Before we leave Dundee, I want you to see a little of the housing and neighborhoods we see here. The homes differ widely depending on the area of the city. This is up the street from us about a block. We live in the west end which traditionally has been the wealthier part of town.

On the street where we live, last spring, this house had a beautiful rock garden all in bloom. This house is typical of the lovely homes in our neighborhood.

This is one of the large mansion houses along Perth Road, just below us. The street is lined with many such houses built around 1900 and owned by the Jute barons. I thought you would enjoy seeing some of the kinds of houses we see every day here and the variance between the rich and the poor. Mind you, this is the city. the homes in the countryside are quite different and are very charming.

This is an apartmnt of flats. It is new construction. The individual flats, complete with their own garage (a rarity in Scotland) sells for a quarter of a million dollars. Whew!

This is called a "multi" and houses families and individuals who are supported by the government. It is a type of Council housing. The local council is like the provisional government.

A typical block of tenement Council housing. They are small flats. The buildings were hastily thrown up in the 1960s to clear the slums out. There are much older ones, built similarly and still in use. Dundee is full of them as a result of the Jute mills which employed thousands in the 1800s and early 1900s. They were all poor as was their housing.

A neighborhood showing an old jute mill in the background which is now tenement housing and the various types of Council housing in the foreground.

This is a magnificent building in Dundee which was built in the 1800s and has always been an academy of learning. We pass it often in our daily travels.

The Library on Perth Road, just down the block from our flat. It has it's own ghost so we were told.

This is the street of apartment buildings we live in. Blackness avenue was at one time very high class living.Our flat is on the third floor up. It is 40 steps to climb and Elder Watson is so happy our new little cottage is on the ground floor.

I thought you would find this interesting. It is a cobblestone street underneath the asphalt that is made from mahogony cobbles to keep the noise down during the late 1800s, early 1900s. The street runs infront of a once posh hotel in Dundee, the Tay Hotel. It is now gone to ruin.

Elder Watson was given this "Sponge Bob Square Pants" birthday cake by the Redford family. They surprised us after our "teach" with them with it and a nice little dinner. He received many cards and remembrances from the members and his family. Thanks everyone.

This is the little town of Golspie on the way up the coast to Thurso. We stopped at this park to eat our sack lunch on the picnic table. It was so chilly we got back in the car to eat. We saw many rainbows on the way up due to being so close to the North sea and all the mists that roll and rise.

This is the wind farm outside Thurso. You can see how flat this terrain is compared to the places we have been before. It is like the prairie states in the U.S.A., except instead of grass, it is peat.

This is the "Royal Hotel" in Thurso where we stayed while finding our place to live. It was built in the 1850s. For breakfast we ate the traditional Scottish breakfast of sausages, bacon, roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs, baked beans and potatoe scone.

October 2008

This is a scene of the beach at Thurso. It was a gray day.