Glasgow Gallivanting: June 2021
So the big news in the Glasgow Gallivanting world is that we left Glasgow for a week! Our “Christmas” holiday finally happened in the middle of June after three postponements because of Covid travel restrictions. John, Mum and I stayed in a lovely cottage near St Boswells in the Scottish Borders, and the view above was what greeted us each morning. More to follow when I get time to write it up …
Other than that, the month has been quite uneventful. We continue to look out for interesting street art on our urban walks, and to swan watch when on the canal towpath. For example, we discovered two new (to us) pieces of graffiti ceramic by Louise McVey.
On our swan watches we noted that no nest now has more than two cygnets remaining, and that they have grown considerably over the month, from little balls of fluff to creatures that might fit The Ugly Duckling description of “feathers all stubby and brown”.
We also spotted this bear on the canal – he’s larger than he looks in the photograph, think small-child-sized. There must be a story, but I don’t know it: he’s been seen on social media in various places, so someone has been having fun moving him around.
And that’s about it – a nice, short post this month, but lots more to come about the Borders later. Happy July!
The Glasgow Gallivanter 
Hi Anabel – so pleased the ‘Christmas holiday’ came to pass – what an amazing view. Also the ceramic wall art is fascinating … looking forward to more info on St Boswells anon … cheers Hilary
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Thanks Hilary! “Anon” might be quite a long time, but I’ll get there.
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“Swan watch when on the canal towpath” isn’t a phrase just anyone can throw around… I’m sure I’ve only had a time or two in my life when on a canal towpath, or in the presence of swans. Happy out-of-towning, and I look forward to more from your gallivants.
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I love “our” swans although we don’t see them so much now that the cygnets are growing up. Off gallivanting I expect!
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Glad to see you’re getting out and about. I’m looking forward to more posts.
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I know, finally! And yet cases keep going up: we’re not out of the woods yet.
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After months of being in lockdown, it’s so nice to be out stretching our wings again! Christmas in June sounds perfect to me 🙂
I think it might be a while before we do anything that resembles travel, but I’m getting a haircut today, and after almost a year, I couldn’t be more excited!
Looking forward to more ‘normal’ days ahead 🙂
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It’s the small things that keep us going now!
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Isn’t that the truth!! I hope we don’t lose this sense of deep appreciation for the small things for a long time 🙂
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I’m so glad you finally got to leave Glasgow and go on your trip! I look forward to reading about it…and thanks for the pictures of the swans. I love them!
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Thanks, Ann! It was a long time coming. The swans are lovely, but have disappeared at the moment. We’ve been along the canal twice this week and not seen any. They must be spreading their wings elsewhere!
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It’s crazy that it’s July already! Very happy to hear that you got to go on your holiday at last. Look forward to your posts. X
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I know, half the year gone already! It has seemed strangely quick in one way, but also dragging waiting for this holiday to get sorted out.
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Glad you got away somewhere and the Scottish Borders can be very scenic. It’s been an exceptionally dry and sunny three months so far so it’s just as well the UK is surrounded by water to cool us down slightly given the 100 plus temperatures in the western USA and Canada at the moment.
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It’s very pretty, and we had some lovely walks by the Tweed and the Teviot with just one afternoon of rain – unheard of for Scotland! The reports from the US and Canada are horrific.
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Maybe every Christmas should be celebrated in June!
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Celebrated twice!
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exactly, and birthdays should be the same!
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Love a delayed Christmas celebration. We’ve done Missmas several times and it’s always great, something extra to look forward to.
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Well, we didn’t actually do anything Christmassy, having done that at the normal time. But we should have been celebrating in this gorgeous cottage in December so it was nice to finally get there in June!
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Great minds think alike, Anabel. We also had celebrated our Christmas Holiday in June (including opening of Christmas presents). Better late than never!
Great photos!
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Ah, we didn’t go quite that far as we had Christmas at home at the proper time, but we should have been in the cottage then. It was cancelled, and 3 revised dates later, we finally made it!
