Chapter 11

During the first term of our second year at Saint Andrews University I obtained my pilot's private licence for piloting twin engined aircraft. If I wanted to fly commercially and make a career of it I would need to take a further course to qualify as a commercial airline pilot. As I had no intention of following that as a career I decided against going down that road.

Over the same period Katy completed the hours she needed to obtain her private pilot's licence. I persuaded her to go on and take the second qualification that I had obtained. She agreed to do so but said that it would be at a much more leisurely pace than I had taken. I was quite happy with that. We mapped out a schedule with David which would see her complete it by the end of the University year.

With a honeymoon in mind we decided to set our wedding date for the first Saturday in July. When we had received the ok from the University about the use of the chapel and the time of two o clock in the afternoon we informed Katy's mum. She decided to come up for the weekend in November and we told her that we would fly down and pick her up and fly her back to Saint Andrews.

Lord Harry drove her to the private airfield we had used. Both Katy and I came out onto the tarmac to greet them and suggested we adjourn for a coffee. His Lordship said that he had to get back as he had a business meeting with people from his estate. Sylvia also felt that we should just get on with things and fly her to Saint Andrews. We loaded her luggage onto the plane I checked round the aircraft to make sure everything was as it should be. Once we were in the cockpit Katy and I went through the pre-flight drill before getting permission from the tower to take off.

Sylvia had watched all this with obvious interest and when we finally got airborne she had some comments to make.

"You had just landed and never left the plane so why did you go all round it to see if anything was wrong" she asked.

"We are newly qualified pilots" I told her, "And we want to cultivate good habits. Before you get airborne you should always check to make sure everything is properly shut rather than have an emergency when you are in the air."

"This is drummed into you all through your training," Katy told her. It is the same with the pre-flight checks. David, our teacher had a favourite saying; 'There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. You make sure everything is right before you get up into the air."

"I am glad to see that you have taken on board his advice, Sylvia said, and then added, "If you will forgive that unintended pun."

I grinned, "Today we are flying you to Saint Andrews and you are important to us. We are also conscious that one day we may also be flying our children who will be even more precious to us. So we are determined to get into the habit of doing the same things before taking off that we need to do. No shortcuts!"

I think Sylvia was impressed by the fact that we were so safety conscious, and she certainly had a smile on her face when we mentioned the fact that one day we would be flying her grandchildren somewhere. I was at the controls for most of the journey as Katy sat beside her mother and chatted to her for the greater part of the time. I told her to take the controls as we approached Saint Andrews so that she too could demonstrate her skills to her mother on the approach to the airport and the landing of the plane.

We picked up our car and loaded her mother's luggage on board and drove her back to our house. When she saw that in reality we had a small croft* with several fields and outbuildings she was impressed. We promised her the guided tour once we had settled her in and given her some refreshment.

We began by showing her the house and her bedroom and then took her to see the stables and the horses. She asked if we both did some riding and we told her that we did, but not as much as we would like to. I said we had a young local girl who had worked for most of her teenage years for the local riding school on a Saturday morning for reduced riding lesson fees in return. I informed her that she now helped us out with looking after the horses and making sure they were exercised.

We have also given her permission to take them to the local riding school events and to compete with them there.

"That means even when we are busy they get plenty of exercise and are pretty well schooled as jumpers." Katy told her.

"I wish I had known you had horses, I might have packed my jodhpurs" Sylvia said with a touch of regret,"Then we could have gone riding together."

"If you want to do that we can always buy a pair and you can leave them here and that would save the need to pack them when you visit," I told her. "There are plenty of shops in the area which sell riding gear."

"I may do that but I think that will be a job for tomorrow, " Sylvia replied.

Wait till you have seen the rest of the place," Katy said as we approached the building which housed our swimming pool.

"This used to be the dressage ring. It was roofed over and as we were not going to use it, Calum came up with the idea to turn it into a swimming pool and sports centre."

As we opened the door and she saw the size of the pool, Sylvia gasped.

"That is a good sized pool," she said, "It would even suit a serious swimmer for training purposes."

"Yes it would," I agreed, 'but I made it this size because I like swimming to be a serious part of my keep fit program. The gym part of the building has two running machines and a whole series of machines which we use for weight training"

"I take it that you have all this equipment because you are seriously into keeping fit?"

"Yes I am and now that I have introduced her to the idea so is Katy. We train most days. I have also taught Tai Chi and we usually start our day going through the forms. This has also led her into learning the martial arts discipline which stems from these forms when they are speeded up."

"Oh my, now I know why my daughter is looking so trim and healthy. I thought it was love that had brought the glow that surrounded her," she said with a smile. "Now I see there is much more to it than that."

"It hasn't only made me look better mum, it has also built up my confidence. I think in another few months, I would feel able to fend of any guy that tried to attack me," Katy replied.

"With a bit more experience she will be able to do more than just find someone off," I told her mum. "She will, in fact, be able to do any would be attacker some serious harm if that is what's needed.

"Then it is a pity you do not stay nearer or I might get you to teach me how to take care of myself. I was mugged a few years ago and I would have loved to be able to sort out that particular guy. I wasn't seriously hurt but I certainly was mad enough to want to do him some serious harm."

"If you come up often enough, Sylvia we can teach you the basics of Tai Chi and then you could look for somewhere near at home that ran these kind of classes. Mind you they may be few and far between for the main emphasis in this country seems to be on judo and karate," I told her.

I realised once again that I had to be careful about what I said and what I advised people today as the proliferation of eastern martial arts was still in its infancy in the western world. I doubted if she would find any school of Tai Chi in her area but I could be wrong. On Saturday morning she rose early with us and watched as we went through the twenty four forms which we regularly practiced. After the first run through I got her involved and she did seem quite well coordinated. I felt that if I could have a few sessions with her she would soon get the hang of it as an exercise program.

In the morning we showed her round the ancient town and parts of the university. She was quite impressed and hadn't realised it was almost as old as Oxford and Cambridge. She was even more surprised when I told her that by the end of the fifteenth century Scotland had four Universities while England had only two. The others were Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen Universities.

We took her to lunch in one of the better local restaurants and during the course of the meal she gave us her impressions, mostly favourable, about the town and its surroundings. She had questions about the fact that the county of Fife was so often referred to as the Kingdom of Fife. I was able to tell her that it was an ancient Pictish kingdom. In more recent times Dunfermline had at once been the place from which the early Scottish kings had reigned.

In the afternoon we took her to Falkland Palace where Mary Queen of Scots had lived for a time and again she was impressed with this small Scottish village and its ancient history. We had driven by the most direct route to Falkland but came back by the coastal route calling in at several of the fishing villages along the way, stopping for afternoon tea in Anstruther.

That evening we went into our plans for the wedding and made it plain that from my side of things there would be very few guests since I had no near relations.

I said with a smile, "That is why I think we will include our friends as being my guests so that someone will be sitting on the groom's side of the Church."

I wasn't sure about England, but in Scotland the right hand pews as you walked towards the altar is where the grooms family and guests sat. The bride's family and guests sat on the left hand side. I explained this to them just in case they did things differently south of the border.