13/08/2023
Saturday morning, we were all excited when we jumped out of bed, it was straight to the television for a big one. Unfortunately, our seats were not as good as David and Maria’s but it was still a dramatic 120 minutes of nail-biting football and the longest penalty shootout in FIFA history. We had a problem on our hands though, our football traitor, Eloise, was at it again, now she knows that Disneyland is in France (coming to a blog near you), she had jumped ship for the opposition again. At one point Eloise even ran upstairs to get her Minnie Mouse ears. Australia really did turn up in the numbers, supporting hard in every city, town, and even at 40kft in the air.
At half time we enjoyed the Australia tourism adverts, we hope that Emma and Jo were taking notes, there will be a quiz next week.
Luckily, “Matildas win FIFA Women’s World Cup quarterfinal after a classic shootout against France in Brisbane”. Amazing! Even Australian Football League coaches stopped to celebrate together as the “mighty Matildas’ magical night captivates a nation”. “Cue absolute chaos!”
After we had all calmed down from the Matildas excitement, Eloise and Lachlan then remembered they had leftover Gordon Ramsey food in the fridge. Just when we thought the day could not get any better, their best pal then appeared at our front door. Laura had made it across from Edinburgh.
Eloise and Lachlan took a while to finish lunch as they were climbing all over Laura, they were happy when she jumped in the back with them as we headed back to Burrell Collection after it had just won “world’s most lucrative art prizes”.
The weather had been a bit hit and miss, we grabbed some lunch and while the sun was shining we darted across Pollok Country Park in search of the coos.
Even though we had seen Laura the day beforehand, Eloise still had a lot of stories that Laura had no choice but to listen to. Lachlan was just shouting for his beloved baby coos on repeat.
Sadly, the highland coos were antisocial and far away, Lachlan was upset and no amount of screaming for the baby coos helped.
Afterwards, we made our way into the Burrell Collection. Eloise and Lachlan were fantastic tour guides. They have been here so many times now they know exactly where their favorite games are and made sure that Laura did not miss any of the interactive displays. We are not sure if Laura got to learn much about Scottish history but the kids had lots of jokes for her along the way.
After a rapid tour of the collection, Lachlan wanted to roll the dice one last time and we headed back to the paddocks.
It was lucky we had returned as there was a coo ready to greet Laura. Sadly no baby coos for Lachlan though.
We then headed home to relax, well some of us did. There was no relaxing in Hotel FIK for Laura as the kids put her through her paces with various games before painting her nails. Thank you Laura, the kids loved it.
Eloise and Lachlan then rolled out Laura’s bed and went through their thorough testing process.
Once we let Lachlan choose a nightie from Eloise’s cupboard and then calm down both of them collapsed, exhausted from a big day.
On Saturday, “over the final weekend of the championships spectators at Glasgow’s Emirates Arena will be able to watch artistic cycling and cycle-ball”. Have a look at the previous years’ UCI videos below, they are truly bizarre and skillful.
In non-sporting news, it was announced on Saturday that “a £36m bid to secure the future of Glasgow’s People’s Palace is to go before the city council. The museum – which highlights the social and cultural history of Glasgow – was closed in December 2018 over structural and safety issues”. Sophie was not surprised, although was slightly more sympathetic last visit.
This morning the kids rushed downstairs for the Hotel FIK mandatory 06:30 alarm drill. It was sad to hear that the blowup mattress may be kaput, turns out the kids may have gone a little too hard on the testing yesterday and Hotel FIK was promptly downgraded from five stars to four. Eloise and Lachlan had planned a big day for Laura, starting with a serious game of Shops.
Once we had woken up properly and the kids had let Laura have five minutes to herself we headed down to the train station. Lachlan was glad to see his pal on the way.
We figured seeing Laura had come all this way we had to venture into the city centre, starting with a Costa Coffee.