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A vacation! Wonderful for you. Cute ceramics. Weird bear.
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It was, thanks Eilene! There’s often something weird to find in Glasgow …
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Yay! I know that feeling of freedom the first time you are able to get away after so long at home. It’s such a treat to head off. I’m looking forward to reading about your little adventure.
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Yes, it’s quite something!
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What a great escape!
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Thanks, it was!
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Happy July, Anabel! Looking forward to the write-up and photos of your week-long outing. We are soon to follow you with a long weekend with family at the Opal Coast in France. 🙂
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Thanks Liesbet! I hope your weekend is great.
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Fun pictures of your outing and abouting! I love the ceramic graffiti… so much nicer than most of the usual sprayed-on sort.
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The ceramics are lovely, I always get a buzz from spotting one.
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Glad you finally made it out of Glasgow and got to enjoy a holiday with your mum! I’m fine with mainly staying in London for now, but I did not venture into central London at all for almost a year, so it’s still a treat getting to go to all my old favourite places that I haven’t visited in ages. I’m sure the novelty will wear off soon though!
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It really was nice to see a different part of the country. That might be the height of the excitement for some time though!
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The bear, though deep in sleep, is not to be messed with!
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Definitely not! Still, he has disappeared now so is maybe getting up to mischief elsewhere.
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Glad to hear you were able to get away. We also did a short trip near Montreal (3 days) and we posted our first article in a very long time; our first since October but we seem to have difficulties planning more not knowing how the situation will evolve in the next few months. Glad to see you are still gallivanting…(Suzanne)
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It was lovely to get away, but like you I am wary of how things will go from now on. I shall check for your article later!
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It must be so fantastic to finally get your long awaited holiday.
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It certainly was! Making hay while the sun shines – in case restrictions come back again 😟.
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Restrictions back here, total lockdown for 3 days, and maybe longer, and it is the major tourist season, school holidays.☹️☔️☔️☔️and it’s raining…
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I know, I’ve been following that on the news, and heard from my aunt in Brisbane who is also in lockdown. We can never be sure we are winning 😟.
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Fingers crossed 🤞 we seem to be getting on top of it. NSW is still in trouble though. Have you ever visited your Aunt in Brisbane?
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Yes, but a long time ago (2004). She and her husband first emigrated before I was born, but they came back to Scotland for visits several times so I’ve always known them. Now she’s a widow and in her late 80s, so unless we get to the point where we could travel out again we might not see her.
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Sadly can’t see our government opening our borders for some time yet.☹️
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If only our government was as sensible!
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Thankfully our leaders act fast and hard the minute covid strikes, it seems to work. But our vaccination record is not so good at the moment
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Our vaccination record is good, but cases are still shooting up. Mainly the delta variant because they didn’t close off travel to/from India soon enough. Infuriating.
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No new cases on the GC so the lockdown finishes tonight. But we will still be wearing masks. Brisbane unfortunately has 2 more cases so will be in lockdown for another 24 hours.
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🙁
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Great that you’re out and about again and we can look forward to more of your always enjoyable posts. Enjoy your holiday, it may be brief!
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Oh, I know – the figures are worrying, aren’t they? It was good to get away for a change of scene.
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How lovely that you finally got to get away, that’s a good view to start the day. Curious about the bear, I wonder if anyone will fish him out?
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We’ve been up to the canal a couple of times since we came back, and I haven’t seen him. Maybe he woke up from a drunken stupor and moved on!
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And there I was, thinking I hadn’t heard from you for a couple of weeks… and up your message pops saying there’s a new blog post.
A holiday in a cottage on the Borders – how wonderful!
And I went to the theatre on Monday night – how wonderful!
Things might actually be looking up. Keep fingers and toes well crossed, except when out walking.
love
J
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Yes, I had a week off blogging and will need to catch up now. The theatre – how exotic!
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