Day 308: Semple and Temple

29/05/2022

Public service announcement: Dear Loyal Followers, over the past couple of weeks Fensoms in Kilts has received a number of complaints regarding the frequency of updates. We assure you that these calls are important to us. Unfortunately, we are currently short-staffed and working overtime trying to stay up to date with the whereabouts of our children. Please refer all future feedback and complaints to Head of Delivery, Lachnado. On a separate note, the rumours are true. Best friend of the blog Curious George has recently jetted off to “Bromania”, more commonly referred to as Romania. That is right, the same Romania which borders Ukraine, supposedly there were “super cheap flights for da boyz”. We could not possibly think why. Let us all pray for Curious George’s safety. CG if you do not return, I will be taking your HDMI cable. That is all. Yours Sincerely, Fensoms in Kilts.

Monday was mostly spent letting the kids explore the backyard. Lachlan is always keen on investigating the hidden back corners. We could not believe how much Eloise was eating for lunch, she just kept going and going and hold on, no she wasn’t. Turns out, Eloise kept feeding all her food to Lachnado and then running back around the corner. Uh oh, they are teaming up already.

After Eloise had finished driving her car with Roo, Kowaawaa, Super Mum and Lachlan, Dad was finally finished with work and it was off at full speed to see how much the ducklings had grown. We were pleasantly surprised to see cygnets too.

Lachlan’s balance is pretty good now. We think he is not far off those first steps.

The kids are loving the outside dinners. So are the squirrel and pigeons, they are the real winners.

On Tuesday the kids were all smiles as “SA lifts state of emergency, as politicians take over powers to impose COVID-19 rules… In South Australia we have been under an Emergency Management Declaration for 793 days but today that has concluded”.

On Wednesday, the kids were lucky enough to have Jennine come over to run them ragged. We tried to go for a walk, but the Scottish weather had other ideas. The evening was mostly spent watching Lachnado throw all of Eloise’s toys in and out of the house.

Lachnado seems to think that life is just one big game of chasey and hide and seek. After zipping about all day he was in full relaxation mode eating his favourite couscous and corn dish for dinner.

At Thursday morning Gymboree, Lachlan was lucky to receive a bunch of hand-me-downs from Emma and Jo’s mates, thank you Emma and Jo’s mates. As soon as they got home, Eloise made sure that they all felt welcome and had a good setup.

The Gymboree session in the morning worked its magic, with the kids out for the count shortly into their midday afternoon walk.

In the afternoon Eloise wanted to take Dad back to see the cygnets, although Dad got a bit close to them before being chased away by Super Mum Swan, much to Eloise’s amusement, “Mum, Dad chased by swan, swan got him Mum, hahaheheh”.

The highlight of the day had to be the Peppa Pig ice cream though.

On Friday after a big week, by 11:00 Dad had had enough for the week and we were all off to the kids’ first Head over Heels Gymnastics session. A much cheaper form of Gymboree. Lachlan was quick to the baby area to collect all the toys and spread them out in each corner of the room. Eloise was in hot pursuit of Emma, chasing her all around.

The big inflatable running bouncing red thing was a hit.

After a cruisy afternoon, we pulled up outside Curious George’s, we were heading out. Liam was in charge of organising the secondees’ dinner. Eloise was excited that she was reunited with BILL and had him cornered, sharpening all her pencils for her. The food was nice, we will have to return for the paella, that was impressive.

On Friday, “Covid infections in Scotland are thought to have risen slightly despite continuing to fall elsewhere in the UK”.

Saturday morning Lachlan was enjoying playing in the backyard before he was viciously attacked by Ms Monster Head. Looks like it was time to get this show on the road. The first stop was Silverburn Shopping Centre.

After an unsuccessful shopping expedition, the day was screaming for a hike, or a walk at least. We headed to Castle Semple Visitor Centre alongside Castle Semple Loch. It would have been the perfect day for some sailing.

It was munchikin carriers on as we started heading North East along the loch.

Eloise started strong, a real win for Dad’s back. We started heading uphill through the enchanted forest which is when Eloise decided she would save her legs for the glory sprint at the end. After a short walk we arrived at Castle Semple Collegiate Church.

