Just as Marion and I were looking forward to watching daughter-in-law Josephine's new show "Holding Out For A Hero" on ITV1 tonight at 7pm we discovered that it's not on in Scotland until Tuesday. So the champagne has to stay on ice. I hope that everyone in England enjoys it. Josephine devised and developed the show and I hope that her name has the prominent place in the credits that she deserves. We saw the trailer on STV last night and there was our son Paul in the front row of the audience.
Yesterday we went to The Duke's Gold Course to watch the Leuchars air show from their viewing terrace they put on a very good buffet but the view of the show (in the far distance) was not particularly good and if we want to see next year's show we'll need to get a lot nearer to the action. Sarah, Rose and Duncan joined us and it was good to be together for a few hours.
I mentioned the hard time I had metal detecting a few weeks ago due to the abundance of tin cans in the field near to the road. I've been doing a lot of cycling this week so I can see the roadside verges clearly as I pedal by and I can't believe the amount of rubbish that people throw out of cars. Every yard of grass has at least one bit of litter in it. I am sure that this is not a problem isolated to Scotland and just wish that people would realise the mess that they are making of the countryside.
Fortunately today's metal detecting field was a long way from the road and consequently I found no beer cans or similar rubbish. I had hoped to find some medieval bits and pieces in this field which is close to an old village but, although there were plenty of signals, most of the finds were from the 19th and 20th centuries.
Nothing very exciting turned up although the military button for the 79th Fifeshire Rifle Volunteers added a bit of local interest. Best finds were a Victorian silver threepence from 1887 and a small silver locket sadly lacking its back and front.
A bit of bad weather today meant that, after babysitting Rose over a cup of coffee at the Fairmont Hotel (it's a hard life) while Sarah had a well earned half hour at their gym we were confined to the caravan for the afternoon. So we decided to set up the Wii and have an hour or two game playing. We thought that we would try a new game "Create" that was a Christmas gift from son Paul. According to the box it is suitable for ages 5 upwards but after an hour we were tearing our hair out in consternation as we hadn't a clue what we were doing. I think we must just be thick or maybe we are too old. We'll persevere and perhaps the penny will drop tomorrow.
The sun came out again at four so I went off again on the bike and did the same circular route as yesterday. This time I tried to keep in the hardest gear to try and get the most benefit from the exercise and I have to say that I managed pretty well. That's something that I wouldn't have been able to do on our last visit so my fitness must be looking up.
This was the sight that met me when I returned. Marion was still using the Wii. This time she had the Wii Fit board out and was performing aerobics in front of the telly in her pyjamas. According to the Wii she is dead fit (I already knew this) and has a Body Mass Index in the perfect range. I daren't get on it as, although I am over two stone lighter than I was eighteen months ago, my little Wii Mi still blows up like a balloon and makes out that I am some sort of fatty.
With both son Paul and his wife Josephine working in game show development I have been interested in this week's Simon Cowell juggernaut Red Or Black. Hailed as the best thing since sliced bread in the pre show publicity it turned out to be little more than a variation on the game played after the speeches in some of those dreadful black tie dinners we endured while working at Instanta. That game, Heads Or Tails involves all the guests standing up and choosing one or the other while the compere tosses a coin. Losers sit down and the game continues. Last one standing wins the prize. Yawn, hardly inspirational stuff and indeed a pilot was made years ago by ITV with Bran Conley but didn't make production. I see that it is pulling a lower audience share than Paul's "The Colour Of Money" did for its first four shows and yet Cowell claims that it is being sold to the USA and a new series is on the cards. Money breeds money I suppose.
Whilst on the subject of game shows, don't forget to tune in to ITV1 on Sunday evening for Josephine's "Holding Out For A Hero" hosted by Gethin Jones. It promises to be a great show. Don't miss it.
Only three nights now before Holding Out For A Hero airs on ITV1 (and ITV1HD). Excitement is mounting here in St Andrews as this is yet another show created by our daughter in law Josephine who has already had recent success with Nick Knowles' Perfection for BBC and the currently in production Sorority Girls which should be shown in the autumn on E4. We hope that the show is the huge success that Josephine deserves. I have been reading presenter Gethin Jones' tweets on the show and he is very upbeat about it. We usually have a party to celebrate Paul and Joesphine's show launches but we've got nobody to invite and will have to do with a bottle of champagne and some nibbles in the caravan.
Mind you we are not entirely alone here at Craigtoun Meadows this week. Although none of the caravans in our little corner of the park has been occupied since Sunday, I looked out of the car window as we set off this morning and spotted two small brown creatures. Initially (and inexplicably) I remarked to Marion that there were a couple of wallabies by the trees but on close inspection they turned out to be baby deer. You won't spot them in this photo as it is but if you click to enlarge you should be able to see them. What with the rabbits and all the birds we are living in a veritable wildlife haven.
We did our own bit of heroics again this morning as we went on a ride as a recce for our planned trip to the famous Michelin starred Peat Inn, Scotland's Restaurant of the Year in 2010. It only took us just over thirty minutes and most of that was up hill but the views were well worth the effort. The food will be just reward for our pedalling when we return next week although I don't know if bicycle clips and helmets will be appropriate wear in such a fine establishment.
I went on another ride this afternoon. Again the scenery was glorious and I discovered a great circular route that is a bit of an effort to start with but ends with about a mile of freewheeling downhill on a very straight road ending up travelling at quite some speed. With all that riding and fresh air I reckon I will sleep extremely well tonight.
A friend sent me a link to a great Flash Mob video. I won't put it on the blog today as it will be more fitting for another blog. However it got me searching for flash mobs on YouTube and what with today's sightings of deer and bunnies I thought that this might be appropriate.
