Got this late afternoon in Dundee city centre. I am still offered these Covid vaccines twice yearly by the NHS, being severely immunosuppressed. Very quiet vaccine centre - no one waiting when I got there early. I suspect they have a lot of no shows in the current 75+ group. I was weeks earlier for my vaccine than I might have been, keen to get it before my Capercaillie music concert in 3 weeks.

Because I was seen so early we were able to get an early takeaway dinner from a fab fish and chip shop that is sadly shutting its Dundee branch after this weekend. Sat below the uni, overlooking the River Tay to Fife. Bright evening sunshine, and surrounded by optimistic but unsuccessful seagulls. Martin also spotted wild bunnies on the grass down the steps, so dashed down to photograph them.

Planning a very quiet weekend. I expect to be feverish and very sore overnight. More seriously I will probably have a 3 month long flare in my autoimmune brain disease, starting about a week from now. It’s very difficult. But I will be protected.

Could happily have done without one of my appalling choking fits while eating at dinner. They're becoming more frequent. Especially likely when I'm extra confused or overloaded cognitively. But can happen at any time. I'll have to mention them to the rheumatologist next time I speak to her, along with the extremely frequent now forgetfulness and losing things. My neurological disease is progressing more and more with time. But since I've lived with it for 30 years, and we managed to slow it down a lot, I'm grateful to be coping as well as I am.

Continuing the Scottish shortbread taste test. Now onto Deans Petticoat Tails. Which are wonderful. Current scores Deans Petticoat Tails 5/5, Deans Fingers 4.5/5, Sainsburys Fingers 3.5/5, Walkers Fingers 2/5. To continue!

Enjoying some yum yums for supper - a Scottish delicacy. Rather like Spanish churros, but bigger. Just checked the nutritional numbers, and now gobsmacked that there’s apparently only half the sugar in a single yum yum that you get in a single Mr Kipling mince pie. I knew the latter amount off by heart, because it was an ongoing bone of contention trying to stop my diabetic dad eating loads of them!

One of the Glasgow Worldcon panels that I watched on catchup was "Scot-ish: The Influence of Scotland on Fantasy Worldbuilding". Its wide ranging discussions mentioned lots of Scottish foodstuffs, including shortbread, porridge, haggis, Irn Bru, deep fried Mars Bar, and butteries. Though not the yum yum. Which probably has Dutch origins, but got its current name when it was welcomed in Scotland.

Another rare photo post here from me today. Martin was in Broughty Ferry while I slept, taking more things to Oxfams charity shop, as well as getting some keys cut, and picking up freshly made Portuguese custard tarts. Anyway trust him, he took his camera. And among lots of nice shots I think this is the best one. Photographed looking through a metal whale bone sculpture looking towards Dundee - Dundee has a long, and difficult history with whaling. You can even see the RNLI Broughty Ferry lifeboat there ("Elizabeth of Glamis") as well as oil rigs temporarily in being serviced and wind turbines being built. The big hill in the background is Dundee Law, which towers over the city.

We’re having a quiet night in, currently tucking into Christmas cake for the first time this year, and have been enjoying watching Runrig songs in concert and Queen and Adam Lambert in concert in Japan. It’s not quite New Year here yet - but soon! - but I’d like to wish all the best for 2024 to all our family and friends. Happy New Year! Bliadhna mhath ùr!

Dropping off back to much needed sleep, and of course my brain chooses now to torment me with questions about the tuck shop I helped run at Hawick High School in the mid 1980s. It was run out of a small store room / cupboard along the sciences corridor. And my brain now wants to remember if we jammed a table across inside the door to sell from, with the boxes of goods and money behind. And what was the money box like - I do have a memory of that one. But honestly, brain go away 😜

I shared this on Facebook too, so if any of my school friends can remember more about the tuck shop than me who was running it I might fill in some gaps! It was a great way to build up mental arithmetic skills ...