Muttering and Nodding

04/05/2005

I join the Kerrs at Arichastlich on a sharp clear morning, after a night of stormy rain with a load of fresh snow above 1800 feet. Jonathan has already left for work in the South, but Peter and Andrew are still in Glen Orchy with John and Erica. The phone still rings constantly following Erica’s mother’s funeral. Erica is keen to stay at home to catch up with correspondence and business. The rest of us decide on a spree to launch “Mhairi Katharine” at Balvicar. We are required to visit the post office, the butcher, the chandlery and Tesco en route. However once in Oban the pull of a good lunch at “The Waterfront” proves too great and many a mussel is boiled and many a langoustine is picked clean before 2.30. Then off to Balvicar where the “Mhairi Katharine” is already afloat, but the afternoon is put to good use scrubbing the boat from stem to stern and checking all the systems. Almost everything goes according to plan, although there are a few snags still to be sorted out. We spend much of the time in deep discussion about topics from diet to tipping and quantum physics to space elevators, I mutter and nod from time to time, but as always really enjoy the company of younger people. I go straight back to the Tower of Glen Trollaigh in the evening, avoiding Erica who by now must have uncovered my gaffs of yesterday, even dearest Dottie seems a little distant over one of Mhairi’s superb dinners. I hide in the library after dinner with a large Ardbeg and plot a way of getting back into the good books. Yours Aye, Archie, The Baron Trollaigh.