We're In

A very Merry Christmas in Craigleith!

Building A New Home

Six weeks in to the extension build. The roof is on and all of the ceilings and partition walls are in place. The basic floors are in (with insulation underneath them), and we will be selecting the final wood finish this week; probably a pale oak through the bulk of the new building.

Most of the rooms have the plaster board up on the walls, and now need door frames. The electrician is working over the weekend to finalise placing the wall switches, sockets and ceiling pendants before the plasters start their job on Monday. All the other electrics and plumbing are in place and we are running a new condensing boiler - fitted in to the new utility room.

The new side door will go on next week, but we are still a couple of weeks away from our 'Grand Designs' moment, when we see the sliding doors go in to the back of the house. The apex of the roof will also be glass - so the back room will be set to make the most of the south facing aspect. In the meantime it's been boarded (with the old back door) to keep the completed work inside sealed from the worsening weather. 

We have chosen our kitchen and utility room units, and the kitchen could go in as soon as next week. The weekend job for Nina & I is finalising the selection of the new downstairs bathroom suite, and getting on with selecting tiles for the kitchen and bathroom.
 
The window at the front is Poppy's new room, and it will be painted next week. Apparently, the builders are on schedule, and it will be ready by Christmas. It's just like having a present under the tree.

Diary Entry 21st September 1915

Diary Entry: Conditions in the Trenches

21^st September 1915

Today is my 3^rd day in the trenches. On the first day we arrived here, everyone was so excited to finally be holding a gun, instead of the broomsticks we had been practising with for so long!

Yesterday was our first proper day, and one of our men has been killed already, and he was only sixteen like me. It was his own fault really, he ran out into No Man’s Land during the night, and got shot by one of the German patrols. There’s talk of why he did it flying around the trench faster than the German bullets! Some men say he was trying to be a hero, but others say he took one look at the trenches and decided to commit suicide that night. Can’t say I blame him really. It’s disgusting here.

The main problem is rats, they scurry about eating whatever they can find, often human remains. They crawl over you in the night, carrying about their dirty diseases.

War isn’t really what I had expected if I’m honest. I thought it would be better than this. It’s already gone on much longer than the government said, so I guess they lied about the conditions, and everything else.

Today was hard work, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It might be horrible here, but I am proud to be fighting for my country.

22^nd September 1915

I am more tired than I have ever been in my life! We were up at the crack of dawn for ‘stand to.’ No shelling today though, the Germans must have slept in! Some of the other men are calling it ‘the daily hate’ which is a pretty good name for it if you ask me! Then it was ‘stand down’ and we all got to eat our breakfast of bacon and bread, which was better than I had expected! After we’d eaten we began our duties.

Today I had to fill sand bags to be placed around the trench. Once I’d finished that, we all got to write a letter home. Most of the guys have wives to write home to, but I just have mum and dad. I miss them so much already, but I guess I would have left home in a year or two anyway. I wanted dad to come with me out here, but he’s too old.

Everyone says that the letters home are checked, I don’t know what for, but I don’t want to get in trouble so I didn’t put in much detail. I hope mum and dad don’t mind, no doubt they’ll just be glad I’m still alive!

We’ve just finished a second stand to, and it’s now stand down. Some of the more experienced soldiers are going out into No Man’s Land to get information about the Germans. They’re very brave!

23^rd September 1915

I had a terrible night’s sleep last night. The rats were squeaking and scurrying all night long and the ‘beds’ are so uncomfortable. We sleep all squashed up in the dugout at the back of the trench. Not only does it smell in there, everybody’s snoring and moving about, trying to keep away from the puddles and rats!

We experienced our first shelling during the daily hate this morning. A trench not far from us got blown to pieces. It is now a massive crater full of water and blown up, mangled bodies. It’s disgusting and the rats are already all over it. I think I had better get used to this though.

On our duties, some of the men were talking about trench foot; it’s when your feet rot inside your boots, while you’re still alive. The mud, rats and waste cause it. You can’t take off your boots here to give them some air, so you can’t even stop it from happening! We put up duckboards today to try and prevent it, but they’ve already been destroyed after a few hours! I really hope I don’t get it, but in these conditions, it’s inevitable.

24^th September 1915

We were given the news this morning that tomorrow we’re ‘going over the top.’ Some men from another sector said that we’d most likely be shot or shelled the second we left the trench. God knows why they picked us group of amateurs! The Germans will have us dead in the blink of an eye! I wish they’d told us sooner though, so I could have told mum and dad. But we only get to write home once a week and I’ll be dead by tomorrow.

I don’t even understand the point of all this. The Germans are suffering as much as we British, no doubt, so why are we constantly showering each other with an endless rain of bullets? I’ve only been here a few days, and already I’m being sent out to my death, and for what reason? I didn’t even want to sign up for this, but if you don’t, you’re a coward. And who wants to be called a coward?

I’d better get some sleep, it’s going to be a difficult day tomorrow...

Poppy Apter, 3B2. November 2011.

Loch Tay Autumn Weekend

On Friday we made a quick dash up the A9 to Perth, and then across to Aberfeldy, Kenmore and Loch Tay for a couple of nights in a tepee at Loch Tay Highland Lodges. The tepee turned out to be a shed with a pointy roof, but we'll continue to purvey the myth for future generations, as 'stayed in a shed' doesn't sound as romantic.

The weather was terrible when we arrived, so we made a quick dash down to the Boathouse - the on-site bar and restaurant. We were almost washed down to the shore of the loch - Poppy discovered that her gym pumps can't quite cope with a torrential downpour. Poppy & I both discovered that our waterproof jackets had lost their magic waterproofness, and Scarlett discovered the joy of leaping in out of puddles. Our bedraggled band of travellers found that The Boathouse supplied the basics for the evening - palatable pub grub, sticky toffee pudding, and red wine for the grown ups.

The weather on Saturday was much improved, and by the time Poppy had got up there were clear views across the Loch. We had a (brief) wander around Killin and admired the Falls Of Dochart, before trundling along the southern side of Loch Tay to Kenmore, where we had a late lunch and a walk along the edge of the River Tay, in full flow after all the rain.

The weather stayed fine, and even attempted 'warm' at times during the afternoon!

On Sunday we packed up at the tepee and headed to Pitlochry - Nina & I saw a stoat or a pine marten cross the road in front of the car on the road. On the way to Pitlochry we visited the (alleged) oldest living thing on the planet, the Fortingall Yew. The hotel at Fortingall looks like a very nice place to enjoy a quiet weekend in the country. We had a wander around Faskally Woods which was a nice easy walk for Scarlett around a small loch. There was an incredible variety and quantity of mushrooms for us all to inspect before we headed down the A9 to Dunkeld for lunch in the Tay Bank, a walk around the ruins of the cathedral, and then a sleepy drive home.  

Fruit on the Firth of Forth

Scarlett ate her own bodyweight on blackberries!





But we still managed to stuff a kilo down a tied up sleeve of Nina's cagoule...



Apparently a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush...


Grandma & Grandad helped on the way home.


And my little treasures posed in front of a national treasure.

Jungle City at the Botanics

Edinburgh is about to be overrun by a menagerie of elaborately decorated jungle animals, courtesy of Jungle-City.org - an animal conservation charity principally concerned with elephant habitats, but helping other species in the process.

The animals are currently on display in the Botanic Gardens, before they're unleashed on the streets of the city in September. My menagerie met them this morning.