Up early; onto the bike and into town as the sun arose. A lovely vibrant sunrise over Arthur's Seat as I rode up North Bridge to hers.

Grabbed a CCC vehicle and off we went to her Maw's in Haggs; glorious morning; all blue skies and low sunlight picking out the Ochils; the lines of stubble in the fields; the calming gentle burl of turbines; the lure of snow capped Munros off in the distance. 

A present swap was done; a brief hi and bye at her sister's along the road and then home via the supermarket; traffic was light and permitted her a weekly shop. 

Done just after 11, I sped off to uplift #1 son from his football training and we came home, had lunch and slowly got kitted out for an evening in sub zero temperatures. We jumped on a bus to the station and soon were settled onto a train to Newcastle; a pleasant hour and a half of idle chat and anticpation building ahead of NUFC v Leicester. (He'd asked as a birthday present to be allowed to go to a Premier League game; so 6 months later here we are)

Off and into town; it's busy as the subtle shift from Xmas shoppers gave way to every so slowly to big night outters and 50,000 football fans; a buzz and hubbub wherever we went. 

A non stop half grin on his face erupted into full blown wonder as we finally turned the corner onto the Gallowgate and saw the immense brightly light stadium; the numbers welling, the smell of burger vans; programme sellers shouting for your attention; videos projected onto the stadium walls. Turns out its the 125 anniversary of the founding of the club and there's films of the history of the club. I had to hold his hand as he was wander in a daze; not knowing where to look but not wanting to miss a single second of it. He insisted on being led into the ground and up the steps with his eyes closed so that when he  stepped in, he could open them and be stunnned. It worked....

We had a mill about; took some photos, smiled a lot and then settled into spotting the teams, the players, the away support.

A decent game; Newcastle scored early on to rapturous cheers; dominated for 20 minutes before the visitors slowly wrestled control and duly equalised with a 20 yarder from Marez. Leicester took the lead; Newcastle - having offered nothing in the 2nd half sneaked a leveller with 15 minutes left but the visitors nicked it late on; probably just about deserved it. And then off out with a heaving sea of humanity; still with the widest grin on his face. 

To the station and 10 minutes into the journey, he's lying down, exhausted. 

Back into town; a bus to the chippy and we walked the final half mile home sharing a sausage supper. As I saw him through the door he said 'thanks dad, the best birthday present ever; good night'

And then off down the hill to watch the highlights on TV; a cold beer a chat with her (she'd been at her daughter's Xmas drama show and had dinner out with her lad before, so we'd both had good days with children)

I hope he doesn't expect 3-2 every time he goes to a game....