Exiled in a kilt

Over the weekend I heard my gran has died. She was 91. I hate being thousands of miles away and useless. Being useless is the worst possible thing for me, I need things to do to keep my mind off of it. I can be a stone quite capably but not useless.

My gran (affectionately known as "Mad Mac 1") is the one member of my family that I have always loved. I went through a 8yr period growing up where I hated everyone else in my family for reasons I am sure I have mentioned previously and wont dredge up again. The Gran was always there for me however. I used to stay awake so I could go to her house to sleep over after she would watch the 3 of us, it was my respite. I would go there and she'd make me scones, scrambled eggs & give me as many little biscuits as I wanted. She also always had some sweeties lying around. Some of my earliest memories are of being in her house playing with a little bell shaped like a victorian woman that she kept by the fireplace or of her bouncing me on her knee. That is not to suggest however that my gran believed I could do no wrong, if ever anyone did something she did not approve of you would be quick to know. When I dropped out of Uni the only real person I was worried about disappointing was my gran. I was the first in her side of the family to go to Uni (my father could have, but his dad died when he was young so he had to get a job and support the family instead) & she was very proud of me, it broke my heart to tell her I was a failure.

I have too many fond memories of my gran and her exploits. One in particular has always stood out. My gran was a proud woman and she lived on the outskirts of a part of Glasgow called Possil (one of the places which would be best effected by a large amount of explosives). Anyway if anyone ever suggested she lived in Possil she would deny it completely and say she lived in "Parkhouse" (of course to wind her up I would address all letters to her as being in Possil) About 12/13 yrs ago the government extended the train route to behind her house, and named the station Possil. They had not reckoned on Mad Mac 1 however, she pestered the council enough with letters and phone-calls that the station was soon re-named "Possil & Parkhouse"

Anyways, here's to you gran.
Andrew