The late Gothic church is under the protection of Historic Environment Scotland as a Scheduled monument. John Sempill, 1st Lord Sempill founded the collegiate church near Castle Semple, in circa 1504. It had a provost, six chaplains or prebendaries, two boys, and a sacristan. James IV of Scotland visited John’s house at Eliotston and the collegiate church on 26 July 1505. The king gave an offering of 14 shillings in the “New College.” A stone in the outer wall bears the letters R. L. S., and the arms of Sempill and Montgomerie. The church is 71.5 feet (21.8 m) in length; 24.25 feet (7.39 m) in width; and 15.5 feet (4.7 m) in height. Its walls are covered with ivy. The roof was removed in the 1800s, and the ivy has penetrated into the interior. In ancient times, there appears to have been a village at this place, and a chapel in its neighbourhood dedicated to St. Bride.

We pushed on further along National Cycle Route 7, we were not sure if we were meant to be walking along the cycle route, but there were horses bigger and slower than us, so we figure we were okay. We are sure you can all imagine how much poor wee Lachlan enjoyed the horses, luckily they did not look at him. He must have felt safe in his bubble.

Once we had passed the cows, “moooooooooove over cow”, Eloise then jumped out the bag for the final glory sprint to the mysterious Kenmure Hill Temple on the summit. It was such a beautiful spot with panoramic views.

Little is known about “The Temple.” Local folklore states that the octagonal structure was a place of worship for the landowner’s servants or his foreign wife. Other tales claim it was a nursery for a sick child, or a watchtower for ladies to attend to their embroidery while the men hunted below on horseback. Records show the building was constructed around 1760 for Colonel William McDowell, a wealthy merchant who made his money in the West Indies.

As we made our way down, the sun was putting us all to sleep.

We had to wake the kids up, they had been so good, we had promised them they could have a paddle on the way back. The water was not as cold as we were expecting.

It was then a final dash back to the car before Super Mum and Lachlan got sunburnt.

Saturday night once the kids were in bed we put Super Mum’s beloved Station 19 season 4000 on hold to watch Liverpool in the Champions League Final. The match which had been moved from Russia, St Petersburg to France, Paris was delayed “the organisation of the Champions League final at the Stade de France in Paris was a “shambles”, according to Liverpool defender [and Scottish legend] Andy Robertson… Uefa delayed kick-off by more than half an hour for “security reasons”, adding the problem was thousands of fans trying to get in with fake tickets”. Sadly after the prem slipped away in the final 20 minutes last week, the Reds came off second best again. A disappointing end to perhaps the club’s most successful, well most exciting season.

On Saturday Curious George and his band of misfits took off to “Bromania”. Let us hope we will see CG again. He seems to be having a great time. There was a twitchy start when he received an Emergency Alert, but it was only golf ball-sized hail. Stay safe Georgey!

This morning Lachnado was up to no good again, literally bouncing off the walls. We headed to the shops at Bishopbriggs to continue the quest of increasing our summer wardrobes. Liam has managed to brainwash Eloise with bikes, she was nagging us to make sure we stopped by the bike shop again. Eloise had to make sure her bike with Foxie seat was still there for when she is bigger.

After a successful shopping trip on all fronts, we decide to have a spontaneous picnic lunch and headed to Seven Lochs Wetland Park, “Scotland’s largest urban nature park”.

It was at this moment we realised that one does not simply have a peaceful picnic with Lachnado. Lachnado sat on our food, flipped it over and then dashed off with his signature cackle trying to find the closest swan to terrorise.

It was then back home for arts and crafts and to play shopkeepers. Although Lachnado literally stole the whole shop, Eloise was not impressed.

After a hard couple of weeks, the red half of Liverpool were out in numbers to celebrate an extraordinary year “thousands of Liverpool fans have lined the streets of the city to welcome home the side and celebrate their double trophy-winning season… Liverpool Women also took an open-top bus around the city, having won the Women’s Championship trophy in April”.

Turns out it is not just emergency weather alerts in Bromania, as “South Australia braces for severe weather with damaging winds, thunderstorms expected”. Today was also the day that the “first ‘10-pound Poms’ set to arrive in Adelaide as wildly popular discount flight scheme expanded after first stage sold out in five minutes… Under the scheme, all travellers with a valid Working Holiday Visa will travel from London, Manchester, Edinburgh or Dublin before October on a £10 or €10 ticket”.

This week we will leave you with a funny one doing the rounds over here.