorts, we headed out to trundle round a short version of the blue route. It takes just under the hour and is a great post work work out.

Feeling relaxed and happy to be out and about on such a beautiful evening, it was even more fabulous to get back to the van and have my already prepared birthday dinner. My wonderful chef did not let me down as a truly delicious lamb dhansak  was produced from the food flask, followed by chocolate and banana cake.

Once we had polished off our delectable dinner it was time to head home to get freshened up and settle in for the night with a lovely glass of wine. What more could a girl ask for, best birthday ever.

So very, very true.

Trueblood Tee, fangtastic.

Moonlight, bikes and food.

We returned back to the trails today for more fun, but this time on the red route which has a lung and leg burning climb but is worth it for the downs. It was slightly on the damp side so lots of mud on the paths and quite a fair amount on me by the end of the run. Great fun though, I like getting muddy! 

Peace x

All photographs by Caroline Harvey except the one of me which was taken by the equally muddy but lovely Mr T. x .

Midweek Music with Mother.

Back in the day when vinyl and turntables were the kings of musical entertainment systems, and I was very much younger, the sounds emanating from our family record player usually consisted of The Beatles, Elton John, Status Quo and Rod Stewart.

My Mum has always been a big fan of Rod the Mod, so for her birthday this year I bought tickets for us to go see Rod Stewart at the new SSE Hydro in Glasgow. This would be her first ever music concert and the first time back in Glasgow since the Glasgow Garden Festival back in 1988, which incidentally was almost on the same spot as the Hydro. Weird huh!

I purchased the tickets way back in June, but time has flown and this week saw us travel through to Glasgow for a girls day out to see the incredible Mr Stewart.

He was the opening performer at the newly purpose built music venue the SSE Hydro and both the venue and performer did not disappoint.

The Hydro is huge, with a 16000 capacity but even though our seats were up high on the 3rd tier, we could see and hear every bit of the performance. The seating was comfy, the toilets were plentiful and many bars were close by to refuel those who required an abundance of refreshments.

Mr Stewart put on a fantastic performance and for a man of 68 years he looks, moves and sounds great. With 3 suit changes, a troop of tall, blonde/dark musical lovelies that any Robert Palmer video would be proud of, he performed a total of 23 songs, many of his old back catalogue and a few from his new album.

A most excellent evening all round.

Oh yes!

Finnieston Crane.

Mum out West and in the rain.

The new Hydro.

Inside looking out.

Inside looking in.

Much hugeness.

The anticipation...

Mr Stewart on one of the small side screens.

He is there somewhere....honest!

The Finale with balloons.

My kind of building.

Rainbows.

Peace x

All photographs by Caroline Harvey.