And back.

I went by train (with dearg) up to my mum's on the morning Christmas Eve, bearing gifts and my Christmas Cake, icing still hardening. We arrived in Gleneagles station, a small unmanned station near where my mum stays (Auchterarder) which seems to be busier these days than I remember it. The frosted greenery surrounding the station set the mood for the week...

The day passed with a few preparations for the next day's dinner (for 7), and I persuaded myself I was going for a run around dawn. I can't say it was easy to stick to the decision, but determination won out, and I went down the High Street and back up by the burn. A heavy frost made for a spectacular time, but running back uphill the cold air taxed my lungs somewhat... In any case, it was something a bit different for a Christmas morning.

And so to presents, and then people. Our guests arrived (my grandma+aunt+uncle+cousin), and a (tasty as ever) dinner happened. I suppose a moderately traditional Christmas dinner, modulo the "happy legless turkey". A good time was had by all, etc. Nice walk after dinner down the frozen High Street.

There are more photos here.

Boxing day. People left, we stayed. Nice quiet day... My uncle joined us in the evening. Nice to see him again.

Day after Boxing Day. Uncle left with my grandma—now just me, dearg and my mum left. While my mother was out questing for a replacement light fitting, I went off for a run to and up the nearest local hill, Craig Rossie. Very pleasent run (but mostly walking up the actual hill). While the ground was no longer as heavily frozen in Auchterarder, it was nicely frozen up the hill, and the ground had a nice thin dusting of snow (as it was snowing when I set off). I sat around on the top in my shorts and t-shirt for a short while, savouring the experience, before arranging via the wonders of mobile phones to be picked up by my mother, now returning from her quest, at the bottom of the hill. After some faffing and misdirection on my part, we met up and I was taken home; it would have been nice to look at a map to give directions (although the way up the hill was obvious), but to carry a map running would be annoying. Not sure what the general solution is to that one.

Wednesday. Home time. Got the train back to Edinburgh, unfortunately forced to go to Perth to do so. Lightly snowing again... The train back was nice; although we were sitting on the fold-down seats in the unheated area between carriages, we were reading good books, and as I gazed out the window on occasion I saw a frozen landscape, fields of white gliding past the train.

So back now. More soon, and I have some more nice photos to link, but this entry is getting too long.