Feeling perky

I've had a really nice weekend. Really nice. I had a hectic Friday running about in court getting an urgent interdict against someone dealing with the estate of someone who'd died because there is dubiety about the will. Cases like that are at least interesting. And the fact that I had to hang around in court for ages meant that I bumped into lots of people I know and had an excuse to blether because I was just twiddling my thumbs waiting for a judge. If I had a pound for every hour of my life I have spent in various courts just waiting for the privilege of speaking to a judge, well let's just say we would be having one heck of a good Christmas!

So I got home on Friday feeling tired but like I had achieved something. The children had had swimming lessons that day, which neither of them really like but they had done reasonably well so we decided a treat was in order. We nipped over the road to the corner shop, Second Born got a Wispa, I got a SMALL bar of chocolate (seriously, given I can eat an A4 bar myself in one go, this was teensy) and First Born got......a Pepperami. What can I say. He's strange. We also bought Husband a macaroon bar even though he was out for the evening. We are thoughtful that way.

On Saturday we discovered that lots of attractions around Scotland were open free of charge to celebrate St Andrew's day - one of the obvious benefits of having a Nationalist government in power is that they are really into this sort of thing. So we piled into the car and went to Craigmillar Castle for a wee wander around. It's a fantastic little castle, full of winding staircases, cellars and battlements you can walk along. The kids decided to pretend we were hunting them and spent their time hiding from us and running away. Great for us as we got to meander round in peace apart from the occasional burst of chasing and hiding behind things to jump out on them. Terrific fun. If you ever come to Edinburgh, I recommend a visit.

This morning, I got up early and took the children to Edinburgh Zoo which was also open free of charge. Husband stayed behind to do some work and we set off early to try to beat the worst of the crowds, and crowds there were aplenty. Nothing gets Scots out of bed on a frosty morning when the temperature is -4.5 like the promise of not having to pay £20 to get in to the Zoo. Not doing much to upset the stereotype, were we?

The fact that it was -4.5 did not seem to have impressed itself upon my darling children, however. Second Born paid lip service to wrapping up by wearing a vest under his sweater. First Born did not even bother with that, just putting on a sweatshirt. Both of them were scornful of my suggestion that the temperature warranted thick, padded winter jackets. They would wear their hoodies and look cool, thanks all the same Mum. I toyed with the idea of laying down the law and insisting, but settled instead for the "Okay, but on your heads be it. You will not be allowed to complain of the cold when we are out, will you?" route. The boys airily agreed.
I then took an inordinate (and for a supposedly loving parent, probably inappropriate) amount of pleasure in stomping around the exposed hillside on which the Zoo is situated, cheerily shouting "This isn't cold, is it boys?" as my breath curled round my head, hopefully obscuring my smirk. That'll larn 'em.

Most of the animals, sensible beasts, decided this was in fact not a morning to be up and about early and stayed indoors. The warty pigs (yes, they really are called that) were cool, as were the penguins. Edinburgh's penguin enclosure is absolutely brilliant as you can watch the penguins underwater when they turn from slightly comical waddling waiters, slipping around on the wet stone to sleek, speeding torpedos whizzing past the windows just for the fun of it.

After a couple of hours, we left and I took my two little icicles home for lunch and toe-defrosting. The rest of the day has been spent lazing around reading, watching old Red Dwarf episodes and getting ready for the week ahead. I am due to be in court for most of it so it will probably zoom by. Hope everyone else had a good weekend too.