Sunshine in Scotland

It was so hot today, seriously hot. I was sweating in the searing heat, Shaun- my wee nephew aged 9 came over and we went out for a walk. His mum is seven months pregnant and his baby sister (the famous Abi) is in Spain with her grand parents and wee Shaun needed some attention.
He is really interesting and full of questions, he actually stood in a book shop we had visited and after her had sought out my autobiography; he held it up high and said “Janey Godley is my auntie and she wrote this book!” The he pointed straight at me in the queue.
People stared, people pointed and I just squirmed and took him aside and explained that it wasn’t very humble to do that and he told me with his big brown eyes staring at me “I am proud of you auntie Janey and wanted everyone to know that” how cool is he?
We then walked round Glasgow and I pointed out some of the buildings and showed him specific pieces of architecture that interested me, for example…

Caledonia road church - Alexander 'Greek' Thomson
Glasgow herald - Charles Rennie mackintosh
Glasgow school of art - Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Hill house - Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Hunterian museum - Charles Rennie Mackintosh
St Andrews church - Dreghorn + Naismith
St Vincent street church - Alexander 'Greek' Thomson
Willow tea rooms - Charles Rennie Mackintosh

He was really interested and genuinely into the whole project. Then I explained ‘sympathetic architecture’ and Shaun played a game where he pointed out buildings that didn’t blend into their surroundings and were horribly ugly and box like…he came to the conclusion that in Glasgow during 1940-50s some people became fixated with concrete squares and ‘people had no imagination’.
We then headed to the park and he became really overheated, so I bought a huge bottle of water and simply poured it over his burning head. Then re-applied sun screen and we walked to the mini fun fair. I recognised the man operating the giant inflatable slide; he is an extended member of my husband’s family. They are travellers who live in trailers and own most of the ‘fairground rides’ in Scotland.
We greeted each other and chatted about family as Shaun quickly understood that if this guy was ‘my family’ then he was also ‘Shaun’s family’ and Shaun got as many free rides as he wanted!
‘Auntie Janey, you are famous and you even know fairground people, you are really cool!” his wee red face all smiles.
The sun reached it’s zenith and we both decided to head for home as the pavements were scorching and we could feel the heat through our flat sandals and we were both sweating badly.
We sat in the house in front of the fan and later in the afternoon husband took Shaun and I to Balamaha beach, which is literally 25 minutes from the city. The sun was fading but the heat stayed, the wee boy stripped to his shorts and dived into the Loch, the cool water lapped over him as he lay on the stony shingle. Husband and I kept a watchful eye on him; he found a wee fishing net and spent an hour trying to catch the tiny wee insect like fish that darted about his ankles. Husband and I sat on the beach chairs watching him as the sun set over the giant hills that surrounded Loch Lomond, the place was almost deserted and yet he still laughed loudly on his own and he splashed happily.
So he is now safely back in his own home and we are sitting here still hot and sticky, and the forecast tomorrow is set for scorching.
I am hoping the electronics shop sells fans as I am going to die in this heat.