How on earth can Inverness be considered ugly?

I am spitting mad with fury that Inverness, the town of my birth, has been nominated for a Carbuncle Award.

This is not a simple matter of me looking back with rose tinted spectacles. I visit the city regularly and although you can't help but wonder exactly what the architects who designed some of the questionable 60s architecture at the bottom of Bridge Street were on, I still think it's one of the loveliest places I've ever been to.

I never fail to smile at that bit on the A9 where the Kessock Bridge comes into view and Inverness unfolds before you. Although it's 31 years since I actually lived there, I feel like I'm properly home when I see that.

There have been huge changes since I lived there, of course. The city has really expanded with many new housing estates being built, like many other places, but still, the sights that made me happy as a child are still there. If you start walking along the river at the Greig Street Bridge, looking over to Huntly Street and St Mary's Cathedral hall where I did so many of my primary school concerts, and walk alongside the river until you come to the green, lush, cool and beautiful islands, I defy you to find anything unpleasant about it. Ok, you'll need to turn your backs on the Caley Hotel and the aforementioned monstrosities on Bridge Street, but the rest of the walk, looking up the hill to the castle, going past the lovely Ness Bank church, going past the Glen Mhor hotel (a favourite place for family "occasions"), looking across to the awesome St Andrew's Cathedral, where I was christened in the font which could easily be mistaken for a weeping angel, Who fans..

Seriously, even away from this walk, as you go out of town towards Lochardil, Stratherrick Road is gorgeous. So is Culduthel Road, going out of town from Castle Street which has trees, gorgeous gardens, lots of side roads with lovely stone houses.

I also think that the Inverness Caley Thistle football stadium on the shores of the Firth, is just gorgeous. There is nothing like basking in the sunshine watching the team play.

I just find it really insulting that such a beautiful, thriving city should get within a million miles of this shortlist.

I would seriously go back to live in Inverness tomorrow if I could.

And as for John O'Groats' inclusion on the list, just because the last house in Britain hasn't turned into a concrete sprawled theme park does not mean it should be condemned as a ghost town.

I really wanted to be in Caithness yesterday afternoon when Phillip Schofield tweeted this

The long walk begins. John O Groats to .... afternoon tea :)

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If a southern softie like him can stand at John O'Groats in short sleeves, then it must have been a glorious day.

He then posted a series of photos throughout the evening showing the amazing Summer evening Caithness sunset, still not dark at 11pm. I hadn't realised that his wedding had been at Ackergill Tower and he'd returned there yesterday.

It's made me want to find a nice Highland holiday cottage for this Summer.

Things that have made me smile....

Apologies for light blogging - I know my default state has been sick for the last while but I have had a particularly bad week. I seem to have picked up another bug which has pretty much wiped me out.

However, my family as ever have been valiantly cheering me up. They went out to the shops yesterday and as I lay in bed after a long sleep yesterday evening, I heard Anna say "Oh, Mummy updated Facebook from her blackberry 3 minutes ago" and came running up the stairs and coyly sat on the bed with her hands behind her back in that cute way that children do before presenting me with some really hardcore chocolate - 85% Green and Black's. It's not for the faint hearted, and even a chocoholic like me can't manage more than a few squares at a time. It's a wonderfully, bitterly, intense slice of chocolate heaven, though.

On the chocolate theme, by the way, thanks to Subrosa for this. I'm not yet convinced it's going to taste any good, but am happy to volunteer to try it.

When I did eventually manage to drag myself downstairs, I found that they had bought me some lovely flowers as well - orange carnations and lilies which looked lovely in our kitchen.

They went out this afternoon as well, to Beecraigs Country Park near Linlithgow, and then to Cairnpapple Hill. As the latter was Bob's choice of activity, there was also a financial reward in it for Anna. The smart girl also managed to negotiate extra for the fact that they went in the rain and to allow Bob to listen to his music in the car. If it was the CD I bought him (at his request) for his birthday, then no sum of money could be adequate compensation. When she phoned to tell me this as they were going into the supermarket, I also reminded her she was due even more for helping with the shopping.

Mind you, they wouldn't have had to go at all if the Tesco website had only been working yesterday. Three times I filled my basket and went to check out and three times it told me that there was nothing in my basket. I was none too chuffed, to say the least. Anyway, at least they like shopping. I loathe it with a passion unrivalled in its intensity, unless, of course, it's for books or DVDs.

Twitter and Facebook have been making me laugh as well, particularly now that I can get to them from my nice shiny new blackberry. I'm glad that F1 world championship leader Jenson Button has succumbed to the hive mind. He might end up being the new Phillip Schofield, too given that within 25 tweets he was saying "Darn, this is addictive." Most people can't stand Twitter at first and think it's completely pointless before being sucked in a few weeks later. Mind you, I can't see @Schofe doing a 90km cycle ride in the Monaco heat as Jenson did today. I also had a reply from Renault F1 driver Nelson Piquet Jr, meaning that Tom Harris is no longer my most famous Twitter correspondent, thankfully:-).

After Rubens Barrichello's outburst last week after the German Grand Prix, someone was bound to take the piss on You Tube - and here it is:



And finally, it's good to be back in touch through Facebook with someone from my primary school days whom I haven't seen for 30 years.

Anyway, I'm going to go back and lie down again. I hope I'll be back to blogging about more serious stuff soon.