While everything was starting to open we headed across to the UCI Supporters Hub in George Square. The kids were in search of some sweet merch, although sadly nothing quite tickled our fancy.
Eloise was feeling thirsty again so dragged Laura over to the smoothie bikes where she lucked out with a new bag to help her hold Mousie.
The crowds were starting to build as the Para-Cycling Road relay teams were getting into position. They all sped through the streets at impressive speeds.
Lachlan loved them as they were right at his level and he got a real thrill from the racing. He even lucked out with a batti il cinque.
After the race, Lachlan crept out onto the track for a cheeky gallop himself. He was having the best day ever!
Someone thought the kids were not loud enough so handed them big large banging sticks to clap together as we headed to the Style Mile.
After 748.5 days it was then finally time to ride the Glasgow Subway. We had been excited to do this ever since seeing the cute wee carriages in the Riverside Museum and hearing it is quite the experience.
We were excited when the wee subway arrived at pace. The kids are pros on the London Underground so made quick work on the Glasgow Subway loop. Perfect timing to get the authentic experience as they are about to upgrade the trains.
After surfing on trains and planes, Lachlan really was a Subway Surfer!
The Glasgow Subway is an underground light metro system in Glasgow, Scotland. Opened on 14 December 1896, it is the third-oldest underground rail transit system in Europe after the London Underground and the Budapest Metro. It is also one of the very few railways in the world with a track running gauge of 4 ft (1,219 mm) wide. Originally a cable railway, the subway was later electrified, but the double-track circular line was never expanded. The line was originally known as the Glasgow District Subway, and was later renamed Glasgow Subway Railway. In 1936 it was renamed the Glasgow Underground. Despite this rebranding, many Glaswegians continued to refer to the network as “the Subway”. In 2003, the name “Subway” was officially readopted by its operator, the Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). The system is not the oldest underground railway in Glasgow: that distinction belongs to a three-mile (five-kilometre) section of the Glasgow City and District Railway opened in 1886, now part of the North Clyde Line of the suburban railway network, which runs in a tunnel under the city centre between High Street and west of Charing Cross. Another major section of underground suburban railway line in Glasgow is the Argyle Line, which was formerly part of the Glasgow Central Railway.
After an entertaining, rickety, loud ride we resurfaced near Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum just in time for Gyros. It had turned into a cracking day for a walk.
Now that Lachlan had fine-tuned his express tour with Hannah, Lachlan pulled out the highlights package for Laura as we were all struggling to keep up with him throughout the museum.
Lachlan was a happy boy, after the disappointment yesterday he had finally found his beloved baby coo, he stopped for quite a while making sure that Laura had ample time to appreciate it.
We then made our way out the back of the museum to see the UCI Women Elite Road Race. They had set off from Loch Lomond just over an hour earlier and in the same format as the Men Elite Road Race had the windy city loop to navigate.
We could not believe that as the “dino clock car” swooped past, its number one fan, Lachlan had just nodded off.
It was a terrific spot to watch the loop, it was a bit quieter than in the manic city for the kids.
After a couple of hours watching the cyclists, Eloise was losing interest but enjoyed being out and about picking flowers while working on her selfie game.
In the end, “Lotte Kopecky takes third world title in Glasgow in elite women’s road race” on the final day of the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow. It had been a perfect couple of weeks, they could not have ordered better weather “SCOTLAND has been praised for its ability to host “world-class events” after the conclusion of the UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow. The cycling championship is the latest “feather in our cap”, according to Transport Minister Fiona Hyslop. The country has also hosted events such as the Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup, the Solheim Cup, the 2018 European Championships, COP26″.
Exhausted we grabbed a promised ice cream and caught the train home to relax… Well… Again… Poor Laura… There would be no relaxing for her, so much for a holiday.
Professor trouser hat then whacked some balls around the backyard, although he was struggling with the length of the rough before helping with dinner.
Wow- you really pack it in!! Love the trousers in Lachlan’s head.