Fife

We had a day in Fife planned for today with our four American visitors. As it turned out the weather was not too bad and was warm in spite of the occasional rain showers and gusty winds.
We needed both cars so split into male and female groups. We ladies stopped first in Falkland in time to go to the Palace when it opened at 11. It's such an interesting place to visit but they've had some water damage recently and so the tapestries in the gallery were all down which was a shame.
I think the words on the bench translate to, "Let the needle be sharp, Let the tongue be silent", but I'm not a latin scholar so would be happy to be corrected.
I always enjoy the Chapel Royal and find something interesting to see there. Today I was amused by the candle stand which has battery operated candles. Perhaps necessary due to the risk of fire when there is so much old timber around. The extra has a collage.
One of the volunteer guides in one of the bed chambers irritated me by making up answers to some questions he was asked. I didn't bother correcting him, it wouldn't have been polite in public. I did though catch up with the visitor a little further on and gently correct the historical facts.
My friends visited the giftshop on the way out. Sadly it was rather too wet to spend time in the gardens and we didn't make it to the tennis court. We had lunch in Falkland after visiting the shops, a toy rabbit for Bonnie may have been purchased.
We left Falkland and headed over the hill to St Andrews where the friendships had begun in the 70s. We spent a couple of hours wandering rather aimlessly around the shops, popping into St Mary's on the way. We had a very pleasant cup of coffee in a little tea room upstairs in Bell Street. It was set out rather in the style of a house in the 30s with a pulley full of washing hanging over head! (not dripping wet thank goodness).
From St Andrews we headed down to Crail where my main blip is set. We managed to pop into the pottery before heading down to the harbour which was warm in the sunshine.
When we were at St Andrews in the 70s, Colin and many of his friends lived in fairly basic cottages in Crail, Anstruther and all places in between. It was much cheaper to live out of town and the University laid on a free bus . Some of the houses were quite nice, but many were very basic farm or village cottages which relied on coal or wood fires to heat them. Some had gas fires but none had central heating they were often very damp too. Most had indoor toilets! Nowadays these same cottages, including several around the harbour are let out as Holiday accommodation and are presumably much more luxurious.
One of the anomalies though was that Crail Pottery sold their seconds very cheaply in those days and so we ate and drank in style from their original range - the one which appears in the thumbnail. Visiting the pottery, where that range is still being made by a third generation of the family of potters, is a must. There are many other beautiful ranges available now too and it's hard not to be tempted.
From Crail we went to Anstruther for tea, a very tasty fish and chips in the chippy before heading back home. A lovely day and lots of chat in both cars.