1. no poncy shops, e.g., nordic style, seasalt cornwall, neal's yard, etc.
2. no poncy restaurant chains or coffee houses, e.g., megan's, gail's, the ivy, etc.
3. in fact, very few chains full stop, bar the most essential & ubiquitous.
4. not overrun w. blindingly lit vape shops, beaming 20,000+ lux, white-blue LED ceiling panels for 24h as they wash an ocg's dirty money; nor, for that matter, unlicensed, allegedly (for marketing purposes only) turkish barbers w. questionable graphic design & a poor choice of font on their signs.
5. the shops were full -- even on the friday -- w. a friendly bustle. e.g., my beard received numerous compliments; a lady regaled a story about biscuits & seagulls; the street preachers/charity hustlers even had good chat since scrooge mcduck here parted with a fiver for a rando youth charity...

iced oatmilk matcha latte w. tam at newport pagnell service station. we discussed john steinbeck's representation of devotion in east of eden re adam & charles, two brothers w. daddy issues.

let's assume daddy, in this instance, is analagous to god. charles loves his dad, but doesn't believe in him. adam doesn't love his dad, but believes in him. which son do you think dad loves?

surely he loves both? only, charles doesn't feel like that's true. why might that be?... because he lacks faith? it seems charles' problems stem from the absence of love, but it also seems this absence of love comes from his perceiving its absence as opposed to its actual absence. what does this matter though? by believing it to be absent, charles neither feels love's light nor its warmth.

after this, we drove, unwittingly, to dalston. tam needed a hair shop that opened late & dalston is where google maps took us. i liked the place: the people were friendly & there was a strong community feel. jamaicans in the streets, transexuals in the shops. i chatted to a gay bartender w. pink hair about feeling old & a day-drunk scot commented on my shoulders' breadth. i meditated on how although i'm not averse to a bit of un-pc fuckery, ultimately, i'm pro any human engaging in sincere & peaceful self-expression. how different i would be had i moved here, i thought. would i have experienced any conservative voltas?

today i travelled to scotland by plane. here's heathrow terminal 2 early in the morning.

i hadn't been to heathrow since i was a little boy when i flew to the usa w. my family to go to disney world. we stayed in the hilton the night before we flew. i recall staying up late, watching the episode of wcw where the giant tore down the ring. i'm pretty sure i lost my hercules action figure there.

anyway, the point is: i thought i might remember the place, but i didn't.

full english at the pub. n.b. the empty seat opposite me. used to having ol' "safety john" opposite me for these foodie photos.

here, i had an idea for a youtube series: review all of london's greasy spoons.

had to mad dash from the pub to the gate, where i was shuttled to the little plane on heathrow's overcast runway.

the view from my seat.

not normally a fan of window seats -- they leave me feeling a little trapped -- but since the flight was so empty, i wasn't boxed in.

the view above scotland. admittedly spent most of the flight blind down, noise-cancelling headphones on, ambient drum & bass blasting...

view from my seat pt. ii. in dundee where... i could... sun-see... yikes.

a clearer shot of the plane. n.b. the PROPELLERS. hence: blind down, noise-cancelling headphones on etc.

welcome to dundee airport pt i: baggage reclaim has no conveyor belts.

mum mooching in lidl. i'm putting her on the german discounter who i've a newfangled affinity for. here, we're getting food for a scotch bbq.

as well as putting her onto lidl, i'm putting her onto laptops too. gifted her a chromebook & she's straight on rightmove...

mum at the bbq.

selfie in the sun to document beard growth...

al fresco dining w. mum & g.

p.s. supermalt in scottish lidl -- you what?

rounded the day off w. a ma-made 99 w. flake. rivalling gelato famoso here. i enjoyed how much it looked like a middle finger.

barr fitness, a boutique gym i day-pass in. love the warehouse vibe.

note: the sun is shining outside.

thought the windscreen was misting on the drive back, but really it was that the windscreen wipers couldn't move fast enough to the clear the rain. the thunder was deep; earth-shaking rumbles like i've never heard. had to scoop up little bon who was frightened during her first storm.

took g for her weekly shop. moving at g's pace meant i experienced the supermarket w. a degree of presence i don't think i've felt in quite some time. normally, i'm rushing around the supermarket. in & out. it makes me wonder, why do i do this? a dull awareness of my mortality i presume: the sense that i should be doing something w. greater purpose than shopping. i enjoyed the slower pace -- it made the shopping feel purposeful. oddly, i felt better connected to the shop & thus the people who put the shop together itself. i took note of how carefully the aisles are arranged & thought about the effort that went into the production of each item present on the shelves. i left feeling grateful.

gym group dundee. i prefer barr fitness, but i ain't burning money on day passes.

my notes: no longer in danger of being read by bad actors at google, but very much in danger of being munched by curious little dogs...! still carrying the notebook around -- it's got character & every time i pull it out, i'm reminded of little bon.

taken on a dog walk w. mum in the morning: trees in an area she refers to as "tatland" on account of the "tat" strewn about the path before these trees. e.g., plastic flamingoes, fairy doors, discarded lanterns, etc.

candid of mum traversing tatland, buddy obscured from view.

giving mum bonnie to hold, i detoured to the loch. the weather looking more distinctly scottish. i was struck by the lily pads since they were not there last i visited.

wide-angled shot of bonnie racing back to see me post loch detour.

another wide-angled shot w. bon losing it on verdant grass.

by the evening, the mist had burnt off. we had another bbq. after, i took the plates to the dishwasher &, coming back, saw mum smoking on the step. the light was golden. so, i shoved the dogs onto her lap & got snapping. the result: frameworthy portrait of mum i. i love her smile here.

frameworthy portrait of mum ii.