When Harry met Sally



My birthday on 22nd October 2003 in the Ferry Road flat

 Granny was very pleased to be taken to Glasgow in the October holiday 2003 to see the Flat that Calum and Morna had acquired the previous summer - not least because some of the furnishings had come from her own attic!  She was delighted to spy some old friends from Skye (whose daughter lived in the flat downstairs) coming in to the close which resulted in her cèilidhing with them over the next couple of days.  We drove her round Glasgow visiting relatives and had a memorable meal out with Joan in the Islay Inn to celebrate my approaching birthday.    
Morna did not admit then to having a new boyfriend but as I happened to be in Glasgow the following week, I was asked to drop her off for her date at The Curlers in Byres Road.  Following  interrogation (a right held by mothers!) Granny was duly informed by me that Morna's  boyfriend was called John Butcher.  She was tickled by the surname, having not encountered it before and so used to enquire of Morna "Ciamar a tha Am Bùidsear" (How is the Butcher?). 
My mother is to blame therefore, that for the past seven years I have made and failed to keep a New Year's resolution to stop referring to John as "The Butcher"!   Perhaps in 2011 as my daughter becomes Mrs Butcher, a more polite form of reference to my son-in-law is required.
Granny got to know John well in the intervening years and I was touched by his own tribute to her, in saying to Morna - "Your Granny liked the simple things in life, a nice cup of tea, plain food and most of all her family round about her".  He remembered her never-ending hospitality and her tubs of pancakes, unfailingly sent off with them, as they left her home in Waternish after a visit. 
I know such a perceptive and empathetic person as John will be an excellent husband for Morna, so I will be extremely happy to toast The Butchers on Friday 3rd June!