Yet another 21st birthday for the Highland Lass.

Day 21

Today was one of the reasons why we had come to Scotland – the ACTUAL birthday for the Highland Lass.

I was up early (I had gotten into the habit of waking up early – not through choice), so I took Lexie out for a tactical, and enjoyed the morning air.
All 5 of the girls arose a little bit later (Caroline, who was too young to join us the night before, also got up early for breakky), and feeling a bit better than I for their longer sleep.
Bacon and eggs had been bought for breaking our fast, but since I was there I decided to take charge and couldn’t leave it as a simple repast.
I cooked up some onions, capsicums and tomatoes to go with what would have been a simple breakfast. Everybody was quite appreciative of the extra bibs and bobs… particularly Shakira, as she doesn’t eat the dirty swine.

We didn’t finish our breakfast until after midday, so we had a small window of opportunity to check out Aberdeen before the Highland Lass’s grandparents came over to celebrate her actual birthday.

Given that there were 7 of us, we took 2 cars and headed out to Aberdeen beach. There is a beautiful boulevard there, where you can look out over the bay and see all of the oil ships coming in and out of the harbor. Aberdeen has always been a wealthy city, but with the discovery of oil offshore, it has become a much wealthier city.
Sparkles, Shakira, Lisa and I headed out in one car, and Lisa gave us a running tour as we drove through the city.
A lot of large, lordly manors were built in the past, which are now too big to remain as single residences. Most of them have been converted into offices, which look very schmick. Imagine going to see your accountant in building with the exterior of an18th century manor house, and then reclining in comfort while they do your taxes.
Very nice.

There is also an area of Aberdeen called Footdee, which was once the location of houses for the people who worked on ships. These are quite small single room dwellings – when I say small, the door frames are only about 5 and a half feet tall.

We wandered for about an hour, meeting up with the other car load of girls, until Lisa had to take the Highland Lass’s mother’s car back. Shakira opted to change cars so that she could get herself an icecream, and Lisa took Sparkles and myself back.

Doris headed out to go and pick up her mother, while Lisa, Sparkles and I had a shower and then started to get some things ready for dinner. The other carload of girls arrived about half an hour after my car returned and they all had another shower in preparation for the birthday feast that was being prepared.

Doris returned with her mother, and Colin came back with his parents as well. We started off the evening watching some of the Olympics, seeing England win another couple of gold medals.
And didn’t the folks from the UK love to rub it in. Colin came prepared, and handed Sparkles, Shakira and myself a chocolate gold medal. That being said, I’m sure they were much tastier than the actual gold medals.

A veritable feast was brought out, and I finally got to taste the Highland Lass’s recipe for ham basted in coca cola. Very yum!
Several bottles of champagne were polished off that night, with Colin’s mother getting me to top up her glass on the sly after Colin told her off for drinking too much.
I assisted the Campbell’s on the drinks front throughout the night, so that they could relax and enjoy the Highland Lass’s birthday without needing to stress about looking after their guests.
The Highland Lass received a number of presents and cards that made her clap her hands with glee. She got a very cool movie poster birthday card from her boyfriend, ‘Enri Mugwah, which looked like he had put a lot of effort into, which she really liked.

Colin and Doris took their parents back home, and once they returned they joined the rest of us in a few more drinks, as they had been taking it easy until their olds were given a lift back home.
One of the Highland Lass’s friends came around at the end of dinner, and I quite happily shared my super-cheap slab of Becks with him.

Before too long, we called it a night, as the Highland Lass needed to be up at stupid o’clock to catch a plane to London to visit her other sisters.

This was a very pleasant day, and the Highland Lass enjoyed celebrating another 21st birthday.