Scotland

Drizzly Blackness

After the notification of enforced leave from work I promptly headed back to Scotland for a couple of weeks. It's not often that you get a chunk of holiday and so I had to make the most of it. Things got off to a pretty poor start though when a poor girl on the plane collapsed leading to an emergency landing in St Petersburg. After an hour and a half of CPR from the tremendous Virgin Atlantic crew, she started breathing again just as we touched down. A gruff Russian soldier then came aboard and demanded to see her passport before letting the paramedics on! Those Russians certainly have their priorities sorted. St Petersburg is very cold but after a thorough de-icing we were on our way and only three and a half hours late.

Freezing Kinneil

I finally arrived home in Scotland to find that work had fired me some time between Hong Kong and Edinburgh! It's all terribly dodgy but hopefully I'll find some nice lawyers to help me out.

Pheasant

Pied Wagtail

Scotland was snowy and sleeting but it was great to catch up with family again and I even got to pop over to Groningen for a couple of days to visit my brother too. 

RSPB Vane Farm, Loch Leven

I managed to fit in a bit of bird-watching with the folks in between Chinese buffets with Kath and remarkably we even found what was a lifer for all of us - an Iceland Gull down at Blackness. That's pretty special as my parents have been in the game for a while now!

 Forth Bridges

Not the best of circumstances for a holiday but I had a wonderful time. Now it's back to Sydney for non-stop torrential rain and a spot of legal wrangling. Tip-top.