It’s scarcely believable that we’re at the end of yet another year. For us, it’s been a year (literally!) of renovation. With our new internal doors finally being fitted the week before Christmas 2021, our new kitchen finally got underway in January after an initial December fitting date was Covid-ed into the new year. We thought this was the beginning of a short final blast at house updates, with just a few rooms, skirtings and door surrounds for Gwen to paint on her “days off”. We were, of course, overly optimistic…
It was lovely to start the year with the Rouses living so close to us for the first part of it, after Kathryn and the kids came across from Australia for an extended period. The first major event of the year was Eilidh’s 12th birthday. Eilidh decided to have a party at Go Ape. Having an outdoor birthday party in January was always going to be a risk, but we got a lovely sunny afternoon to spend some time swinging from the treetops!
The following weekend saw Craig and Eilidh go off to the Scouts’ Brass Monkey camp. The weather wasn’t quite as cold as they would have liked(!), but the storm-force winds certainly rocked Craig to sleep in his hammock (and then woke him up at various points throughout the night!).
For the couple of days’ break at February half term, we went up north to have some chill time at Sallachy, visiting the polar bears and snow leopards at Highland Wildlife Park on the way back down the road. The trip wasn’t as long as we would have liked though - Craig had to get back for uni work - but it was nice to get a break all the same.
The end of March was a hectic time, with Iona’s and Gwen’s birthdays directly followed by Mothering Sunday, and surrounded on both sides by Craig’s university assignments. Iona had her 9th birthday party in Innoflate - so much bouncy fun!
By this point, the renovations in our house were nearing completion - or so we thought. With just some minor snagging issues to be sorted, we were enjoying eating dinner at the new breakfast bar in the kitchen when a cupboard came crashing down off the wall, bounced off the new worktop and landed on the floor. It was a traumatic experience for the girls in particular, leaving all of us shocked and surrounded by broken glass and a lot more workmen to coordinate again.
Easter saw us joined by the Peplers, going up to Sallachy for the week up until Good Friday, before a beautiful scenic drive out to the Ardnamurchan Lighthouse and then getting the ferry across to Mull, spending a lovely evening there, followed by two nights over Easter weekend on the Isle of Iona. It was a bittersweet trip for Iona though, who had long dreamed of visiting the island bearing her name. Over the preceding months, she had been building up to losing her best friend, Hania, who was moving back to Poland with her family. By coincidence, they had also planned a trip to Mull as part of leaving Scotland, so we were able to meet up for a short while on Iona, and the girls waved a final goodbye to each as Hania’s family caught the ferry back to Mull.
For the early May bank holiday weekend, we went away with the Andrews and Jenkins to a house near Lockerbie. It was a baptism of fire for Craig, who’d never towed a trailer before, taking eight kayaks behind him down the M74. Going forward was fairly straight-forward, but reversing it (into the driveway of the house, not on the M74!) was another kettle of fish altogether!
May also saw Iona go on her first Cub camp, where she was accompanied by Kieran and Gemma, who had been allowed to join Cubs on a short-term basis while they were over. The following weekend involved a lovely family trip to Glasgow, but the less said about the Cup final that we all attended whilst there, the better. As if May weren’t packed enough, there was still time for Eilidh to go on a Scout camp!
June’s main event was Eilidh’s dance show, being held for the first time since just before the first lockdown. She did an amazing job in all the performances, in tap, jazz and ballet and clearly loves her main hobby. She is doing an extra class in ballet now to prepare for en pointes, which seems very grown up to us!
During the year, Gwen had been invited to participate in a reunion of her school’s County Youth Orchestra, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. In a stroke of good fortune, the date set for the event happened to coincide with the start of the fortnight that we had planned for holidays, so we were able to arrange our much-anticipated first overseas trip since Covid (to France) around it.
The France trip was great. It coincided with the beginning of the heatwave that swept across Europe, forcing us out of our tent in the morning before it became too hot! Our first week or so was spent camping in the Loire Valley. We saw several chateaux, went spelunking (or exploring some fairly basic caves on a well-trodden path), did some cycling (but don’t promise incentivising ice-creams if you haven’t done your research, the French aren’t as dedicated to the cause as we thought!), and some obligatory kayaking in the Loire river (32km with barely a current - it was very hard work but beautiful!). We then spent three nights in Paris. Highlights included climbing the Eiffel Tower in 36° heat, going on a river boat cruise with Iona’s favourite superheros, exploring the Louvre and Versailles, and managing not to melt in the increasingly hot temperatures!
From then on, it was all-systems-go for Craig to complete his Masters dissertation within a challenging mid-August deadline, but we still found time for a trip to London to take in Imogen’s birthday party and a trip to the Crystal Maze on Craig’s birthday (a pre-pandemic 40th birthday present for Craig!). Craig took the train back up north on the Monday, while Gwen and the girls continued on to Lymington to spend the rest of the week with Brenda and Roger (who felt bad for Craig missing out on the beach trips and pony trekking in the New Forest, but it would have been wrong to be miserable and they needed to stay cool somehow……)
Almost literally straight after Craig submitted his dissertation, he and Eilidh were away on a joint Scouts and Explorers camp to Northumberland.
The final quarter of the year seems to have flown by. The main feature of that period was our October holiday. Having realised back in Easter that the prospect of not seeing a bestie for an undetermined length of time was a daunting idea, we said “well maybe we can arrange a holiday to Poland”. And we did…. We flew to Gdansk and spent two nights in Sopot right next to the Baltic Sea, before a couple of nights in Warsaw and finally four nights in Krakow with Hania and her family. Iona was thrilled to see Hania again, and it was as if there hadn’t been a moment apart, although the ending was inevitably filled with tears. As a better wordsmith than I once said: “parting is such sweet sorrow”.
October still had a free weekend which Craig managed to fill with an Explorers camp, while Gwen booked in a retreat to Lindisfarne with some friends in November.
Iona gave up dancing as a hobby when the pandemic hit, but has replaced it with gymnastics. At the end of November, her club championships were held. She woke up in the morning full of nerves but with an encouraging video call to Poland and a deep breath she twisted and jumped her way to a silver medal! She has also been taking horse riding lessons at a local stable and is delighted to be able to jump over a small bar…!
Eilidh is still dancing, and has expanded her swimming skills into a young-persons' life-saving course. She is thriving in S2 and likes to keep busy in school as well - she is in wind band playing her oboe and in the Social Enterprise club, recently organising a Christmas party for the first years.
Craig graduated from his Masters degree in November and is back working at Mercer, with a focus on climate change issues. He continues to be kept busy with his Scouting, and was presented with a Silver Acorn award at a ceremony in March.
Gwen is still playing up the Meadows Chamber Orchestra, and in November had the privilege of leading the orchestra for the first time in the Brahms Requiem. She and the orchestra did a fabulous job!
If ever you are passing by Livingston, please pop in to say hello.
The Family Browning wish you all a very Merry Christmas and every good fortune for 2023!
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