A few months ago our neighbor Kevin died.

He wasn’t a close friend, in fact we knew very little about him. But every Christmas we left a gift basket on his porch and he left us a very nice thank you card.

All we knew was his very regular daily routine. He would come out his back door in the morning, get into his car and head to breakfast somewhere, then later he’d do the same thing but to buy groceries. Then in the evening his bedroom light would go on and all this became part of our routine too.

After he passed, a section of guttering got blown off in a storm and dangled down in front of the house in a very disapproving way. When we got back from Scotland last week it had been removed and the next day a ‘for sale’ sign went up in his carefully manicured front yard. But his new car is still parked behind the house.

In the last few days we’ve seen over twenty groups of folk viewing the house, and while it’s been quite entertaining and we try to imagine who we’d like for new neighbors. We wonder what Kevin would think.

We checked all the local obituaries and couldn’t find one for anyone called Kevin or that even seemed to be his age.

There’s an old saying that you finally die when the last person who remembers you dies – – –

Jack has a good excuse for being late – – –

The gift I received during my last small group tour of Scotland was Covid 19. It was inevitable as everyone else in the bus also got it – I was just last.

I tested positive on Friday evening at our final hotel and again Wednesday morning after arriving home. So I probably infected a few other people along the way (I had hoped it would be gone before I traveled).

But everyone was vaccinated so for most folk the symptoms were relatively mild. I have a persistent dry cough and a lack of energy plus unpredictable diarrhea for instance,

Thanks to Kirk for the picture of us leaving Orkney, with Stromness in the background.

The tour was very enjoyable despite the above, the weather was surprisingly cooperative and the group jelled really well (most had been before but not necessarily on the same years). We had our youngest member this time – When Joe and Amy were last on the tour they announced their engagement, this time they had their four year old daughter Karis along. She was a delight and stole everyone’s heart.T

This tour should have happened in 2020 but Covid got in the way, so it was interesting to see what had changed in Scotland since 2019.

Some hotels we’ve used in the past are closed – partly because of Covid but also because Brexit removed their mainly European staff. Those that kept going are struggling to get staff and that was very evident in the dining rooms. Some couldn’t even provide dinners. Prices in shops are much higher now and diesel for our minivan was astronomic.

I’ve had a lot of fun running the tours over the last 14 years but it always involves a deal of work and stress and I’m not getting any younger, so it was time to stop.

And now I’m almost back to normal – – –