Springtime in Aberdeen

It has been a long time since our last post and that has mostly had to do with being caught in an absolutely glorious spring. We've had weeks of beautiful, sunny, warm weather and it really brought us out of the winter funk which necessitated a trip to the Canaries.

Aberdeen is now awash in bright yellow daffodils. Small patches, individual bunches and entire fields beside the road. The colour just makes you happy. We have quite a few in the yard. They're doing their best to try and make up for the lack of snowdrops and crocuses this year - I think they are succeeding. Things are so nice now that the rhododendrons are also out and we are also seeing buds on our roses. The weather had us confident enough to put in our vegetable patch last weekend. We've got beetroot, parsnips, peas and carrots. Beans, sweet corn and chilis are starting in the potting shed. Hopefully we get a nice harvest in the autumn.

Fiona's been busy with her ladies group as well. She hosted a cupcake decorating class in our home one evening. I can say with absolutely no bias that she was, of course, the star of the class. Plus I got to eat the results.

Our Italian classes are going well. We're still very much enjoying them and are now really looking forward to our trip to Florence in May. While we still have problems constructing sentences every now and then, we're a lot more confident in being able to read and follow instructions and directions. We'll probably sign up for the next class in the fall.

The only source of frustration during the last few months has been our old car, the Scenic. It has had no end of electrical problems and we've had to spend a good amount of money to keep it on the road. A couple of weeks ago we decided enough was enough and decided to buy a new car. We've had trouble in the past in finding a dealership that would work with us because of our ex-pat status, but the people at the Toyota dealership made it all very easy. We pick up our new Verso S on the 21st. It's what we need, with lots of space for visitors and luggage. It's even got a glass roof that runs the length of the car and lets in a lot of light. Fiona will have the privilege of using it on a daily basis and I'll take the Honda Jazz to work everyday. We're glad to have a level of automotive reliability back.