Bartimaeus

Since Shane was brought up in Wales I try to think of something Welsh to cook on St David’s Day. Basically it usually means anything with leeks in for tea so I had bought some in the day before. I was also inspired by a post on the Women On Barges page, showing Welshcakes. Having ‘liked’ the post, the recipe was put up and I thought I could make some, so in the same shop where I had bought leeks, I also got currants, just the right amount for the recipe. The shop is closing for refurbishment so I was grabbing a few things while I could.

On the morning of the first of March I set about making the Welsh cakes, using the recipe she had posted. I had rolled out and cooked a small batch, on the frying pan, when I realised I had forgotten the sugar. I had weighed so carefully everything else but now had to guess how much was needed for the remaining dough. The finished cakes are sprinkled with caster sugar anyway so I just hoped they would be okay.

I was going to visit a friend, Muriel, who had come hundreds of miles to sort out her uncle’s house and she was having a tricky time of it as the house clearers had failed to show and her accommodation was cold. I thought she is a bit of a saint herself, patience personified, and could do with a bit of home baking so I  packed a few Welsh cakes.

She met me off the bus and we went to view the house she has been working on and then headed for lunch. It was another tasty seafood lunch for me with Cullen skink on the menu.

Muriel led me on a walk in the grounds of Lauriston castle. A group was having a tour but we went at our own pace. I recognised as we  headed around the main building that I had been here before on a mystery cycle Shakespeare event during the Edinburgh Fringe. Shane had offered to lead groups of cyclists from a central meeting point to a venue on the edge of Edinburgh. The audience didn’t know the place, distance or play, just that it was Shakespeare. Only the adventurous would have bought tickets. If you hadn’t bikes they provided one! The play performed here was A Comedy of Errors where there are shipwrecked twins and rich men and servants getting confused about who is their master or minion. I remember the backdrop of the grand house with large lawns was a perfect outdoor venue and even better at the end of the performance the sun was setting over the Firth of Forth. There was no dramatic sunset this time, and indeed no sign of the sun, but we could see Cramond Island and an aircraft flying low over the water.They are attractive grounds for a stroll an chat and gratifyingly on St David’s Day the daffodils were fully out.

We had a coffee and Welsh cake before I set off home, where I set about making Glamorgan sausages, with leeks and breadcrumbs – not sausages at all, but shaped like them and fried in breadcrumbs. Nye hadn’t had them before and they went down well. The recipes seemed to recommend them with beer and pickle or mustard, but neither of those appealed to Nye. I couldn’t remember how I had served them the last time but another serving suggestion was as part of a cooked breakfast. It was late in the day for breakfast but they went fine with fried egg and baked beans – not haute cuisine but tasty.  I like an excuse to serve a different tea.

The next day I had another walk planned with my niece Sandra. She is a very keen walker and has signed up for a 26 mile charity walk in the Lake District in May. It sounds a lot to me. I did a kilt walk with her a few years ago which was 16 miles at the end of which I felt pretty sore but she says she was raring to go further so she is looking forward to the longer hillier walk, rather than daunted by it. I am in awe of her energy. I wouldn’t be very good at helping her practising. Our walk this day was nice and level, along the canal from Colinton to Lochrin Basin and then to the Meadows and back. The Meadows were full of Spring flowers and I could see the  shape they had been planted. They weren’t all just random clumps. Some little clumps were dotted around too, a few flattened but some in fine form and I loved this exceptionally pale  purple.

On the canal there was a different sign of Spring. Two swans looked like they were preparing nest building activities. It was early stages though.

Sandra is a brave and capable person, but she is nervous of some birds, and especially birds as large and hissy as swans, so she kept her distance. I was surprised the swans would nest on the busy towpath side, but perhaps that is not their final choice. 

Another brave bird I had seen that morning as I set off to meet her, was a blackbird enjoying our birdbath for a sip, rather than a dip, and was not afraid of me on the path.

As we walked back along by the Meadows for Sandra to get her bus, we saw some redwings. Sandra hadn’t seen them before so it was an added interest. These birds seemed more to her liking than the swans. She liked it’s striking markings.

I had another walk lined up the next day. I was meeting a ex colleague. It was another trip to Musselburgh for me. On the way to catch the bus I  was distracted by a larger flock of redwings and a tree creeper. I tried to get close to the tree creeper hopping up the trunk. It had snuck round the back and seemed to have vanished then reappeared upsides down on a spindly branch. 

I had taken what I thought would be a shortcut through the new housing at the site of the old Sick Children’s Hospital but as it was a working building site, I had to pause while large load was brought across the path above my bead. A man in a hard hat held up his hand to make sure I didn’t try to walk below it as the vehicle arm swung over and the load crashed down on the other side of a fence, safely but not softly. The friendly workmen smiled and waved me through, apologising for the delay.

I will blame these distractions for having to break into a sprint when I saw the bus. Fortunately the driver had seen me run so waited for me, I thanked the good man.

We met at Queen Margaret University and I let Gillian lead the way for our walk and lunch venue. She had asked me if I minded if her dog came too. I had guessed that her dog would be easy company as he had been trained as a guide dog. Gillian updated me that due to a problem with his eyes, he was unable to be put into service, though he had completed the training and his good nature and obedience made him a good ambassador at guide dog events and he also was a therapet. He was a very well behaved dog.

Gillian took me to New Hailes House. There is an excellent cafe there as well as pleasant walking. We had a good catch up over a relaxed tasty lunch, thanks to Gillian and I owe her a return lunch. Piran lay quietly beside her on the floor and you wouldn’t know he was there.

The cafe was in the old stables yard so next we went to see the house itself. Gillian told me that the grand house used to be smaller, only the section with the  central 7 first floor windows was the original house, but wings were added later. Also this was the back originally. The other side had been the front facing over towards Fife.

We met other people wth guide dogs in training and Piran recognised the other dogs, even when the humans didn’t.

I asked Gillian about the name, which I hadn’t heard before. The organisation rather than the trainers, give the dog their names and to my surprise I learnt that Piran is the patron saint of Cornwall. I didn’t know there was a patron saint of Cornwall, nor that Piran was a Saint name. Two days later I found from social media that it was St Piran”s day on the 5th of March and Gillian had posted a fine picture of Saint Piran.