Scotland | A Zestful Quest

My best friend sent me an email two days ago telling me she, hubby and kids have swine flu… I realise I didn’t take swine flu too serious (I still don’t by the way) but all of a sudden it is very close to home… Let me rephrase that: I don’t take the whole media hype too serious, I never have and I never will. Media is a strong powerful tool and if it’s not used carefully it could be extremely damaging to certain people.

I’ve noticed the media tends to exaggerate big time and make a fuss about things before the facts are clear. Same deal with swine flu which has been less dangerous so far than the run-of-the-mill flu. The normal seasonal influenza is a much bigger health problem each year. The media caused a scare as usual especially since there’s too many gullible people who believe everything they read, see or hear.

Nevertheless my friend is not feeling ok and nor does her family so from here I’ll send them a big fat hug and I wish them well! *Hugs honey, get well soon!!!*

…

It’s been so warm for at least a week now. I haven’t slept very well because of this heat and certain behaviour of nice ground-floor neighbours *sarcastic*. So whenever I can, I open all the windows hoping there might be a bit of a cool breeze out there peeping in. The temperature in my office studio has been between 28° – 36° and makes it hard to concentrate on projects that need to be done. I’m often distracted and end up doing other things like getting rid of clutter, reorganising and throwing out stuff. I did this all morning while I should’ve been working on a website but at least the room is all neat again and I’ve thrown out lots of crap.

I’m heading for Scotland Friday morning to visit my best friend IvS [she’s Dutch] and enjoy a party they’ll be throwing for 120 guests in the evening in their barn. Saturday evening I’ll finally see the military tattoo at Edinburgh Castle and a huge fireworks display right after. IvS offered to go there when I visited her in Pitcairngreen, seven years ago but I think I had a bit of a cultural overdose back then since she already paid for a three days tour around parts of Scotland to see some castles, churches, the smallest distillery, the Wallace monument [summit of Abbey Craig] some wonderful [golf]sites and towns near the coast and a lot more.

I’m so looking forward to staying with her, they invited me so many times and I don’t understand why I didn’t go sooner. Last year after the break-up they wanted me to stay there for a while but I had too much on my mind back then to be able to relax. They moved from their cute cottage in 2002 to a wonderful huge old farmhouse, where they keep chicken, sheep, three dogs, a few hens and their neighbour’s cows on their land to mow the grass. So I’m off soon to relax and enjoy nature, a wee dram, long walks with the dogs, jokes about anything expat related and my friends’ company in general.

Bliss… One day I will move here and keep some goats, I’m such a dreamer but I know this one will be real… Below is where I’ll be staying [I’m showing you while walking around the house *hehe*]: