TRIVIA, ROYALTY & PYROMANIA

Last night was Quiz Night at the local hotel (as opposed to the local pub which is a different establishment altogether and one which I am yet to experience). Jeanette escorted me in time for the 9.00pm start, a bit of a struggle as my jet lag kicked in at around 8.45pm.

I met Gilmore, Paul and Andy (my teammates), although actually Andy and I were superfluous to requirements as Gilmore and Paul by their own admission must be pretty sad because they knew the answers to everything. Okay, so right now I am going to plead EXTREME jet lag by the time the starters gun went off. I am ashamed to say that I acquitted myself appallingly, apart from one question which only I seemed to know the answer to - which in itself is a bit embarrassing and is no doubt now the talk of the village: How is Oliver Mellors more commonly known? see end of post, no cheating. The other two questions which I was considered the most likely person in the room to know the answer to (but didn't) were:

1. Identifying a picture of Melbourne
2. Knowing how many players make up a team in Aussie Rules.

So I think that might be the end of my Quiz Night career. But whilst I wasn't invited back onto the team, Gilmore did say he would take me to his golf club, which he assures me has pull buggies for hire.

This morning I drove to Perth where Scone (pronounced skoon to rhyme with spoon) Palace is located, and which closes tomorrow for winter. A magnificent estate that has been there since 12th century and was traditionally the place where kings and queens went to be crowned. It was slightly odd, in that the house is the current home of the Earl of Muirhead, his family have lived there for 400 years, and many of the ancestors hang the walls in a typically sombre fashion. But the current Earl has peppered everything with photos of himself and his family (often just higgedly-piggedly in large glass cases), dotted amongst more sets of dinner china than one family could possibly need, some exquisite antiques and some ghastly furniture.



Back to my cottage, and with a little help from Gordon over a wee cup of tea, I grappled with the niceties of my fireplace and the complex procedure of building a fire. As a picture tells a thousand words, here are the results:







A: Lady Chatterley's Lover