
The days are flying by now, with not much daylight to soak up. Calories seem to be double their normal value and the waistline is feeling it. As if there’s a symbiotic link between winter and summer. I find myself craving them more, with temptation around every corner. The daily chocolate treat from the advent calendar isn’t helping. Comfort eating!
Today’s coffee comes to you from the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow, served with a fruit scone. Interestingly, there’s a whole bunch of mixed peel thrown in, giving them a Christmas feel. Rain Town doesn’t disappoint, with its full-on downpour making our Byers Road visit a little miserable.
Despite our son due home in the next week or so, we’ve come through to mark another year. Lunch at the Bothy, a lovely restaurant hidden away up a side street. We arrive just before 1 pm, and it’s still quiet. We are attended to quickly as a consequence, which is fine—I’m hungry. A nut roast, a feather blade, and two fish and chips. Not all for me! The blade is succulent and served with a robust gravy, a marked improvement over the Christmas lunch I had with my team the other day. It seems to be the time of year when mental notes are made, another here, not to do the conveyor belt meal again.

For dessert, we decide to go to the café across the road where we can never get a seat, Kember and Jones. They offer an excellent selection of cakes. It is a birthday, after all. Two Double chocolate cakes, a lemon and almond and a pistachio and rose water. Served with a cup of tea and presents back at his flat.
I’m starting to get the feeling there are only really two weeks left of the year—a sinking feeling, a reminder of all those things I wanted to get done. I need to look over the photographs and remind myself of the positives. I need to forgive myself for the things I didn’t manage and celebrate the things I did.
In the last few months, I haven’t been around much; weekend writing just hasn’t been an option. My father-in-law moved into a care home, and as a consequence, at his request, we’ve been closing down his home, moving furniture, and decorating. Along with the day job, I’ve been writing in the background, trying to organize myself. There has been the odd posting on Substack, a daily picture on instagram for advent. Alongside navigating my way around better systems, all under the guise of slow productivity.
The #WeekendCoffeeShare is an informal weekly link-up hosted by Natalie the Explorer that serves as weekly heart beat and sort of of a mind-dump. Helps me reflect on my week, with a list of achievements, thoughts and rambles normally whilst drinking a beverage probably listening to music.