Saturday 17 December 2011

Peterculter, Airyhall and glasses

On 8 December we headed north to Aberdeen. It was the day of the Scottish storm and it seemed a better place to be than the Central Belt, which was in line for 80mph gales.

Lovely librarian Jacqueline Adam collected us from the station. The journey had been fine, with little noticeable wind. Once in the car we set off for Cults Primary School in Peterculter. Now here's an odd thing (well it probably doesn't seem odd if you live in Peterculter, but it does if you don't): Cults is pronounced as you might expect, as in religious cults; however, Peterculter is pronounced as if there's no 'l' and with the the 'u' pronounced 'oo'. Just thought I'd mention it.

Great session in the school, thoroughly enjoyable. Outside the sun was being replaced by storm clouds, which were then replaced by sun a minute later. The weather was going crazy.

We left the building, rounded the corner and were almost blown off our feet by a huge gust. The sleet was also kicking in. Not pleasant. So we made for the car as quickly as possible, shook ourselves down and off we set, Jacqueline driving again. It was only when we'd travelled a mile that Keith realised something was missing. 'Eh...I don't seem to have my glasses,' he observed.

Where had they gone? It seems they'd been blown off his head by that huge gust. They're frameless and his eyes aren't so bad...but even so, you'd think he'd have noticed! And when we retraced our steps they were nowhere to be found.

Which meant Keith had to present to 200 pupils in Airyhall without being able to see them all. He began by apologising to any long-haired P7s at the read of the hall...in case he accidentally called them girls because he couldn't see their faces. However, all was well. He could hear the laughter, even if he couldn't see it in all the faces. It certainly didn't spoil the fun.

Some of the trains were off heading south again, so it was 2215 before we made it home. No, not the year 2215, the time....It didn't take that long to reach home!