TRAVEL | Reel me out

I got back late last night from Scotland, having had a ridiculous time with my non-oversized but massively heavy hand luggage (saving myself the £25 by having no luggage was almost not worth it). I was told off by the air hostess on the way back for not being able to lift my bag (read: suitcase) above my head - clearly she didn't understand why I'd let a businessman go ahead of me in the queue. Instant help. On the way up, another nice businessman also had to sit cross legged on my suitcase to allow me to close it.

These are a few snaps from my trip.

- the old familiar view onto the old council estate where my grandpa has lived for years

- my little cousin and I outside good old Beecraigs restaurant

- the old cemetary (filled up long ago) The other features a namesake of my little brother, Alexander Blair. He was the sole survivor of a shipwreck which drowned his entire family - he was saved when his father tied him to one of the whales they had caught that day and left him adrift. Unfortunately he didn't get much more good luck - his wife and all of his daughters were killed in the Bo'ness smallpox epidemic. Fun times.

- Grangemouth chimneys in the distance from the back of Linlithgow ('Lithgae')

- my youngest cousin, four year old Ewan. Sweet! (though less so when he was trying to decapitate me with a pillow - all in the name of fun of course). On leaving the house he saw that it was raining, turned to me and said 'I don't think you can leave today'. I also convinced him that I had to fly the plane home myself: he seemed simultaneously impressed and worried about my piloting abilities.